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Foreign Relations - United States

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said, in a television interview 03 January 2019, that he was willing to negotiate the possibility of hosting a United States military base in the country. This decision, if achieved, would imply an unprecedented change in the foreign policy of Brazil, a country that consolidated regional power - during the 20th century - without compromising territorial sovereignty. "Depending on what happens in the world, who knows if we would not have to discuss that issue in the future," Bolsonaro declared, emphasizing that Brazil seeks to have "the supremacy here in South America."

Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old retired army captain - who took office on 01 January 2019, also remarked that Russia's support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has significantly increased regional tensions, and is a worrying development. "Russia has made a maneuver in Venezuela. We know the intention of Maduro's Government... and Brazil has to worry about it. Over the last 25 years, our Armed Forces have been abandoned because of a political issue, because we, the Armed Forces, are the last obstacle to socialism," Bolsonaro said, adding that "my approach to the U.S. is an economic issue, but it can be military as well."

The plan to offer to host a base appears to have been quickly discarded due to opposition from the Brazilian Armed Forces, who view foreign presence as a transgression of national sovereignty. Following President Bolsonaro's statements, three senior officers spoke with newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo to affirm that a U.S. military base in Brazil is "unnecessary and inopportune" and that the president's idea does not fit to "the national defense policy." Moreover, one of the officers told the newspaper that the presence of foreign troops is only justified "when there is a risk of external aggression without reaction capacity, which could jeopardize the integrity of the nation."

"The Army's High Command, which is the gravity center of the Brazilian military power, expressed its discontent in conversations of its members, four-star generals," Folha de Sao Paulo reported. The Brazilian newspaper stated that the Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo conferred the message from the president to army generals.

The United States was the first country to recognize Brazil's independence in 1822. The two countries have traditionally enjoyed friendly, active relations encompassing a broad political and economic agenda. Brazil's 19th-century leader, Emperor Dom Pedro II, admired Abraham Lincoln and visited the United States during the 1876 centennial. President Eisenhower was given a hero's welcome when he visited Brazil in 1960. Presidents Roosevelt and Truman made earlier visits; President Carter visited in 1978 and President Reagan in 1982. President Sarney visited the United States in 1986.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Brazil received about $2.4 billion in US economic assistance--$1.4 billion under the auspices of the US Agency for International Development (AID) and the remainder under PL 480 (Food for Peace) and Peace Corps programs. After 1972, US programs stressed training Brazilian in technology and physical and social sciences (in the United States), especially at the graduate level. Some 14,000 persons were trained by AID during this period, 22,000 from all US Government sources. In view of Brazil's impressive economic development and its increased ability to obtain loans and technical assistance from private and multilateral sources, US assistance programs were phased out in the 1970s, major AID activities in Brazil ended in 1979, and the Peace Corps program was ended in 1980.

Brazilian trade practices, including prohibition of some imports and difficult import licensing procedures, market reserve requirements on computer products, and the lack of intellectual property protection (especially patents in certain areas)--led to frictions with the United States and other major trading partners. These culminated in 1988 and 1989, when the United States named Brazil in a number of formal trade action and took retaliatory steps against some Brazilian imports under US trade law. The US objective was to stimulate negotiations as well as action by the Government of Brazil to reduce the trade barriers in question. For its part, Brazil was critical of the United States for singling it out and of high US tariffs on products of interest to Brazil such as steel and orange juice. Efforts by both sides during the middle and latter part of 1989 began to reduce the tensions arising from these issues.

With the inauguration of Brazil's internationally oriented, reformist President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on January 1, 1995, U.S.-Brazil engagement and cooperation intensified. This was reflected in the unprecedented number of high-level contacts between the two governments, including President Cardoso's state visit to Washington in April 1995, visits to Brazil by President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown, Secretary of Commerce William Daley, and many other exchanges between U.S. and Brazilian cabinet and sub-cabinet officials. Important topics of discussion and cooperation included trade and finance, hemispheric economic integration, United Nations reform and peacekeeping efforts, nonproliferation and arms control, follow-up to the 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas, common efforts to help resolve the Peru-Ecuador border conflict, support for Paraguay's democratic development, human rights, counternarcotics, and environmental issues.

During President Clinton's October 1997 visit to Brazil, several agreements were signed, including: an Education Partnership Agreement, which enhances and expands cooperative initiatives in such areas as standards-based education reform, use of technology, and professional development of teachers; a Mutual Legal Assistance treaty; as well as agreements on cooperation in energy, the international space station, national parks, and government reform. There were other agreements with Brazil: a new agreement for cooperation in counternarcotics signed in March 1995; an agreement signed in March 1998 to end Brazil's automotive investment incentive program earlier than scheduled; and a national drug control plan drafted. During a visit of former Under Secretary of State Timothy Wirth to Brazil in October 1995, the two countries signed a Common Agenda on the Environment, laying the foundation for cooperative efforts in environmental protection.

Former U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and Brazilian Foreign Minister Lampreia submitted a joint report to Presidents Clinton and Cardoso on the U.S.-Brazil Bilateral Trade Review, completed October 25, 1995. The Bilateral Trade Review lays the groundwork for closer cooperation in resolving bilateral trade issues as well as in joint efforts to advance progress toward a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and to develop closer ties between NAFTA and Mercosul, the Common Market of the South. Brazil is a key player in hemispheric efforts to negotiate an FTAA by 2005, and hosted the May 1997 FTAA Trade Ministerial in Belo Horizonte.

President Cardoso was the first Brazilian president to discuss race relations frankly. He instituted an Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Race in 1995 and strengthened the mandate of the government-funded Palmares Foundation, dedicated to the promotion of Afro-Brazilian heritage. U.S. Embassy public diplomacy programs seek to support these efforts, which mirror President Clinton's National Dialogue on Race.

The relationship between Brazil and the U.S. strengthened with the inauguration of Brazil's internationally oriented, reformist President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1995. President Bush invited then President-elect Lula to Washington for a meeting in December 2002, at which time they committed to a presidential summit in 2003. President Lula again visited Washington for a summit on June 20, 2003. Deepening U.S.-Brazil engagement and cooperation were reflected in the numerous high-level contacts between the two governments, including visits to Brazil by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Treasury Secretary John Snow and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, as well as to the U.S. by Brazilian Foreign Minister Amorim, and many other members of President Lula's cabinet.

The American Service Members Protection Act (ASPA) of 2002 excluded foreign military personnel from receiving U.S. military assistance unless the affected country signed a bilateral agreement with the United States, permitted under Article 98 of the Rome Treaty, which would exempt American military personnel from the jurisdiction of the foreign country's court system. Prior to the imposition of Article 98 sanctions on July 1, 2003, the Brazilian Ministry of Defense (MOD) leadership warned that it would seek military training and exchange opportunities elsewhere if this were done and Brazil was subject to paying full FMS course costs for military training. Almost nine months later, the MOD had indeed shifted most of its training away from U.S. military institutions. Brazilian military leaders assert that MOD had done so without reducing the overall level of overseas training opportunities available to its officers. As expected, other countries offered MOD training programs to replace those previously conducted at U.S. institutions. While France and the United Kingdom picked up much of the slack. Brazilian officers were sent also to training programs in China, India, and South Africa.

Deepening U.S.-Brazil engagement and cooperation are reflected in high-level contacts between the two governments, including reciprocal visits by President George W. Bush and President Lula in March 2007, a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in March 2010, and four other cabinet-level visits in the first part of 2010. Secretary Clinton attended the January 1, 2011 inauguration of President Dilma Rousseff and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner visited Brazil in February 2011.

In terms of general public opinion, the election of Barack Obama as president seemed to have influenced views of the United States in a positive way. An Office of Research Opinion Analysis released in March 2009 found that seven-in-10 Brazilians believe the Obama presidency would be positive for Brazil and the world. Economically, Brazilians say their future lies with the United States and China.

Ongoing topics of discussion and cooperation include trade and finance; biofuels; regional security; nonproliferation and arms control; human rights and trafficking in persons; international crime, including financial support to terrorist groups; counter-narcotics; social inclusion; cooperation in third countries on health and food security issues; and environmental and climate change issues. During Secretary Clinton’s March 2010 visit to Brazil, the two countries launched the high-level Global Partnership Dialogue and signed three memoranda of understanding--on Climate Change Cooperation, on the Advancement of Women, and on Trilateral Cooperation. Several other agreements were signed with Brazil in 2010, including the Defense Cooperation Agreement in April, the Binational Energy Working Group Joint Action Plan in July, the Tropical Forests Conservation Act in August, and the General Security of Information Agreement in November. Brazil and the U.S. also meet periodically for structured consultations and to increase cooperation on agriculture, trade, science and technology and nuclear energy.

In addition to these initiatives and periodic meetings, the governments of Brazil and of the United States have a long-standing collaboration on biofuels, trilateral cooperation, and eliminating racial discrimination. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2007, Brazil and the U.S. have been working together to advance biofuels cooperation, bilaterally and globally. There is also cooperation on trilateral development programs in Mozambique in the health sector and food security, with plans to extend this cooperation to additional countries in Africa, Haiti, and El Salvador. In March 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Brazil and signed a historic Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Promote Equality. The plan calls for Brazil and the United States to work jointly in combating racial discrimination and sharing best practices in tackling discrimination in the areas of education, law enforcement, labor, health, and many other areas.

U.S.-Brazil cooperation on foreign policy issues are often limited by the GOB's unwillingness to speak out against anti-democratic actions in the hemisphere (Venezuela and Cuba), take key steps to address key issues such as nuclear proliferation and counterterrorist concerns, and expand its international leadership in meaningful ways. Many Brazilian leaders also take a cautious approach to relations with the United States, sometimes falling back on shopworn Latin American leftist rhetoric about excessive U.S. influence. Majorities held a favorable view of the United States (57 percent) and saw bilateral relations as being good (65 percent). However, Brazilians have often seen the United States as an impediment to Brazil's aspirations for regional leadership. Pluralities said in 2008 that politically and economically, the United States was as much a competitor as it was an ally and partner. As of January 2009, half lack confidence in the United States' ability to deal responsibly with world problems.

A small segment of the Brazilian public accepts the notion that the United States has a campaign to subjugate Brazil economically, undermine it culturally, and occupy with troops at least part of its territory. Such attitudes and beliefs have occasionally influenced Brazilian media reporting and commentary on issues such as the reestablishment of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet (which has been characterized as a threat to Brazil), supposed US nefarious intentions toward the Amazon, and the announcement on U.S. access to Colombian military bases.

In official note released on Tuesday (17), the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic reported that the official visit of the State United States, scheduled for the end of October, will be postponed. According to the note, "illegal practices of interception of communications and data from citizens, businesses and members of the Brazilian Government constitute serious fact, detrimental to national sovereignty and individual rights, and incompatible with the democratic coexistence between friendly countries." The new date for the visit has yet to be set by the two Presidents.

President Obama’s invitation to President Rousseff for the first State Visit of his second term is a reflection of the importance he placed on this growing global partnership and the close bonds between the American and Brazilian people. The President has said that he understands and regreted the concerns disclosures of alleged U.S. intelligence activities have generated in Brazil and made clear that he was committed to working together with President Rousseff and her government in diplomatic channels to move beyond this issue as a source of tension in bilateral relationship. As the President stated, he directed a broad review of US intelligence posture, but the process would take several months to complete. President Obama and President Rousseff both looked forward to the State Visit, which would celebrate our broad relationship and should not be overshadowed by a single bilateral issue, no matter how important or challenging the issue may be. For this reason, the presidents agreed 17 September 2013 to postpone President Rousseff’s State Visit to Washington scheduled for 23 October 2013.

As Brazil’s left-wing president, Dilma Rousseff, was suspended from office in May 2016 to face trial for disregarding budget laws, details emerged on key figures involved in what Rousseff supporters called a coup, hinting at a covert plot involving Washington. While Latin America’s modern history is riddled with well-documented examples of US operations aimed at overthrowing regimes, some would argue the situation in Brazil is tied to a popular protest movement that has sprang up due to the corruption scandal and slumping economy. However, profiles of some of those at the center of current events offered clues as to why Washington’s hand might be at play.

Senator Aloysio Nunes, of Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement, who led Rousseff’s impeachment in the Senate, came to Washington for a three-day visit just a day afterward to meet with US officials. Some of the people Nunes met with included members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, lobbying firm Albright Stonebridge Group, chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a former US ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon, among others.

Not only the former, but also the current US ambassador to Brazil, Liliana Ayalde, might also boast an experience of taking part in overthrowing foreign governments. Before she was sent to Brazil, Ayalde had served as an ambassador to Paraguay ahead of the 2012 coup, which saw the country’s president Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez ousted from office through impeachment in a procedure similar to that of Rousseff’s.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the question of who is pulling the strings behind Brazil’s impeachment was not rocket science. “I have no doubt that behind this coup is the label ‘made in USA,’” he said. The aim of “powerful oligarchic, media and imperial forces” in the Brazilian political crisis was to get rid of “progressive forces, the popular revolutionary leaderships of the continent,” Maduro said.