From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Tue Jan 05 2010 - 00:14:56 EST
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107604574607882889843774.html
Brazil Steers an Independent Course
Washington needs to rethink its assumptions on South America..Article
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By SUSAN KAUFMAN PURCELL
Until recently, the Obama administration assumed that Brazil and the United
States were natural allies who shared many foreign policy interests,
particularly in Latin America. Brazil, after all, is a friendly democracy
with a growing market economy and Western cultural values.
It will soon be the fifth largest economy in the world. It recently
discovered billions of barrels of petroleum in the deep waters off its
coast and is an agricultural powerhouse. It has also made significant
progress in eradicating poverty. It therefore seemed only natural to expect
that as Brazil became "more like us," it would seek to play a more active
and constructive role in this hemisphere, and that U.S. and Brazilian
political and security interests would largely coincide.
This now seems like wishful thinking. On a number of important political
and security issues, Washington and Brasilia recently have not seen eye to
eye. Nor has Brazil shown much leadership in tackling the important
political and security challenges facing the region.
One example is Brazil's role in UNASUR (Union of South American Nations).
At a September meeting in Quito focused on regional security issues, topics
not discussed included the multibillion-dollar arms race in the region, the
granting of sanctuary and other forms of aid by Venezuela to the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Colombian narco-guerrilla
group, and the growing nuclear cooperation between Iran and Venezuela.
Instead, Brazil joined UNASUR in criticizing Colombia for having agreed to
allow the U.S. to use seven of its military bases for counterterrorist and
counter narcotics activities inside Colombia.
The fact that Colombia has been under attack by an armed guerrilla group
supported by some members of the Union was not considered relevant to the
organization's decision to criticize Colombia for seeking help from
Washington. Furthermore, none of the democratic countries in South America,
including Brazil, has offered military or even rhetorical support to
besieged Colombia.
Another example is Brazil's changing position concerning the importance of
democratic governance. Both Brazil and the U.S. initially opposed the
Honduran military's removal from office of the democratically elected
president, Manuel Zelaya, despite the fact that Mr. Zelaya had violated
Honduras's constitution.
Brazil's interest in democracy in Honduras does not, however, extend to
Cuba. Only weeks earlier, Brazil voted in the Organization of American
States to lift the membership ban on Cuba—a country that has not held a
democratic election in 50 years. This decision contradicted the
organization's democratic charter.
Brazil also has never tried to mobilize support against Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez's use of democratic institutions to systematically
destroy that country's democracy. On the contrary, Brazil's President Lula
da Silva is supporting Venezuela's efforts to join Mercosur (a South
American customs union), despite rules that limit membership to democratic
countries.
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Associated Press Brazilian President Lula da Silva, right, and Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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Finally, there is the issue of Brazil's apparent lack of concern regarding
Iran's increasing penetration into Latin America through Venezuela. There
are now weekly flights between Caracas and Tehran that bring passengers and
cargo into Venezuela without any customs or immigration controls. Venezuela
has also signed agreements with Iran for transferring nuclear technology,
and there is speculation it is giving Iran access to Venezuelan uranium
deposits.
Instead of expressing concern over Iran's activities in Latin America,
Brazil is drawing closer to Tehran and hopes to expand its $2 billion
bilateral trade to $10 billion in the near future. President Lula recently
hosted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Brazil. He reiterated his support
for Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful uses, while
insisting that there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear
weapons.
Several conclusions can be drawn from Brazil's behavior. First, Brazil
wants to prevent the U.S. from expanding its military involvement in South
America, which Brazil regards as its sphere of influence. Second, Brazil
much prefers working within multilateral institutions, rather than acting
unilaterally.
Within these institutions, Brazil seeks to integrate all regional players,
achieve consensus and avoid conflict and fragmentation—all worthy goals.
But these are procedural, rather than substantive, goals.
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Stated differently, Brazil's multilateral efforts in the region seem to
value the appearance of leadership over finding real solutions to the
growing political and security threats facing Latin America. These
conclusions do not imply that the U.S. and Brazil have no overlapping
interests, or that they cannot work together to solve particular regional
or even global issues. They do mean Washington may need to rethink its
assumptions regarding the extent to which Brazil can be relied on to deal
with political and security problems in Latin America in ways that are also
compatible with U.S. interests.
Ms. Purcell is the director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the
University of Miami.
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