NSA spying damages U.S. relations with Latin America.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
A wave of indignation spread through the region following revelations by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden that the US spied on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and other South American leaders. In response, on Sept. 17, the Brazilian president postponed indefinitely her planned October official visit to Washington. A week later, in her speech at the opening session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Rousseff had harsh words regarding US foreign policy and President Barack Obama, saying, "In the absence of the right to privacy, there can be no true freedom of expression and opinion, and therefore no effective democracy."
In an almost natural consequence of the general condemnation, Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino spoke for the Union de Naciones Suramericanas (UNASUR) to say that the regional organization's political leadership had entrusted its Consejo de Defensa to analyze the possibilities for "confronting US espionage." Ecuador has the pro tem presidency of UNASUR.
In Washington, Michael Shifter of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue talked about the "strong political impact" of the suspension of Rousseff's visit, and, in Rio de Janeiro, Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that the NSA spying had been a serious setback for the US's bilateral relations with Brazil, "which had deteriorated under [former President] Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva but were being rebuilt under Rousseff."
The always-difficult relations between Latin America and the US once again led to situations like the "Yankees-go-home" days of the last half of the 20th century, nuanced with sarcastic statements and denunciations from several countries. Patino derided Obama's speech to the UN General Assembly. "The Nobel prize winner," he said, "justified all the killings of all US military interventions in the world."
In President Rousseff's speech, prior to Obama's, she said, "The arguments that the illegal interception of information and data aims at protecting against terrorism cannot be sustained. ... Brazil, Mr. President, knows how to protect itself. We reject, fight, and do not harbor terrorist groups. We are a democratic country surrounded by nations that are democratic, pacific, and respectful of International Law."
In his address at the UN, Bolivian President Evo Morales lamented, "The host, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, speaks as a patron...
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu pruebaCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
