Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday postponed a state
visit to the U.S. to protest an American spy program that has aggressively
targeted the Latin American nation’s government and private citizens alike.
Rousseff was to be honored with a state dinner next month,
an event meant to highlight strengthening ties between the Western Hemisphere’s
two biggest nations.
Instead, revelations of the National Security Agency’s spy
program and Rousseff’s dissatisfaction with the U.S. response to questions
about the espionage made it impossible to continue with that trip for now, her
office said in a statement.
“Given the proximity of the scheduled state visit to
Washington and in the absence of a timely investigation … there aren’t
conditions for this trip to be made,” the statement read. “The Brazilian
government is confident that when the question is settled in an adequate
manner, the state visit can quickly occur.”
The decision comes after a series of reports on Brazil’s
Globo TV gave details about the NSA program’s efforts in Brazil.
American journalist Glenn Greenwald, who is based in Rio de
Janeiro and broke the story of the NSA espionage program after obtaining leaked
documents from Edward Snowden, has worked with Globo on its reports.
They have included revelations that Rousseff’s
communications with aides were intercepted, that the NSA hacked the computer
network of state-run oil company Petrobras, and that the NSA scooped up data on
billions of emails and telephone calls flowing through Brazil, an important hub
for trans-Atlantic fiber optic cables.
Rousseff has crafted a pragmatic foreign policy more in line
with U.S. views than that of her predecessor and political mentor Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva,
She has distanced Brazil from sticky issues such as the
Middle East peace process and the Iranian nuclear program, and has shown
renewed interest in making a lucrative fighter jet purchase from Boeing rather
than the company’s French or Swedish rivals.
However, Rousseff is facing a re-election fight next year
became more competitive after nationwide anti-government protests in June, with
Rousseff drawing much of the demonstrators’ ire. She has since bounced back in
polls, but cannot afford to look weak in the face of the U.S. spy program that
has angered Brazilians and added to longstanding suspicions about the American
government here.
“The main objective (of Dilma’s decision) is political and
involves her re-election next year,” said David Fleischer, a political
scientist at the University of Brasilia. “By standing up to the U.S.
cyber-espionage, it’ll help her popularity and increase her standing in the
polls.”
Fleischer said he doesn’t think the longer-term relationship
between Brazil and the U.S. is in serious danger due to the spying and
Rousseff’s decision to delay her visit, but it will affect a series of
decisions.
Perhaps the most pressing is a long-delayed decision by
Brazil’s government on a $5 billion fighter jet purchase, a decision that will
bolster military ties between Brazil and whichever nation’s plane is chosen.
Former Brazil leader Silva reportedly favored buying the 36
fighter jets from French company Dassault, but Rousseff had shown more favor
for the Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet. Brazil is also considering Sweden’s Saab AB
for its Gripen NG jet.
Aides to Rousseff have told local media that it would now be
hard to justify choosing the Boeing jets in the wake of espionage revelations.
The White House portrayed the postponement as a joint
decision reached by Obama and Rousseff and finalized Monday evening in a phone
call.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said both Obama and
Rousseff agree that no single issue should overshadow the important
relationship between the U.S. and Brazil.
“They both look forward to that visit, which will celebrate
our broad relationship,” Carney said. “We’re certainly acknowledging the
concerns that these disclosures that these disclosures have generated in Brazil
and other countries.”
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