Silva Presidential Campaign Turns NSA Scandal to its Advantage (Midia News, Brazil)

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Marin Silva, potentially Brazil's first Black president, is using frayed ties with

U.S. as a campaign issue. With two weeks to go, Silva is tantalizingly close to

unseating President Dilma Rousseff, who reacted strongly to NSA surveillance.

Silva Presidential Campaign Looks to Turn NSA Scandal to its Advantage (Midia News, Brazil)

"Mauricio Rands, a campaign coordinator for presidential candidate Marina Silva, says her government will make corrections to Brazil's foreign policy, and have a 'relaunch' of talks with the United States. 'The United States of Barack Obama will have great affinity with Marina Silva's Brazil, predicts Rands. According to him, a focus of her program will be to take a new approach to relations with the United States, which are now being affected by the espionage scandal exposed by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden."

September 25, 2014

Brazil – Midia News – Original Article (Portuguese)

"The United States of Barack Obama will have great affinity with Marina Silva's Brazil," predicts one of Marina Silva's campaign coordinators, Mauricio Rands.

Rands, a former federal deputy for the PT [Labor Party] who changed parties and went to the PSB [Brazilian Socialist Party], is one of Marina's government plan advisers, along with sociologist Neca Setúbal, a Banco Itaú heiress.

According to Rands, a focus of her program will be to take a new approach to relations with the United States, which are now being affected by the espionage scandal exposed by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden.

In 2013, President Dilma Rousseff cancelled a state visit to Washington after it was revealed that the NSA had intercepted her phone calls and e-mails.

"We want to revive relations. Our government has stressed points of tension, such as espionage and issues involving the World Trade Organization, but we have a lot more space to cooperate in the areas of peace, energy and changing global governance," Rands said.

As a member of the House of Deputies, Rands was a member of the House Brazil-United States commission, and proposed a bill to eliminate double taxation between the two countries.

Marina Silva's government program also seeks flexibility in Mercosur [which promotes trade] so that member states can sign free trade agreements with other blocs.

In the text of Marina's program, Argentina is accused of "persistently refusing to integrate with other members of Mercosur," on ways of reaching a free trade agreement between the bloc and the European Union.

"Our campaign introduces foreign policy corrections that need to be carried out," Rands said, among them, "streamlining and strengthening relations" within Mercosur and UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations).

"We want to accelerate the integration of our blocks with others, for example with an E.U.-Mercosur agreement. And, for that, to deepen solidarity with our brother countries, we must conduct negotiations while respecting the individuality of each member country in order to be able to negotiate "dual-track" mechanisms," he explained.

Rands, who is being touted as a potential minister in a Marina government, said this position would not affect the Treaty of Asunción that governs Mercosur: "one doesn't talk about the infeasibility of a negotiation when it is necessary and meets the interests of all brother countries."

He emphasized that, "We want a respectful, supportive and effective dialogue so that all economies benefit from integration."

In Marina Silva's proposal there is just one mention of the Dilma government's strategic objectives: the BRICS group, which also included Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"The BRICS are the articulation of emerging global leadership that has great divergences. There are commonalities on global governance, but differences on issues like social, environmental and governing regimes," highlighted Rands.

Posted By Worldmeets.US

"We don't want to be under the illusion that the BRICS are homogenous," he said.

On foreign trade, he acknowledged that a possible government under Marina Silva, a former minister of the environment, would have to modify its trade relationship with China, which since 2009 has surpassed the United States as Brazil's leading trading partner.

"We need to reevaluate trade relations with China and the Chinese government before considering a joint plan on the devaluation of the yuan, which sometimes permits unfair competition with Mercosur," Rands said.

[Editor's Note: The election is on October 5, with the latest polls showing Rouseff and Silva tied at 41 percent.]

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Posted By Worldmeets.US September 25, 2014, 5:29am