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Andres Oppenheimer
President Barack Obama's announcement that he will visit Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March -- in what will be his first trip to South America -- could result in an improvement in Brazil-U.S. ties following a significant downturn over the past two years.
Obama announced in his State of the Union address to
AN EMERGING POWER
There is little question that Brazil, the world's eighth largest economy and an emerging global power, will be the most important leg of Obama's trip. Tensions between Brazil and Washington rose during the last two years of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration over, among other things, Brazil's diplomatic support of Iran.
But now, after the
In a telephone interview, Dan Restrepo, senior
Restrepo did not elaborate, but other Brazil watchers see several signs that Rousseff's foreign policy may be less hostile to Washington than her predecessor's was in his last years in power. Among the signs:
-- Rousseff has taken distance from Lula da Silva's diplomatic love affair with Iran. Among other things, she did not endorse his failed mediation effort over Iran's nuclear program, and suggested that she doesn't agree with her predecessor's decision not to condemn Iran's human rights abuses.
-- Brazilian and U.S. officials have cooperated more closely in recent weeks in trying to resolve Haiti's political crisis stemming from disputed November elections, according to U.S. diplomats familiar with the negotiations.
-- The new Brazilian president picked Antonio Patriota, a respected former Brazilian ambassador to Washington, as her foreign minister. Patriota indicated in a recent speech that Brazil will continue strengthening ties with other developing countries, but "not at the expense" of worsening ties with the United States and Europe.
-- Rousseff is said to have been moved by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's decision to attend her inauguration ceremony on
'SIGNS OF CHANGE'
"There are clear signs of change in Brazil regarding an effort to reconnect with the United States," said Paulo Sotero, head of the Brazil program at the Washington, D.C.-based
U.S. officials say that in Brazil, Obama will discuss cooperation plans on clean energy, reconstruction aid for Haiti, and citizens' security, including U.S. offers to share know-how on security issues in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in the South American country.
My opinion: I was surprised to hear that during his trip, Obama will not stop in Colombia, the closest U.S. ally in the region in recent years. U.S. officials tell me that is because Obama will attend the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, in
For the time being, all eyes of the region's diplomatic community will be on Obama's visit to Brazil.
There won't be any dramatic change and Brazil will continue its policy of developing ties with the Third World as a way to consolidate itself as a new global power. But considering Brazil's weight in the region, even a small move toward closer ties with Washington will have a significant impact on U.S.-Latin American relations.
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World - Obama's Trip May Lead to United States - Brazil Honeymoon | Global Viewpoint