MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rousseff's government denies Brazil has any 'imperial' intentions

Garcia argued that any attempt to make statements or be involved in another country's internal affairs is contrary to Brazilian diplomacy

President Dilma Rousseff's main foreign affairs' advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia denied Brazil has any “imperial intentions” in reply to claims relative to Cuba from presidential opposition candidate Marina Silva.

"Brazil has no imperial calling or intentions; it's not a certifying agency which distributes definitions referred to other countries. We respect Cuba, as we do with the United States, France or China, to name some examples" said García.

The foreign affairs advisor who has held the job since 2003 when Lula da Silva first became Brazilian president, objected to statements from Marina Silva, Rousseff's main challenger for her re-election bid on 5 October, referred to Cuba and the huge investments Brazil has made in the Castro brothers' island.

Silva was quoted saying that "the best way to help the Cuban people was to understand that they can make the transition from the current regime to democracy, and that we (Brazil) don't need to cut diplomatic relations".

The candidate pledged that if elected she would help through diplomacy to defend values such as human rights and promote democracy in the island.

Brazil has invested heavily in Cuba helping to build a free zone area and a harbor where the Cuban government is planning to set up an industrial free zone area to attract foreign investors, following the Chinese development model, and with all the guarantees from Havana of low wages and no labor conflicts.

Garcia argued that any attempt to make statements or be involved in another country's internal affairs is contrary to the standing position by Brazilian diplomacy.

"We don't have any position in support of intervention in any country in the world, and we respect the principle of self determination. This has been paramount in our relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. The course of action of the Cuban state is something which belongs strictly to the Cubans", underlined García.

However despite this strong statement, García was one of the promoters in June 2012 of suspending Paraguay from Mercosur in punishment for having removed then president Fernando Lugo. This despite the fact that Lugo was overwhelmingly voted out, even by members of his ruling coalition, following impeachment.

At the time he was quoted saying that the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur was "a stone decision" and this must be accepted by Paraguay. The Parguayan Senate repeatedly warned it would vote against having Venezuela as full member of Mercosur because of its repeated violations of human rights and persecution of members from the opposition.