MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama not expected in Brazil before October elections

Iran’s Ahmadinejad, has Brazil and the US in opposing grounds

United States president Barak Obama turned down an invitation from Brazilian president Lula da Silva to visit the country ahead of October 3 when presidential elections are scheduled, reported a newspaper from Sao Paulo.

Lula da Silva attributed the attitude of President Obama as a signal of US disenchantment with Brazil’s policy towards the Teheran regime and its nuclear industry development, said Folha de Sao Paulo.

The Brazilian president last week was in Teheran for the implementation of an agreement by which Iran will deliver its 3.5% enriched uranium to Turkey which will then reprocess it and return it to Iran for peaceful use.

The joint Brazilian-Turkish effort has been described by Washington as a “good intention” but the US together with other UN Security Council members insist on further sanctions against Teheran that they claim can’t be trusted and is only interested in manufacturing atomic weapons.

The Brazilian Foreign Affairs ministry was expecting Obama to visit Brazil during the first half of this year according to diplomatic sources in Brasilia.

However Brasilia diplomatic sources also mentioned other factors influencing President Obama’s decision, mainly Secretary of State Hillary Clinton advice.

Apparently Hillary and her husband former president Bill Clinton are close friends of former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso from the opposition party, Brazilian Social Democracy, PSDB.

According to the Brazilian press PSDB leaders informed Hillary Clinton that an Obama visit could favour Lula da Silva’s Workers Party in the coming October election.

The incumbent candidate Dilma Rousseff and Jose Serra from PSDB are neck to neck in vote intention according to most public opinion polls.

This week candidate Serra said Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad belonged to the “team” of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin, “the famous dictators’ team of the thirties”.

The opposition candidate added that Ahmadinejad is not a regime to trust.

“I’m not criticizing the Brazilian government’s intentions, but I mistrust of a partner from the (Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini) dictators’ team”, he underlined. “I distrust someone who hangs anti-government demonstrators and violently persecutes and has thugs beat up journalists; a regime that intimidates its own people”, said Serra. “I believe foreign policy has two main pillars, sovereignty and self determination and Brazil should always be on the side to protect and enhance human and civil rights in the world”, concluded the opposition presidential candidate.