Brazil - Biden tells Rousseff US 'regrets' spying row

Biden tells Rousseff US 'regrets' spying row

Biden calls Brazilian President Rousseff to express “regret” over “negative repercussions” from reports US intelligence spied on Brazilian citizens20 July 2013 10:02 (Last updated 20 July 2013 11:17)

SÃO PAULO

Some two weeks after a report in the Brazilian press alleged that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on millions of emails and telephone calls pertaining to Brazilian citizens, companies and institutions, the Vice President of the United States Joe Biden has called Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to give explanations over the information reported.

In the telephone conversation on Friday evening, Biden is quoted by Brazilian officials as saying he “regretted the negative repercussions” in which the incident had resulted, and that he was available to clarify the situation further.

According to Brazil’s Social Communications Minister Helena Chagas, Vice President Biden gave general information about the incident and invited a Brazilian delegation in Washington D.C. in the coming days to learn “more details” about the technical features and political background of the surveillance operations.

A similar invitation had already been extended by the US Ambassador to Brazil Thomas Shannon, who met with the Brazilian Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo in the days following the initial reports.

The delegation is expected to be made up of officials from the ministries of Justice, External Affairs, Defence and Communications, and the Institutional Security Cabinet. No official date has been set, but it is understood the delegation should travel to the US within the next twenty days.

- “Great concerns” over privacy violations-

During the 25-minute conversation, President Rousseff is reported to have expressed her “great concerns” over the “violation of the privacy of Brazilians and state institutions” and was “expecting further clarifications”. The President purportedly said the case went far further than just politics, but that Brazilian society has been humiliated at the idea of having their personal communications intercepted.

Rousseff also make clear she expected policy changes from her North American counterparts to prevent Brazilians’ privacy from being breached in the future.

“In the name of security, there cannot be infringements to the privacy of citizens, of Brazilians, even as much as to the sovereignty of a country,” Rousseff told Biden, according to a Presidential Palace spokesperson.

- Row ahead of rare breakthrough Brazil state visit to US-

Vice President Biden also took the opportunity during the phone call to invite President Rousseff to make an official state visit to the United States in October this year. The Brazilian President confirmed she was scheduled to begin the visit on October 23.

The trip has been interpreted as an “upgrading” in relations between the two countries, which had been enjoying something of a “honeymoon period” following Biden’s visit to Brazil earlier this year.

Given diplomats on both sides have said they do not believe the incident will damage US-Brazilrelations, analysts say a state visit should see these relations reach a new high, if the countries manage to resolve the issue in time.

Biden’s visit to Brazil focused on security and energy, but the state visit will likely aim to bolster commerce across all potential sectors.

Bilateral trade in 2012 totalled around 59 billion USD, but the US has already been usurped as Brazil’s top trading partner by China. However, with demand from the Asian economy slowing, analysts believe there is all to play for.

Although the Brazilian economy has remained relatively closed to imports in recent years, experts say the U.S. is keen to take advantage of the potential of Brazil’s swelling “middle classes”, who are getting a taste for spending and travelling.

While President Rousseff has been to the US during her time in office, this is her first state visit to the US, and indeed the first state visit by a Brazilian leader to the US in nearly twenty years.

However, any incumbent Brazilian leader travels to the US at least once a year to fulfil his/her duty to give the opening speech to the United Nations’ General Assembly debate – a tradition which started in 1947.

The Vice President is reported to have voiced hopes the episode will have been solved by that juncture.

-Brazil, Latin America still reeling from spy reports-

A little under two weeks ago Brazilian daily newspaper O Globo reported that millions of Brazilians’ communications had been monitored.

The O Globo reports were co-authored by Glenn Greenwald, a Rio-based American journalist who first broke the story about the NSA’s Prism social media intercept program through British newspaper The Guardian, where he is a regular contributor.

The journalist has used information gathered by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in his reports. Snowden is now on the run from the US authorities for leaking information about the controversial surveillance activities undertaken by the country’s intelligence agencies, and has sought temporary asylum in Russia.

Later reports by O Globo suggested spying had also taken place in at least thirteen other Latin countries, with Bolivia and Argentina both alleging the US had spied on its politicians and diplomats.