Why Brazil Always Speaks First at the UN General Assembly

Brazil will open the general debate at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, a tradition upheld for seven decades despite no written rule mandating it. The United States follows as second speaker, being the host country. The most accepted explanation is that Brazil volunteered in the early years when no nation wanted the protocol responsibility of speaking first. Other theories suggest it was recognition of diplomat Oswaldo Aranha or compensation for Brazil's exclusion from the Security Council's permanent membership. The tradition has only been broken in 1983 and 1984, when US President Ronald Reagan spoke first. Before 1955, Mexico, the Philippines, Cuba, and Canada opened the debate in various years.