Geraldo Affonso Muzzi

Diplomatic Trail Geraldo Affonso Muzzi

In the part III of "Diplomatic Trail", "In Africa and Asia", the narrative becomes autobiographical, but the author tries to report it as a romance describing life in Brazilian embassies and consulates in Lagos, Kuala Lumpur, Nagoya, and the historical moment in Nigeria, Malaysia and Japan. He also reports the contacts with and assistance to the Brazilian community in those three countries, as well as in Benin (Cotonou) and Brunei, where he was cumulative Ambassador simultaneously with Nigeria and Malaysia. Based upon his daily notebook agendas, he describes numerous tourist travels to around one hundred countries in five continents and in Brazil, in the final phases of his diplomatic career. In the African trail, a fictional character, the diplomat Ermírio, has a significant role. The same happens with some in the Asian trail. A special attention was reserved for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Abuja Nigeria in March 1998 and the Shakespearian drama involving the Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha and his prisoner Chief Abiola, who died in jail simply because he had been elected president. In Kuala Lumpur, he describes a similar situation involving the Prime Minister Mahathir and his prisoner Anwar Ibrahim. The highlight of the Asian trail is the celebration of the centennial year of the Japanese immigration to Brazil in 2008, followed by a serious economic crisis when the Brazilian decasséguis lost their jobs, had to return to Brazil and the number of Brazilian immigrants in Japan was reduced from 320 thousand to 250 thousand in less than one year. Everywhere the author treats the narrative as a "fanciful reality", instead of a boring and selfish autobiography. Everywhere he goes back to his childhood in Belo Horizonte and to the bucolical district of Lourdes, to his beloved Atlético Mineiro Football Club whose games he followed by TV, computer or radio for over 50 years, in every country where he lived. He followed the diplomatic trail of hardship posts in Africa and Asia, the "Ho Chi Min" trail, and he can't regret it, because his career was happy and he ended it successfully.