After Cuba, has
U.S. spying on Brazilians and their President Dilma
Rouseff been set aside?Folha
columnist Clóvis Rossi writes that the
Dilma Administration
is ready to bury the hatchet.
After Snowden, Cuba, a New Honeymoon for U.S. and
Brazil (Folha, Brazil)
"Before
the spying episode, Brazil-U.S. relations had never been better. … For Dilma, the significance of Cuba normalization goes well beyond
U.S.-Cuba relations. In her view, a new dynamism - more productive and
constructive than the eternal criticism of Washington over its attitude toward
Cuba - will infuse multilateral meetings in Latin America. It will therefore set
a tone that in 2015 will mark relations with the United States."
Even before the productive first meeting between President DilmaRousseff and Vice President
Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had written to his then-Brazilian
counterpart Luiz Alberto Figueiredo,
suggesting he urgently travel to Washington to begin to trace the agenda for Dilma’s state visit.
Figueiredo failed to respond to Kerry
because he didn't know how long he would remain in office. Yet Kerry's
suggestion remains a good one for newly-appointed Foreign Minister Mauro
Vieira.
Moreover, the contours of the visit began to take shape at
the Dilma-Biden meeting.
Dilma made it clear that she
doesn't want a visit she described as “black tie,” that is - full of pomp and
circumstance. She wants substance,
she told Biden.
The vice president took up the theme and reminded her that the
United States has a clear agenda it wishes to develop with Brazil. What's
missing is the agenda Dilma wants to pursue so relations
can reach an even higher level, which is a desire Dilma
expressed to Biden.
It may have been mere courtesy, but if it there is substance
as well, this is a relevant characterization. After all, before the spying episode,
Brazil-U.S. relations had never been better. Therefore, to climb a step is not trivial.
Posted
By Worldmeets.US
According to the president, the
conversation she and Biden had dealt with the theme that cooperation should be
much more dynamic. Dilma mentioned trade, recalling
that China has supplanted the United States as Brazil's largest trading partner.
The president also mentioned the area of defense, where she
said much more can be done. One of my own speculations that was not a topic of conversation:
I would imagine that on the defense issue, Dilma wants
to include the battle against organized crime, which is for the most part driven
by drug trafficking.
For the United States, defense relates chiefly
to the fight against terrorism; for Latin American countries, it means battling
drug trafficking. That's where my speculation ends and I return to our
conversation.
Dilma also showed an interest
in the field of innovation, citing the enormous capacity of the United States
in this area, especially in science and technology. The conversation began with
Dilma praising the "courage" of President Barack
Obama for normalizing relations with Cuba, calling it a "historic"
gesture.
Biden returned the caress by volunteering that on the eve of the
announcement he had tried to call Dilma to warn her,
but that he couldn't reach her because the Brazilian leader was in Argentina
for the Mercosur summit.
For Dilma, the significance of Cuba
normalization goes well beyond U.S.-Cuba relations. In her view, a new dynamism
- more productive and constructive than the eternal criticism of Washington over
its attitude toward Cuba - will infuse multilateral meetings in Latin America.
It will therefore set a tone that in 2015 will mark relations with the United
States.
Clovis Rossi is a special correspondent and
member of the Folha editorial board, is a winner of the Maria Moors
Cabot award (USA) and is a member of the Foundation for a New Ibero-American Journalism. His column appears on
Thursdays and Sundays on page 2 and on Saturdays in the World Notebook
section. He is the author, among other works, of Special Envoy: 25 Years
Around the World and What is Journalism?
