Brazil, Latin America: Week in Review, United States
Brazil and U.S. Sign First Major Military Cooperation Agreement Since 1977; Some Tensions Remain
April 13, 2010 By Staff
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Today in Latin America
Top Story – The United States and Brazil signed their first major military cooperation agreement in decades on Monday in Washington. The agreement provides for cooperation in research and development, information exchanges, and allows for joint military exercises and training.
“This agreement will lead to a deepening of U.S.-Brazil defense cooperation at all levels,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, according to The Washington Post.
Early reports published in the Brazilian press alluded to the creation of a “multinational, multifunction” base in Rio de Janeiro, but the final agreement — available in both English and Portuguese on the Brazilian Foreign Defense Ministry’s Web site — makes no mention of new facilities or bases.
Though the agreement pointed to an increased sense of partnership between Brazil and the U.S., it was signed as the two countries face diplomatic tensions over military and security issues.
U.S.-based Boeing Co. looks likely to lose out on a $4 billion deal to supply the Brazilian air force with 36 new jets. Though no decision has yet been reached, Brazil’s defense minister, Nelson Jobim, has said he prefers France’s Rafaele jets because France had made the most generous offer for technology transfer, according to Reuters.
In addition, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva questioned the significance of a recent agreement between the U.S. and Russia to reduce nuclear arms in an interview with Spanish daily El Pais, saying that “if we’re talking about deactivating what’s already expired, it doesn’t make sense.” Lula added that he rejected a situation in which “some countries are allowed to be armed to the teeth while other are left unarmed,” in an apparent allusion to U.S. support for sanctions against Iran.
“We don’t have the right to put anyone up against a wall, to employ all-or-nothing tactics,” Lula said. “I have told Obama, Sarkozy and Merkel that we have to talk with Iran.”
Lula is attending the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington this week. Brazil is a member of the U.N. Security Council.
Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch
- Lesly Kernisant of the Haitian American-led investment group SImACT discusses the challenges of bringing investment to Haiti.
- The National Security Archive uncovered a diplomatic cable confirming that days before the assassination of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier in 1976, Henry Kissinger canceled a warning to southern cone dictators against carrying out a series of international murders.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- According to intelligence reports, two Mexican drug cartels, the Gulf and La Familia, have teamed up to fight the the Zetas gang in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas.
- Apache, a Houston-based oil and gas producer, plans to buy $1.05 billion in oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico from Devon Energy Corp.
Caribbean
- Cuban state media dismissed as “cynical” Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s recent assertion that the Castros favored the continuation of the U.S. embargo against the island.
- Haitian President René Préval defended his administration against criticisms of its response to the Jan. 12 earthquake on Monday.
Central America
- Radio journalist Luis Antonio Chévez was shot and killed along with his cousin in San Pedro de Sula, Honduras by unknown gunmen.
- Nicaragua granted 30-year licenses to wind farms in the country in an effort to show its commitment to green technology.
- A client for the Swiss bank UBS plead guilty Monday on charges of tax fraud by using a fake offshore corporation in Panama to hide his accounts.
Andes
- A glacier collapse in Peru injured 50 people as parts crashed into the country’s Hualcán River.
- Bolivian President Evo Morales expects 7,500 delegates from more than 100 countries to attend a climate change conference in Cochabamba on April 20-22.
Southern Cone
- Chile’s peso rose to a one month high due to speculation about the sale of a unit of the country’s state-owned copper company Codelco.
- Brazil’s President Inácio Lula de Silva announced Monday that the Brazilian government will do everything possible to assist victims of flooding and mudslides. The current official death toll is 229.
- U.S. director James Cameron and actress Sigourney Weaver are in Brazil protesting a hydroelectric dam to be constructed in the Amazon. The dam, the Belo Monte, would be the third largest hydroelectric project in the world.
- Argentine President Cristina Fernández said Friday that the country will present a proposal for debt swap on $20 billion in defaulted bonds on April 14 or 15.
- The first lesbian couple to be married in Argentina wed Friday in Buenos Aires. The two women, exiled during the last Argentine dictatorship, are both 67.
- The Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said on Monday in Chile that homosexuality, not celibacy, is linked to pedophilia.
Image: World Economic Forum @ Flickr.
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[…] It isn’t a coincidence that the U.S. is focusing on military partnerships in Colombia, Brazil, Afghanistan and Pakistan; protecting unlawful, covert nuclear proliferation in India and Israel […]
[…] the U.S. and Brazil have improved bilateral relations recently, signing a military cooperation agreement in in March, U.S. officials have viewed Brazil’s opposition to sanctions against Iran […]
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