MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil promises full cooperation to Peruvian president-elect Humala

The two leaders spent over a hour talking bilateral and regional issues

Peruvian president-elect Ollanta Humala was received on Thursday with “a wide offer of cooperation in all fields” in Brazil, the first stop in his regional-visits round following his Sunday victory.

“We have many coincidences”, said Humala after an hour long interview with President Dilma Rousseff: Border cooperation and combating poverty were among the main issues addressed.

Humala said that Peru and Brazil share a long Amazon border which needs to be reinforced to contain the drug trade and other trans-national crimes, besides protecting the vast resources of the basin.

Although Peru/Brazil have the longest border compared to other countries, “it is the less dynamic and less developed” and “we agreed with President Rousseff on the need to jointly develop it”.

Rousseff’s foreign affairs advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia present at the meeting said Humala was briefed on Brazil’s border security plan announced this week which demands greater police and military cooperation in combating drugs, weapons and peoples’ trafficking as well as against smuggling of goods and resources.

“Brazil is a successful model that has managed to grow with macro-economic stability and social inclusion” said Humala who revealed those had been his main electoral promises during the campaign that ensured him the Peruvian presidency last Sunday.

Marco Aurelio Garcia as government spokesperson underlined the good “feeling” between the two leaders, which he said, would help the regional integration process. Nevertheless he also pointed out that all the governments of the region, regardless of their political colour are involved in the process because “we are talking of wide proposals which call for full incorporation in a new multi-polar world”.

And if in that “wide spectrum we have political coincidences like we do with Humala, much better”.

Garcia reiterated that Humala’s advisors in the campaign, mostly from Brazil’s Workers Party did so “personally, not in the name of the party and certainly not representing Brazil”.

“Humala was elected by the Peruvian people in a transparent exemplary way, and the fact some of his advisors happened to be close friends with members of the Brazilian government had no incidence on the electoral process”, said García.

Planalto palace sources confirmed President Rousseff will be attending president-elect Humala inauguration next July 28.

On Friday Humala is scheduled to meet with former president Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo and from there will fly on to Paraguay as part of the tour that includes Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.

Before leaving Peru, the president elect received another piece of good news: the powerful lobby Peruvian confederation of private businesses, Confiep, congratulated the president elect on his victory and promised the “Peruvian private sector will not adopt a confrontation attitude towards his government”.

“We expressed our vote of confidence to the president of all Peruvians and to his administration”, said Confiep president Humberto Speziani on leaving Humala’s headquarters.