The Brazilian delegation at the next United Nations General Assembly will again be given instructions to join in any fight against racial and religious persecution, it was revealed here today.
The Government’s intention was disclosed in a letter from Foreign Minister Vasco Leitzo da Cunha in reply to a letter to President Castello Branco from Helio Dejtiar, a Sao Paulo city councilman. The city official had asked that the Brazilian mission at the United Nations protest against the persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union.
In his reply, the Foreign Minister said that “the tradition of Brazil as a country repudiating and condemning any and all persecution for racial and religious reasons” was a long-standing one. He added that “Brazil had the opportunity to make clear its position by holding that the Jews, after their cruel extermination by the Nazis, had gained the right to their own soil” in the struggle for Jewish statehood.
The letter cited other actions taken by the Brazilian Government and noted that, in connection with the revival a few years ago of widespread anti-Semitic incidents, it had voted for the UN resolution at the 15th General Assembly, condemning all manifestations of racial and religious persecutions violating the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The Foreign Minister then added “instructions will be given to the Brazilian delegation for the next General Assembly.”
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