Diplomatic Briefing
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Newsline: Italy’s top diplomat says Bolsonaro did not seek Italian citizenship
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has not requested Italian citizenship and probably would not get it even if he applied, Italy’s top diplomat said. Bolsonaro flew to the United States at the end of last year, 48 hours before his term ended. He is under investigation in at least four criminal probes back home and Brazilian media have reported that he was seeking Italian citizenship. But Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani denied this. “He hasn’t asked for it and I don’t believe he can have it, as far as I’m concerned,” Tajani told Italian radio. (https://news.yahoo.com/bolsonaro-did-not-seek-italian-115715454.html) Under Italian law, people can claim nationality if they can prove they had Italian ancestors, without any generational limits. But criminal records are taken into consideration when applications are filed. Bolsonaro’s great-grandfather was born in Anguillara in north-east Italy, making the ex-Brazilian president and his children eligible for citizenship. Italy’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that two of Bolsonaro’s four sons, Edoardo and Flavio, had requested citizenship in 2020. Their request is still being processed. Italian consulates in countries where applications are presented deal with the request and are expected to process the paperwork within 24 months. However, a diplomatic source said Italy’s consulates in Brazil had been inundated with applications, meaning it would likely take years before hopefuls received an Italian passport.
Newsline: Italy summons Iran’s new ambassador
Italy’s foreign minister has summoned Iran’s new ambassador to Rome to express his country’s concerns over the Iranian authorities’ crackdown on anti-government protests that have been under way for more than three months. Conveying Italy’s “indignation and worry” over the crackdown, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said he hopes that Iran will respond “positively to Italy’s request”. The deadly crackdown, he said “has nothing to do with protecting the national security of the country”. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/28/italy-summons-irans-envoy-to-rome-over-crackdown-on-protesters) Tajani added that the Iranian ambassador, Mohammad Reza Saburi, who took up his post on Wednesday, agreed to convey Italy’s requests.
Newsline: Lawmaker says missing North Korean diplomat has settled in South Korea
A former senior North Korean diplomat who disappeared from his country’s embassy in Italy in 2018 has settled in South Korea, a lawmaker in Seoul said on Tuesday. Jo Song Gil, who was North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, disappeared with his wife after leaving the embassy without notice in early November 2018, and his whereabouts have been unclear since. (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea-diplomat/lawmaker-says-missing-north-korean-diplomat-has-settled-in-south-korea-idUSKBN26R2EY) In a post on Facebook, Ha Tae-keung, a South Korean opposition party lawmaker who sits on parliament’s intelligence committee, said that Jo had settled in South Korea last year under the protection of the government.
Newsline: Italian Embassy tells Italians not to travel to Russia to avoid harsh Moscow quarantine measures
The Italian Embassy in Moscow has posted on Facebook recommending that citizens of Italy avoid traveling to Russia if they are currently displaying even mild respiratory symptoms or fevers. The recommendation stemmed from newly announced anti-coronavirus measures devised by Moscow City Hall. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has instituted “self-isolation regimes” for anyone arriving from Italy, China, Iran, and a range of other countries affected by the virus. (https://meduza.io/en/news/2020/03/06/italian-embassy-tells-italians-not-to-travel-to-russia-to-avoid-harsh-moscow-quarantine-measures) Italian diplomats urged travelers from Italy to consider the fact that anyone violating the new rules may face jail time. Sobyanin has also made clear that Moscow’s facial recognition system is being used to track individuals who are meant to be under quarantine as well as those who come into contact with them.
Newsline: Italy’s Foreign Minister to meet foreign ambassadors on coronavirus outbreak
As a swathe of European Union countries advised their citizens not to visit northern Italy, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said he would meet foreign ambassadors in Rome to explain the progress of the outbreak and measures taken to counter it. Italy’s coronavirus outbreak began spreading on Tuesday from its origins in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto, with new cases reported in central Tuscany, the coastal region of Liguria and Sicily in the south. Sicily’s regional governor Nello Musumeci said a tourist from Bergamo, in Lombardy, had been hospitalised in the island’s capital Palermo after being diagnosed with the illness, and all those travelling with her had been quarantined. (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-italy/italys-coronavirus-outbreak-spreads-from-its-northern-epicentre-idUSKCN20J0U4) The total number of cases in Italy, the country in Europe worst affected, rose to more than 280 from 229 on Monday, with 40 new cases reported in Lombardy and nine new ones in Veneto. Two cases were reported in Tuscany and one in Liguria. The number of deaths was unchanged at seven. An Italian on holiday in the Canary Islands also tested positive, triggering a lockdown of the 4-Star hotel he was staying in while two other Italian nationals were found positive in Austria, where they live. They were believed to have contracted the virus during a trip to Lombardy.
Newsline: Ex-Italian diplomat sentenced for smuggling Egyptian artefacts
A Cairo criminal court sentenced a former honorary Italian consul to 15 years in jail in absentia for smuggling antiquities out of the country, a judicial source said. Ladislav Otakar Skakal, Italy’s former honorary consul in Luxor, attempted to smuggle 21,855 artefacts from various historical eras in 2017, according to the prosecutor general. These included over 21,000 golden coins, 151 miniature figurines, five mummy masks, 11 pottery vessels, three ceramic tiles dating to the Islamic period and a wooden sarcophagus. Italian police found the sizeable loot in a diplomatic shipping container heading from the port city of Alexandria to Salerno in Italy in 2017. (https://www.thelocal.it/20200122/italian-diplomat-sentenced-for-smuggling-egyptian-artefacts) Skakal’s trial, along with other accomplices, began in September last year. Prosecutors found that the antiquities were smuggled with the aid of Raouf Ghali, the brother of former Hosni Mubarak-era finance minister Youssef Ghali. A verdict is expected next month for Skakal’s alleged Egyptian accomplices. Egypt managed to retrieve the stolen antiquities in cooperation with Italian authorities in 2018. It also requested that Interpol issue a red notice against the disgraced diplomat.
Newsline: South Sudan backtracks on embassy shutdowns, set to reopen 4
South Sudan has reversed a decision to close down some of its embassies across the world as the country’s president Salva Kiir on Friday ordered the reopening of four diplomatic missions that were closed some months ago. Kiir quashed a previous directive for the closure of some diplomatic missions and ordered the reopening of three embassies in Europe and one in Asia, information minister Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting. “The president informed the cabinet that he has set aside the order that was made for the closure of some embassies,” Makuie said. (http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/17/c_138314799.htm) “Those embassies which were closed… another order has been issued reinstating them. These embassies are of Norway, France, Italy and Kuwait… now these embassies will continue to operate,” he added. South Sudan’s foreign ministry announced in May that it was reviewing the status of its 39 embassies and consulates across the world and close some in a bid to reduce operational costs.
Newsline: Venezuela’s ambassador to Italy resigns
The Venezuelan ambassador to Italy has resigned, saying his government’s financial difficulties have made his job impossible. In a letter addressed directly to President Nicolás Maduro and posted on Twitter, Ambassador Isaías Rodríguez reiterated his “immense respect for Maduro’s battle” but insisted the sanctions imposed by the US mean he cannot carry out his duties. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/21/venezuelas-ambassador-to-italy-resigns) At a press conference in Rome, Rodríguez said that – due to the sanctions adopted against Caracas – he no longer has the money to pay his employees’ salaries and the rent of his office in Rome, whose debt amounted to €9m. Rodríguez explained that the sanctions had heavy repercussions on the embassy’s financial budget and that they were no longer able to bear the expenses of the diplomatic headquarters in Italy. Rodriguez, 77, explained that he wanted to dedicate himself to “being a grandfather”.
Newsline: Italy Confirms Venezuelan Opposition Lawmaker Is in Its Caracas Embassy
Italy confirmed on May 10 that Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Americo De Grazia has entered the Italian embassy in Caracas after a pro-government legislative body stripped him of parliamentary immunity. “A member of the Venezuelan National Assembly of Italian origin Americo De Grazia, one of the seven legitimately elected persons in the National Assembly, was received in the residence of the Italian Ambassador in Caracas,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. (https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-05-10/italy-confirms-venezuelan-opposition-lawmaker-is-in-its-caracas-embassy) The ministry added that a judicial proceeding had been initiated against De Grazia. “The Embassy operates in full compliance with diplomatic conventions,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.
Newsline: North Korean envoy separated from his daughter
The daughter of a missing North Korean diplomat who is believed to be seeking asylum in Europe was separated from her parents and returned to Pyongyang, a prominent defector claimed this week. Thae Yong Ho, who fled his post as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UK in 2016, said Jo Song Gil, a former envoy to Rome, “wasn’t able to leave Italy with his children and North Korea has summoned his children back to North Korea.” (https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/20/asia/north-korea-italy-envoy-intl/index.html) Speaking to reporters on Feb. 20, Thae said a source in Pyongyang “told me that Jo’s daughter was in North Korea under state custody,” which he said explained Jo’s disappearance since he fled the Rome embassy late last year. “Today, Jo cannot reveal where he is or engage in public activity because he must fear safety of his daughter,” Thae said. He added that while he had previously urged Jo to join him in Seoul, he would no longer advocate this, as “the level of punishment against family left behind of diplomats who defected to South Korea or to the US are very different.” In a statement, the Italian Foreign Ministry said it had received a notice from the North Korean Embassy that Jo and his wife had left the embassy on November 10, “and that their daughter, having requested to return to her country to her grandparents, had returned there on November 14, 2018, accompanied by female staff from the Embassy.”
Diplomatic Briefing 