MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Brazil’s bungled diplomacy infuriates President Rousseff
The crisis triggered by the removal of Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo has spilt over the borders of the country and has turned into a regional controversy that threatens to become a huge headache for Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff according to the weekly magazine Istoé, one of the two with largest circulation in Brazil. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesExpansionism
Jul 04th, 2012 - 10:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0Is in the air,
But where will it land,
Many home problems,
Are buried in the sand,
But you must do as we say,
If CFK gets her way
For power is the key,
At the very end of day .
So Dilma is upset with the Foreign Ministry?
Jul 04th, 2012 - 11:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0Driving a legal government into panic measures against Dilma's wishes and ignoring genuine warnings from the local Ambassador smacks of total incompetence.
She also needs to get upset with her Finance Minister - he's as big a bozo as any of the others and completely incapable of directing a cooled off economy.
Lokks like Dilma could do with a good sweep out of the cabinet.
It's sad to see Mercopress reduced to a reproducer of news from other sources. This story, presented as “facts”, is actually just “versions of facts” highly contradictory to other reports about the same “facts” in Brazil. Do Mercopress sources have dinners with Dilma to be able to say she is “furious” with something? If you disagree with Brazilian foreign policy state it seriously on an op-ed piece, but not on a supposedly news article.
Jul 04th, 2012 - 12:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Dilma should let go of Antonio Patriota, seek a meeting with the newly sworn president of Paraguay, appoint a new Foreign Minister and align its foreign policies with Brazil´s long term goals of political and economical stability and integration in South America under brazilian economic and geopolitical leadership. Patriota did not serve Brazil´s interests in the region, it undermined Brazil´s foreign policy alienating a nation that is supposed to be an economic and political ally.
Jul 04th, 2012 - 12:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Non-mercosur economies like Chile, Peru and Colombia are expanding their economies more than ever and seeking free trade alliances elsewhere. Those economies may grow to become a bloc that will rival Brazil´s ambitions. Political leaders who seek trade alliances elsewhere such as Chile´s Piñeira and Colombia´s Santos are only proven right when arrogant officials from Brazil or Argentina punish Paraguay and act as owners of Mercosur.
If Mercosur leaders want their trade bloc to be the future of South America, they have to be humble, understanding and respectful of each nation´s own internal political processes.
#3 “This story, presented as “facts”, is actually just “versions of facts” highly contradictory to other reports about the same “facts” in Brazil”
Jul 04th, 2012 - 02:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Indeed, it was on this very site that the positions of Dilma and Patriota were being reported the opposite way round just yesterday I think!
Disagreements between presidents and their cabinet ministers are not unque to Brazil all countries deal with this from time to time. It appears Dilma kept a number of ministers from the Lula regime. She should have put in place her own people when she became president. Now it will look like a 360 firing squad if she changes importat cabinet ministers a number of months into her presidency.
Jul 04th, 2012 - 04:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 04 JoseAngeldeMonterrey
Jul 04th, 2012 - 06:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“If Mercosur leaders want their trade bloc to be the future of South America, they have ...”
If NAFTA leaders want their trade block to be the future of North America, they should reduce extreme poverty in Mexico while the rich profit.
And also they should stop US corporations to dump toxic waste in Mexico, like that famous toxic waste dump in the state of San Luis Potosí. The dump contributed to a cancer epidemic in the region.
Slowly but surely Dilma is taking advantage of each crisis to remove functionaries who were close with Lula and key players in his administration. All those mentioned by Isto E were key players in the Lula foreign policy establishment. Many within Itamarity, Brazil's Foreign Ministry, questioned privately why Patriota was named ambassador to the U.S -- a post usually reserved for very senior Brazilian diplomats.
Jul 04th, 2012 - 09:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@4 Jose
Jul 04th, 2012 - 09:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Well said.
I don't expect the Pacific Alliance to seek political leadership. I think and hope it will be only about trade.
@ Jose
Jul 04th, 2012 - 10:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I don´t expect the Pacific Alliance to become a political one either, although Calderon, Piñeira and Santos are all from the right, the only exception being Peru´s Humala.
But the fact that the alliance provides access to markets that by itself undermines any commercial leverage Mercosur may have to lure more partners in the region. So one way or another, the Pacific Alliance spells bad news for Mercosur, pretty much as Chile and Colombia´s FTA with the USA.
Hence the need for Brazil to be careful with their regional foreign policy.
7 Marcos Alejandro (#)
You overreact as if I am attacking Mercosur or Brazil, when I have not done anything of the sort. The affair with Paraguay and Venezuela in Mercosur is clearly a failure of foreign policy for Brazil.
Your anti-americanism is obsolete. There is far more poverty and pollution and deforestation in Brazil and the rest of South America, just google around, there is plenty of statistical information. Not only that, but poverty in Brazil and other south american nations is of a racist nature, the blacks and the indigenous are poor and politically and economically disenfranchised, and with no access to education. This is no secret, brazilian racism and prejudice against its majoritely black population is famous all over the world. Mexico´s living standards may not be the best in the region, but they are above many countries and we cherish our indigenous and meztizo heritage, we don´t hide away.
10 JoseAngeldeMonterrey
Jul 05th, 2012 - 12:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0“and we cherish our indigenous and meztizo heritage”
Really?
The descendants of Moctezuma are not allowed to eat in some of Mexico City's best restaurants. The reality shows that Mexican society remains deeply divided on racial lines. You see extreme poverty in South America included my country, but is not better in Mexico Jose. You must live in Yankee land and don't know about the reality of your own country or you just ignore it.
“Your anti-americanism is obsolete”
Travel around the world Jose and see with your own eyes how obsolete is, may be they have a reason don't you think? Many in Mexico still feel that your beloved Yankees stole half of their country...rightfully so.
@11 Much in the same way you Argentine's stole alot of Brazil, Uruguay etc. Hypocrite.
Jul 05th, 2012 - 08:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 012 Coming from an Englishman makes me laugh.
Jul 06th, 2012 - 03:15 am - Link - Report abuse 0Hypocrite.
Marcos Alejandro
Jul 06th, 2012 - 10:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0For your information nobody in Mexico feels any loss of territory. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California were mere territories, just like Guatemala, Honduras and other south american nations were also part of Mexico.
Mexico was not even a state in the 1800s, but a territory with many factions claiming the right to rule. They were spaniards, Creoles, indigenous peoples, etc.
Great article, but can MercoPress use a dictionary before publishing them, next time? Please. I found several errors on it, I quote:
Jul 07th, 2012 - 01:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“
oppostive
Fearng
impeahment
congressinal
minsiter.
disauthorized
”
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