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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001342 

SIPDIS 

DEPARTMENT FOR D, P, WHA 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2019 
TAGS: PREL EFIN SENV BR
SUBJECT: NEW BRAZILIAN DEPUTY FM SEES NEED TO STEP UP 
BILATERAL RELATIONS 

REF: BRASILIA 1341 

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Lisa Kubiske, reasons 1.4 (b) a 
nd (d) 

¶1. (C) The CDA paid a courtesy call November 18 on Brazilian 
Ministry of External Relations (MRE or Itamaraty) 
Secretary-General (Deputy Minister) Antonio Patriota. 
Patriota has just taken up his duties following three years 
as Brazil,s ambassador to Washington. Patriota said he sees 
great potential for U.S.-Brazil relations to develop, but 
stressed the need for high-level USG visits and a 
comprehensive strategic bilateral mechanism in order to avoid 
the appearance of neglect and to minimize the negative 
affects on U.S.-Latin America relations of the Honduras 
situation and the U.S.-Colombia bases agreement. Patriota 
raised concerns about a pending Tropical Forests Conservation 
Act agreement and defended Brazil,s invitation to Iranian 
President Ahmadinejad (reftel). Unlike his anti-American and 
obstructionist predecessor, Patriota is eager to engage the 
United States. But he will do so on the basis of a 
traditional Itamaraty nationalist perspective that remains 
cautious and often suspicious regarding U.S. actions and 
motives. End summary. 

- - - High-Level Visits, Dialogue, Thinking Needed in 
Relationship - - - 

¶2. (C) Patriota began by saying -- and repeated twice more 
over the course of the conversation -- how important it is 
for U/S Bill Burns to visit Brazil before the end of the 
year, so that Brazil can receive Secretary Clinton and 
President Lula early in 2010. He noted that President Lula 
will be traveling a great deal in the first semester of 2010, 
and that the second semester will be out of the question in 
light of Brazil,s October elections. Patriota said the 
high-level visits are important for the tone of the 
relationship with Latin America as a whole, and Brazil in 
particular. They will allow our differences to be seen 
within a larger, and overall, positive context. Although he 
has been the first to stress quality of contact over 
quantity, he said there is a growing sense of neglect, which 
is made worse by disagreements over Honduras and the 
U.S.-Colombia base agreement. "We need new developments," he 
said. 

¶3. (C) The CDA asked Patriota,s views on the prospects for 
the relationship. Patriota said he thought the relationship 
could "go very far," but that it will require new, creative 
thinking on both sides. He identified trilateral cooperation 
in Africa, defense, the Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial 
Discrimination, UN Security Council matters (in particular, 
peacekeeping and post-conflict situations), and the Middle 
East as areas where U.S.-Brazil cooperation could grow. The 
relationship needs to be more strategic, he said, which is 
why it is so important to create a "comprehensive mechanism" 
to provide our various bilateral dialogues with "strategic 
direction from policymakers." 

¶4. (C) Patriota said that Brazil will not "privilege one 
relationship to the detriment of others." But he said he has 
great admiration for President Obama as he addresses the 
recession and the healthcare in the United States, and that 
our countries should "work more on what Obama represents to 
the world: an effort to unite people, rather than separate 
the world into 'good guys and bad guys'." 

- - - Concerns about TFCA - - - 

¶5. (C) In addition to raising the upcoming visit of Iranian 
President Ahmadinejad (septel), the CDA asked about prospects 
for concluding a TFCA agreement by Treasury's deadline of 
November 30. (Note: The TFCA agreement has been in 
negotiation for over two years, and had sat for months on the 
desk of Patriota,s predecessor. End note.) Patriota said 

BRASILIA 00001342 002 OF 002 


that MRE had no problems with the agreement, but "other 
agencies" had concerns about the agreement. For example, the 
GOB did not want funds going to projects in the Amazon, and 
wanted only Brazilian NGOs and agencies to have access to the 
funds. He said that Brazil would present a 
"counter-proposal" within a week. (Comment: Post has since 
received and sent to Treasury a non-paper outlining generally 
the concerns. It is not yet clear whether these can be 
addressed before the deadline. End comment.) 

- - - Honduras, Colombia Bases Not Positive for U.S. 
Relations - - - 

¶6. (C) The CDA asked how Patriota saw the situation in 
Honduras shaping up. Patriota said that the situation was 
"not positive for relations between the United States and 
Latin America." Some sort of "fig-leaf" was required to 
allow Zelaya,s reinstatement prior to elections by a 
sufficient margin for all to "save face." For example, the 
elections could be moved back, allowing Zelaya to resume 
office for "at least a couple of weeks" before they occur. 
Without such a solution, Brazil would be unable to recognize 
the elections. Patriota said that the GOB does not want this 
issue to create difficulties between the United States and 
Latin America, and was heartened that WHA A/S Valenzuela had 
agreed in their meeting the previous week with Brazil,s view 
that the Micheletti regime was not fulfilling the deal struck 
with Zelaya. 

¶7. (C) The CDA raised the U.S.-Colombia bases agreement, 
saying we the text of that agreement made clear, and we had 
reiterated to the GOB on many occasions, that our bilateral 
work with Colombia to fight terrorism and drug trafficking 
was only within Colombia. Patriota responded that the issue 
has more to do with Colombia than the United States. It is 
Colombia that needs to convince its neighbors of its peaceful 
intentions, and Colombia should agree to a South America-wide 
agreement against military activity, as transparency on this 
issue would benefit Colombia as well as others. Furthermore, 
Colombia needs to reach out to Brazil, in particular, as its 
inability to manage relations with Brazil is making other 
countries wary of its intentions. He noted as a positive 
sign that President Uribe had agreed to attend a regional 
summit in Manaus that Brazil had called to discuss the 
Amazon, and that this would provide an opportunity to discuss 
the bases issue, as well. 

¶8. (C) Comment: Patriota is a definite improvement over his 
predecessor, the anti-American and obstructionist Samuel 
Pinheiro Guimaraes, who was made Minister of Strategic 
Planning when he hit mandatory retirement age for the 
diplomatic corps this month. Nonetheless, although Patriota 
knows the United States well and is ready to engage us, he 
will do so not from a pro-American perspective, but on the 
basis of a traditional Itamaraty nationalist perspective, in 
line with the views of FM Amorim, that remains cautious and 
often suspicious regarding U.S. actions and motives. Even in 
this brief courtesy call, Patriota made clear that, as Brazil 
seeks engagement with the United States, it will do so on its 
own terms. 
KUBISKE