By DANIEL AFONSO DA SILVA*
Diplomat, professor, historian, interpreter and builder of Brazil, polymath, man of letters, writer. As it is not known who comes first. Rubens, Ricupero or Rubens Ricupero
1.
Rubens Ricupero has just been awarded the Machado de Assis Prize. The highest honor of the Brazilian Academy of Letters for the body of work of an author. Surely the greatest couplet of its kind in the country. Which, from now on, leads the laureate to grey of the authors of immortal works in Brazil.
Raising him to the company of the unforgettable Augusto Meyer (1902-1970), Erico Veríssimo (1905-1975), Câmara Cascudo (1898-1986), Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987), Cecilia Meireles (1901-1964), Hermes de Lima (1902-1978), Thales de Azevedo (1904-1995), Mario Quintana (1906-1994), Raquel de Queiroz (1910-2003), Dinah Silveira de Queiroz (1911-1982), Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza (1918-2017), Rubem Fonseca (1925-2020), Carlos Heitor Cony (1926-2018), Ferreira Gullar (1930-2016), Marina Colassanti (1937-2025), Ana Maria Machado, Adélia Prado and others. Prestigious place. Masterful achievement. Incomparable award. At its height. Brilliant.
Diplomacy in the construction of Brazil, from 2017, had earned him the Senator José Ermírio de Moraes award for best book of the year. But it was Memoirs, from 2024, which placed him once and for all in the pantheon.
Memoirs has various attributes, many of which have not yet been fully analyzed or explored. But its most charming and impressive aspect, which surely weighed heavily in the Academy's decision, lies in its ability to humanize its author. Whoever reads or rereads Memoirs with some calm he notices the emergence of Rubens in front of Ricupero. Of the artist in front of the state servant.
Do man of letters in front of the distinguished diplomat, ambassador, high-ranking national and international official. It is seen, in Memoirs, Rubens in body and soul. Rubens son, grandson, husband, father and grandfather. Rubens reader. With eyes worn out from life marinating the art of writing. Immense writer. Now recognized by this award. The greatest of all. Machado de Assis.
To justify the award, the president of the Academy, Merval Pereira, stated that the laureate's body of work combines "literary merit and a public contribution of historical relevance to the country." All true. Which deserves more polish. This is the reunion of the Baron of Rio Branco (1845-1912) with Machado de Assis (1839-1908). It is also the first time that a full-fledged diplomat and tout court receives this award.
João Guimarães Rosa (1908-1967) received it in 1961. Raul Bopp (1898-1984) in 1977. But neither of them stood out purely as heirs of the baron. Both crushed the diplomat within the man of letters.
Guimarães Rosa producing geniuses like sagarana(1946) Dance Corps (1956) e Great Sertão: Veredas(1956). Raul Bopp remains the longest-lived and most impeccable poet of the 1922 Art Week. Thus, there is no space left for other memories or recollections.
2.
Rubens Ricupero, in turn, was certainly one of the greatest and most faithful followers of the Baron's precepts. A devotee of the diplomacy of knowledge, he took diplomatic alchemy to the highest levels of excellence, renewal and transmission. Becoming a consummate diplomat. Ambassador and minister of state. High-ranking official. In the style of the people of Rua Larga. In the style of the Baron. Mobilizing intelligence, dedication and imagination in the scrutiny of gestures and looks.
By dedicating himself to the arts and letters to achieve perfection in his craft. By becoming truly cultured and erudite. By going far beyond just writing, speaking and acting. By becoming a historian. Then, an interpreter of Brazil. And, finally, a builder of Brazil.
It is not known for sure when such a person is born. Diplomat, professor, historian, interpreter and builder of Brazil, polymath, man of letters, writer. Just as it is not known who comes first: Rubens, Ricupero or Rubens Ricupero.
In any case, there seem to be at least two points of no return in his life. One in 1937, when he was born. Another in 1958, when he entered the Rio Branco Institute.
Starting with the second. It fell on a Saturday, September 6, 1958, the beginning of the Institute's admission tests. Brazil was flowing in glory. The Brazilians, in rejoicing. Feola's team set the tone. Pelé, Garrincha, Didi, Nilton Santos had done what they had done that July: 5-2 against the Swedish hosts at Råsunda. Making the country wear football boots. Calming its demons. Mitigating its complexes. Training its mourning. Letting people know that, yes: the martyrdom of 1954, of the farewell to Getúlio Vargas, was still being felt.
But, on the contrary, the misfortune of the Maracanazo Uruguayan lay in the past. Far and distant. Remote. Irretrievable. Without meaning or reason. “The World Cup is ours/With a Brazilian, no one can do it”. This is the motto of the song. Sung, continuously, at the top of the lungs. Whistled. Mentalized and experienced as catharsis and outlet. Releasing the contained scream imposed by misfortunes that now no longer exist. “Hey, eh, golden squadron/They’re good at samba, they’re good at leather.”
Brasilia was made. Belém-Brasília. Cinema Novo. Bossa Nova. João Gilberto (1931-2019). Chega de saudade. Augusto Boal (1931-2009), Gianfrancesco Guarnieri (1934-2006), Experimental Theater. Abstract vision at the Biennial. Zoo in São Paulo. Archdiocese in Aparecida. Furnas in Minas Gerais. Pan-American Operation in Washington. Sudene in the Northeast. More Ford and more Volkswagen in Brazil. Roads and more roads. Modernization, industrialization, internationalization. Goals Plan in action. JK years. Enthusiasm. Inspiration. Joy. New bossa nova. All in one day. A kind of synthesis, meta-synthesis. That would guide Rubens Ricupero's entire trajectory.
3.
Starting with his approval, in first place, in those exams at the Rio Branco Institute in 1958, advancing to his debut as a diplomat in the brand new Brasília in 1961 and spreading over more than sixty years of attentive observation and confident participation in the national and international fabric of the epics of politics, culture and power in Brazil and the world.
He was an eyewitness to the resignation of President Jânio Quadros in 1961. He witnessed the bitterness of the moment with the leaders Afonso Arinos (1905-1990) and San Tiago Dantas (1911-1964). He perfected his diplomatic accuracy with João Augusto de Araújo Castro (1919-1975), Mario Gibson Barboza (1918-2007) and Ramiro Saraiva Guerreiro (1918-2011).
He began his longest posting abroad at the Brazilian embassy in Vienna in 1963. He was then moved to Buenos Aires from 1966 to 1969. Then to Quito from 1969 to 1971. He returned to Brazil and Brasília from 1971 to 1974. He then moved to Washington from 1974 to 1977. He then returned to Brasília again from 1977 to 1987, to head the prestigious South American Division II of the Itamaraty until 1984.
To then become diplomatic advisor to President Tancredo de Almeida Neves (1910-1985) and inaugurate – on the victors’ ship – the New Republic in 1985. Organize and participate in the momentum international presidential term from January to February 1985. He was a special advisor to President José Sarney. He went to Geneva in 1987 as Brazilian ambassador. He was moved to the United States, also as Brazilian ambassador in Washington, in 1991.
Return to Brazil in 1993 to inaugurate the Ministry of the Environment and the Legal Amazon. Become Minister of Finance, guardian of the currency and apostle of the Real Plan in 1994. Return to be Brazil's ambassador abroad, this time in Rome, in 1995. Become a high-ranking official at the United Nations, as director of UNCTAD – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, starting in 1995. Remain in this position, based in Geneva and traveling around the world, for almost ten years until retiring in 2004. Return to Brazil in 2004-2005.
To be professionally reborn as director of the School of Economics and International Relations at FAAP – Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado. To be reincarnated in Paulicéia, his native São Paulo. To see friends again. To reconnect with them. To renew experiences. To observe the slow, gradual, sure and catastrophic regression of the Brazilian political, economic and social reality from the Mensalão to the Petrolão. To witness the unequivocal frustration of the Dilma Rousseff presidency since the storms of June 2013. To note the agony of impeachment of 2016.
Participate in the offensive against the greater evil in 2018. Assist in the reconstruction of the lesser evil from 2022 onwards. Compose your primary work: Logbook. Tancredo's presidential trip (2010). Finishing his masterpiece: Diplomacy in the construction of Brazil (2017). Bequeathing his seminal writing: Memoirs (2024). And continue tirelessly offering your analyses, impressions and joy of living – summary of the JK years – to public opinion, to intelligentsia of the country and its numerous students from the Rio Branco Institute, the University of Brasília, the University of São Paulo and the like.
Incredible. Engaging. Moving. Which brings to mind an impression of the late ambassador Marcos Azambuja (1935-2025) who used to say that Rubens Ricupero – person, diplomat and artist – was one of the most extraordinary human beings he had ever met.
For some, this perception borders on exaggeration. Justified only as a sign of friendship. However, this distinguished Machado de Assis award has definitively disproved the skeptics and accentuated the value. The once mere heir of the baron has now also become a wizard heir. Only him. No one else.
Long live, dear Rubens Ricupero.[1]
*Daniel Afonso da Silva Professor of History at the Federal University of Grande Dourados. author of Far beyond Blue Eyes and other writings on contemporary international relations (APGIQ).
Nota
[1] I thank Ambassador Paulo Roberto de Almeida for his careful and generous reading of the first version of this text.
