Brazilian president postpones Washington visit over NSA spying

[BAK]

Brazilian president postpones Washington visit over NSA spying

Dilma Rousseff snubs Barack Obama, saying planned visit cannot take place 'in the absence of a timely investigation'

• Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
• theguardian.com,
  Tuesday 17 September 2013 20.09 BST
  
• Jump to comments (191)

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff with Barack Obama in April 2012. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

The Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, snubbed Barack Obama on Tuesday by postponing an official visit to Washington in protest at the spying activities of the US National Security Agency.
The row between the biggest economies in North and South America was the latest diplomatic fallout from the top-secret documents leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden. In August, Obama announced he was pulling out of a bilateral meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over Moscow's decision to grant asylum to Snowden.

The row between the biggest economies in North and South America was the latest diplomatic fallout from the top-secret documents leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden. In August, Obama announced he was pulling out of a bilateral meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over Moscow's decision to grant asylum to Snowden.

Despite a last-minute call from Obama, Rousseff's office released a statement saying the political environment was not amenable for the planned trip on 23 October.
"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."

A statement from the White House said: "The president has said that he understands and regrets the concerns disclosures of alleged US intelligence activities have generated in Brazil and made clear that he is committed to working together with President Rousseff and her government in diplomatic channels to move beyond this issue as a source of tension in our bilateral relationship.

"As the president previously stated, he has directed a broad review of US intelligence posture, but the process will take several months to complete.
"For this reason, the presidents have agreed to postpone President Rousseff's state visit to Washington scheduled for October 23."
The postponement followed reports that the NSA has monitored Rousseff's telephone calls and emails, spied on communications by her aides and targeted Brazil's biggest company, Petrobras.

Rousseff had earlier requested an explanation from Obama, but his reassurances failed to satisfy her concerns.
The announcement is at least a setback to bilateral relations, which appeared to have been improving since Rousseff came to power in 2011. She was the only foreign leader this year to be invited to a state dinner at the White House and business executives planned to use the visit to sign deals on oil exploration and fighter jet sales.

But details of US spying activities in Brazil enraged public opinion. Based on leaked NSA files, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald and Globo – Brazil's biggest news group – revealed earlier this month that the NSA ran surveillance programmes on Rousseff and her aides. A week later, Greenwald (who is based in Rio de Janeiro) and Globo disclosed slides showing that the US spy agency targets Petrobras, the state-run energy company that controls some of the world's biggest untapped oil supplies.
Earlier reports had shown that Brazil is among several countries that are subject to massive communications data monitoring by the US.

Unease about US activities has also been raised by the diversion of a plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales because it was suspected of carrying Snowden and the detention of Greenwald's Brazilian partner David Miranda at Heathrow airport.

Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Obama should apologise to the world. Justice minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said the reports, if confirmed, "should be considered very serious and constitute a clear violation of Brazilian sovereignty".
In response, US officials have adopted a softer tone. US national security adviser Susan Rice said the reports raised "legitimate questions for our friends and allies". But the White House has stopped short of the explanations and apologies requested by Brazil.

 

[Che Guevara]

Brazilian president postpones Washington visit over NSA spying

Dilma Rousseff snubs Barack Obama, saying planned visit cannot take place 'in the absence of a timely investigation'

• Despite a last-minute call from Obama, Rousseff's office released a statement saying the political environment was not amenable for the planned trip on 23 October.
  "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."
  
  Rousseff's telephone calls and emails, spied on communications by her aides and targeted Brazil's biggest company, Petrobras...
  
  Rousseff had earlier requested an explanation from Obama, but his reassurances failed to satisfy her concerns...
  Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Obama should apologise to the world. Justice minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said the reports, if confirmed, "should be considered very serious and constitute a clear violation of Brazilian sovereignty".
  In response, US officials have adopted a softer tone. US national security adviser Susan Rice said the reports raised "legitimate questions for our friends and allies". But the White House has stopped short of the explanations and apologies requested by Brazil.
  

• 
  
  Big up President Rousseff & Brazil for protecting your sovereignty and dignity. Unlike others you-know-who...

 

[BAK]

Brazilian president: US surveillance a 'breach of international law'

Dilma Rousseff's scathing speech to UN general assembly the most serious diplomatic fallout over revelations of US spying

• Julian Borger New York
• The Guardian,
  Tuesday 24 September 2013 17.27 BST
• Jump to comments (529)

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff speaks at the United Nations general assembly. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, has launched a blistering attack on US espionage at the UN general assembly, accusing the NSA of violating international law by its indiscriminate collection of personal information of Brazilian citizens and economic espionage targeted on the country's strategic industries.

Rousseff's angry speech was a direct challenge to President Barack Obama, who was waiting in the wings to deliver his own address to the UN general assembly, and represented the most serious diplomatic fallout to date from the revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Rousseff had already put off a planned visit to Washington in protest at US spying, after NSA documents leaked by Snowden revealed that the US electronic eavesdropping agency had monitored the Brazilian president's phone calls, as well as Brazilian embassies and spied on the state oil corporation, Petrobras.

"Personal data of citizens was intercepted indiscriminately. Corporate information – often of high economic and even strategic value – was at the centre of espionage activity.
"Also, Brazilian diplomatic missions, among them the permanent mission to the UN and the office of the president of the republic itself, had their communications intercepted," Rousseff said, in a global rallying cry against what she portrayed as the overweening power of the US security apparatus.

"Tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and is an affront of the principles that must guide the relations among them, especially among friendly nations. A sovereign nation can never establish itself to the detriment of another sovereign nation. The right to safety of citizens of one country can never be guaranteed by violating fundamental human rights of citizens of another country."

Washington's efforts to smooth over Brazilian outrage over NSA espionage have so far been rebuffed by Rousseff, who has proposed that Brazil build its own internet infrastructure.
"Friendly governments and societies that seek to build a true strategic partnership, as in our case, cannot allow recurring illegal actions to take place as if they were normal. They are unacceptable," she said.

"The arguments that the illegal interception of information and data aims at protecting nations against terrorism cannot be sustained. Brazil, Mr President, knows how to protect itself. We reject, fight and do not harbour terrorist groups," Rousseff said.
"As many other Latin Americans, I fought against authoritarianism and censorship and I cannot but defend, in an uncompromising fashion, the right to privacy of individuals and the sovereignty of my country," the Brazilian president said. She was imprisoned and tortured for her role in a guerilla movement opposed to Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s.

"In the absence of the right to privacy, there can be no true freedom of expression and opinion, and therefore no effective democracy. In the absence of the respect for sovereignty, there is no basis for the relationship among nations."

Rousseff called on the UN oversee a new global legal system to govern the internet. She said such multilateral mechanisms should guarantee the "freedom of expression, privacy of the individual and respect for human rights" and the "neutrality of the network, guided only by technical and ethical criteria, rendering it inadmissible to restrict it for political, commercial, religious or any other purposes.

"The time is ripe to create the conditions to prevent cyberspace from being used as a weapon of war, through espionage, sabotage and attacks against systems and infrastructure of other countries," the Brazilian president said.
As host to the UN headquarters, the US has been attacked from the general assembly many times in the past, but what made Rousseff's denunciation all the more painful diplomatically was the fact that it was delivered on behalf of large, increasingly powerful and historically friendly state.

Obama, who followed Rousseff to the UN podium, acknowledged
international alarm at the scale of NSA snooping revealed by Snowden.
He said: "Just as we reviewed how we deploy our extraordinary military
capabilities in a way that lives up to our ideals, we have begun to
review the way that we gather intelligence, so as to properly balance
the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies, with the
privacy concerns that all people share."

Brazilian officials said that Washington had told them about this
review but had noted that its results would not be known for months
and that Rousseff believed it was urgent to raise the need for an
international code of ethics for electronic espionage.
Rousseff will leave New York tomorrow without meeting Obama but
Brazil's new foreign minister, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, will remain at
the UN throughout the week and will meet his opposite number, John
Kerry, Brazilian officials said, in an attempt to start mending the
rift between the two countries.