POLITICS-BRAZIL/US: Albright Visit Validates Regional Leadership

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 16 2000 (IPS) - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s visit to Brasilia, where she met with president Fernando Henrique Cardoso and other high-level officials Tuesday, seems to confirm the leadership role Brazil has cut out for itself in South America.

The meetings in the capital with president Cardoso and foreign affairs minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia, however, revealed more points of discrepancy than agreement between the two countries, though Albright tried to emphasise their shared attitudes in defence of democracy, free trade and sustainable development.

“Brazil does not have the same level of commitment as the United States in the programme to fight drug trafficking in Colombia,” said Lampreia, distancing his country from Washington’s involvement in the Andean country where it has provided military training and now 1.3 billion dollars in assistance.

But the Brazilian foreign minister stressed that his government supports the Colombian peace process and its democratic consolidation, “in accordance with the decisions of the Organisation of American States (OAS).”

Given Brasilia’s continued refusal, the United States quit pressuring for greater participation, including the use of Brazil’s armed forces, in the anti-drug fight both inside and outside of the country.

Brazil expressed its opposition to the use of biological weapons in destroying coca crops in Colombia, as well as voicing other discrepancies, such as demanding greater responsibility among wealthier nations in fighting illegal drug consumption within their own borders.

Albright’s tour of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia occurs just two weeks before the South American Summit, organised by Cardoso as a step towards political and commercial integration in the region.

Albright said the Aug 31-Sept 1 meeting does not concern the US government. Cardoso’s initiative is an attempt to build regional strength in order to confront US hegemony in the negotiations to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The political situations in Peru and Venezuela have also fed US pressure on Brazil. In the case of Peru, Albright indicated Brazil should speak out against this country because it lacks an independent judiciary and the armed forces are not under civilian control.

Brazil’s efforts in the OAS helped prevent the economic sanctions against Peru proposed by the United States, which claim the elections in which Alberto Fujimori won a third consecutive presidential term were not completely democratic.

Albright also attempted to relieve some of the friction in the area of hemispheric trade integration, saying the two South American blocs – the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the Andean Community of Nations – are building blocks for the FTAA, not obstacles.

But since inter-continental trade talks began, the issues separating the two countries have been clear, with Brazil trying to gain time in order to build strength through Mercosur and trade negotiations with the European Union before entering into final definitions of the FTAA.

Trade disagreements between Brazil and the United States have not seriously shaken bilateral relations, but seem to have contributed to putting the two countries on more equal footing than in the past.

Albright emphatically denied accusations of protectionism, affirming that her country is completely open to trade, to the point that it now has a 300 billion dollar annual deficit.

But Brazil questions the specific barriers that affect its most competitive products, such as orange juice, sugar, tobacco and steel, which face high US tariffs.

Albright’s tour loses some of its political weight because it comes just months before the end of president Bill Clinton’s term, as a new US president is to be elected November 7.

But her visit to Argentina and Brazil coincides with new disputes between the two countries that are weakening Mercosur. Officials from both South American countries are currently trying to work out differences in the trade of vehicles, sugar and footwear.

Brazil’s strategy for South American unity to take on the United States in trade talks suffers other threats, including the “dollarisation” of Ecuador’s economy, an option that Argentina has also considered when facing difficult financial times.