CODEL SPECTER VISIT TO BRAZIL APRIL 12-15, 2006

UNCLAS BRASILIA 000823 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR H AND RM/F/DFS/FO/AA/CAA STATE FOR WHA/BSC SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OREP AMGT ASEC AFIN SENV TBIO KSCA OTRA BR SUBJECT: CODEL SPECTER VISIT TO BRAZIL APRIL 12-15, 2006 REFS: (A) STATE 52607, (B) STATE 52608 ¶1. (SBU) The Congressional delegation headed by Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, visited Brasilia and Manaus April 12-15, 2006, and met with Brazilian officials to discuss narcotics, immigration and environmental issues. Codel members included Senator Specter and Mrs. Joan Specter, Senator Jeff Sessions and Mrs. Mary Sessions, Staffer Evan Kelly, Dr. Michael Curran and military escorts Lt. Col Nicholas Johnston and Shawn Baldy. ¶2. (SBU) In Brasilia, Senators Specter and Sessions, accompanied by Charge and Emboffs, met with Foreign Ministry Under Secretary Jose Eduardo Felicio, who has responsibility in the ministry for South America, trade, and narcotics and security issues. Addressing first the question of narcotics, Felicio and his senior advisor on transnational crime gave an overview of narcotics trafficking in Brazil. They noted that most Colombian cocaine moves through Brazil en route to Europe and Africa (vice the U.S., where prices are lower),and that Brazil's aerial interdiction program and vigilance on its Amazon border with Colombia had reduced Colombian drug flows into the country. However, they expressed deep concern about the possibility of increased flows of relatively inexpensive coca products into Brazil from Bolivia, since those drugs are the base for most of the crack consumed in Brazil, and the main trafficking product of the violent criminal organizations ravaging Rio and other cities. In response to a question from Senator Sessions on how Brazil assesses Chavez's influence in the region, Felicio replied that the GOB has concerns about Chavez's rhetoric, but also stressed he has a democratic mandate. He added that Brazil "has seen no clear evidence" that Chavez is carrying out destabilizing actions in other countries, though he added that the GOB "would act" on such information if it receives it. Charge rejoined that it is widely understood that FARC elements operate with impunity in some areas of Venezuela - certainly a destabilizing fact from the GOC's viewpoint. In response to questions from the senators on immigration, Felicio said that Brazil's one million-plus immigrants (legal and otherwise) in the U.S. are generally law-abiding and productive, but probably would not fit easily into new "guest worker" categories under U.S. consideration. Felicio, who served in the U.S., noted that most Brazilians in the United States are "reasonably" educated persons with middle class backgrounds and skills, and not agricultural workers - presumably the main category of "guest worker" under consideration. ¶3. (U) In Manaus, Senators Specter and Sessions were briefed by NASA Coordinator Josefine Durazo on the work that agency is doing in the Amazon. U.S. scientists, sponsored by NASA, are in the Amazon working with their Brazilian counterparts utilizing data from NASA satellites to measure atmospheric changes caused by land use changes such as deforestation through logging and/or fires. Senator Specter and Sessions were also briefed on how in the Brazilian Amazon region alone, the annual deforestation rate covers about 7700 square miles (an area about the size of New Jersey) and its impact on global warming. The CODEL had an opportunity to speak with indigenous people about how the environmental movement has affected their ability to use the forests, and saw specimens on the endangered species list. ¶4. (U) Embassy Brasilia trusts that their brief, but intense three days in Brazil provided the delegation with a overview of the bilateral relationship, and how the United States and Brazil are working together to resolve the challenges of drug trafficking, strengthening democracies and reducing deforestation in the Americas. ¶5. (U) This cable was not cleared by CODEL Specter prior to transmission. CHICOLA