This paper inquires whether Brazil’s lauded headways in recent years were organic in nature and in content or, in fact, achieved at the expenses of other previously established actors. By reframing Brazil’s African agenda in juxtaposition to the perceived downturn of Portugal in key Lusophone countries, the propitious context and consequences of a new player on the continent are best brought into evidence. The push-and-pull forces towards Lusophone Africa enacted by both Portugal and Brazil are explored by unpacking the common adopted stance towards Guinea-Bissau’s 2012 military coup and the adhesion of Equatorial-Guinea to the CPLP. The paper concludes by offering a reinterpretation of Brazil’s net gains in Africa and arguing for its ultimate fragility and susceptibility to a changing political-economic cycle.

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Brasil,África,Portugal,política externa

• Political Science - Social Sciences