UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES'S VISIT TO SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SAO PAULO 000293 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR R, PA, WHA/BSC, AND WHA/PDA NSC FOR SCRONIN STATE PASS USTR FOR SULLIVAN/LEZNY DEPT OF TREASURY FOR FPARODI USDOC FOR 332/ITA/MAC/WH/OLAC/JANDERSEN/ADRISCOLL/MWARD USDOC ALSO FOR 3134/USFCS/OIO/EOLSON/DDEVITO/DANDERSON TAGS: OVIP SCUL OEXC KPAO PREL PGOV OIIP BR SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES'S VISIT TO SAO PAULO, BRAZIL -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. During her March 12-14 visit to Sao Paulo, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes delivered a message on shared values and common interests to a wide range of Brazilian audiences. U/S Hughes met with a group of Brazilian Youth Ambassadors and attended a cultural performance by a youth dance group. She participated in a breakfast meeting with women leaders and a lunch with key opinion-makers. In addition, she gave a speech to a large group of students at Mackenzie University's School of Communications and took questions from the audience; gave an interview to the Executive Editor of the large-circulation weekly magazine "Veja;" visited the "Meninos de Morumbi" social project where she engaged in an informal discussion with young people; and participated in a Consulate Town Hall Meeting. Her willingness to discuss U.S. foreign policy with a variety of interlocutors helped put a human face on the oft-criticized USG. End Summary. -------------- "FEIJOADA" WITH YOUTH AMBASSADORS -------------- ¶2. On March 12, the afternoon of her arrival, U/S Hughes met at the Consul General's (CG) residence over lunch with a group of 10 Youth Ambassadors from Sao Paulo state. During a collective meeting with the group to discuss the significance of their program in the U.S. and how they have shared their experiences with their school colleagues and communities, U/S Hughes and WHA Assistant Secretary Tom Shannon were made honorary Youth Ambassadors and presented with Youth Ambassador T-shirts in the presence of print and television media. The meeting was followed by a traditional Brazilian "feijoada" lunch on the patio, during which U/S Hughes had the opportunity to talk with the Youth Ambassadors individually, exploring their plans for the future and how they saw their distinction as a Youth Ambassador as influencing their opportunities. U/S Hughes expressed her conviction that these young leaders represented the future of Brazil, and that the country would be in good hands. She also praised the program for selecting community-spirited students from disadvantaged circumstances, and indicated that she would be interested in identifying this program as a "best practice" and seeing it expand, ideally with private sector support. ¶3. Following the late lunch meeting, U/S Hughes and her delegation, together with the Youth Ambassadors, attended a dance performance, "Milagrimas," given by a group of at-risk youth under the direction of choreographer Ivaldo Bertazzo, well known in Brazil for his innovative work and ability to achieve professional-level ensemble performance with groups having no previous formal training. At the conclusion of the performance, U/S Hughes and her group were invited backstage to meet Mr. Bertazzo and the performers, providing an opportunity for a group photo with the Youth Ambassadors and the dance troupe, whom U/S Hughes also described as ambassadors for Brazil. -------------- BREAKFAST WITH WOMEN LEADERS -------------- ¶4. During a congenial 75-minute breakfast on March 13, U/S Hughes met with Brazilian women leaders in the fields of justice, business, law, education, and the media. Participants included Maria Cecilia Loschiavo, Associate Professor of Architecture and homeless advocate; Claudia Lago, member of the Committee on Women's Rights at the Brazilian Bar Association (Sao Paulo Chapter); Marilena Lazzarini, founder and current coordinator of the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection; Eleonora de Lucena, Executive SAO PAULO 00000293 002 OF 004 Director of Brazil's largest-circulation daily, Folha de Sao Paulo; Ivette Senise, former director (1998-2002) of the University of Sao Paulo Law School; Maria Cristina Zucchi, Judge on the Court of Appeals of Sao Paulo; and Leticia Massula, an attorney engaged in the fight against trafficking in persons. ¶5. Topics of discussion included the current status of women in Brazilian society, particularly equal access to education and professional advancement. Participants agreed that, while Brazilian girls do have access to education, their post-education employment opportunities are more limited than those of males. Moreover, while professional, upper-class women enjoy salaries on a par with those of their male colleagues, lower-class women do not. Of all categories of society, Afro-Brazilian women have the least access to education and professional advancement. Participants stated that while equality exists in law, reality has not yet caught up. The table was enthusiastic about the recent election of Michelle Bachelet as President of Chile and discussed the possibility of a woman being elected President of the United States. U/S Hughes emphasized the commonality between North and South America, and the desire of all women for a safe and secure environment and opportunities for a better life for their children. ¶6. Participants took the opportunity to ask the Under Secretary questions about abortion law in the U.S., public opinion on same-sex marriages, and American women's views on the war in Iraq. The breakfast concluded with enthusiastic requests on the part of the participants for continued dialog, the development of a women's working group, and a possible international women's conference. -------------- SPEECH AND DISCUSSION WITH STUDENTS -------------- ¶7. After a brief meeting with the President of Mackenzie University at which she discussed possibilities for additional U.S.-Brazil educational exchanges, U/S Hughes delivered a thirty-minute speech on democracy and U.S.-Brazil cooperation. Following the speech, Hughes and A/S Shannon responded to a variety of questions from the journalism and communications students. The questions covered both U.S. foreign and domestic policy, and many focused on U.S. policy in Iraq and on the situation of poor people and minorities in the United States. Students also asked about U.S. relations with Mexico and Uruguay. Some examples of specific questions included, "Is Mexico autonomous from the United States?"; "What is the USG doing about the problem of racial inequality in the United States?"; and "How is Iran different from Iraq?" -------------- LUNCH WITH OPINION MAKERS -------------- ¶8. U/S Hughes lunched with five Brazilian academic, business, government, and media leaders at the CG's residence. The guests were Roberto Civita, President of Editora Abril; former Foreign Minister Celso Lafer; Jose Goldemberg, Sao Paulo State Secretary for Environmental Affairs; Roberto Gianetti da Fonseca of SILEX Financial Consulting; and Helio Magalhaes, President of the Sao Paulo AMCHAM. Three topics of discussion emerged: U.S. environmental policy, U.S.-Brazil free trade, and nuclear weapons proliferation. ¶9. Brazilian leaders expressed concern over the USG's seemingly inconsistent policy on environmental protection, citing the groundbreaking U.S. Clean Air Act on the one hand versus the USG's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. The guests hailed the environmentally-friendly progress Brazil has made in replacing fossil fuel energy with sugar cane-based ethanol. This change has helped make Brazil a "net zero" importer of fuel. U/S Hughes SAO PAULO 00000293 003 OF 004 underscored President Bush's commitment to reducing America's dependency on fossil fuel energy. ¶10. Consistent with previous messages, the Brazilian guests stressed that American agricultural subsidies are the major obstacle to Brazil's supporting FTAA. One participant asserted that the USG has never made a compelling argument as to how FTAA would benefit Brazilian citizens and companies. Another said Brazil has put itself in a difficult position by not working actively with the U.S. on FTAA. As a result, the U.S. has negotiated a series of bilateral free trade agreements that have effectively isolated Brazil and have threatened Brazil's access to other Latin American markets as well as to the United States. ¶11. Finally, U/S Hughes and her guests talked about nuclear proliferation issues. She outlined the advantages of the new U.S.-India agreement. She also voiced the USG's continued concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions. -------------- OTHER ACTIVITIES -------------- ¶12. U/S Hughes and her delegation met briefly with the staff of ConGen Sao Paulo, where she delivered brief remarks on transformational diplomacy and discussed the central role of public diplomacy in our work, and then took questions. ¶13. U/S Hughes ended her program with a visit late Monday to the NGO "Meninos do Morumbi" (Children of Morumbi, located in a relatively poor neighborhood of Sao Paulo). There she toured the NGO and learned about how the USG, the GoB, other governments, and the private sector have supported the organization's work with underprivileged children. After a performance by the Meninos do Morumbi band and dancers, she chatted with Brazilian youth between the ages of 10 and 16 about their study and career aspirations, her trip to Chile, and the role of women in society. -------------- PRESS COVERAGE -------------- ¶14. Both TV Record and Rede TV news reports featured positive coverage from Under Secretary Hughes's two-day visit to Sao Paulo. TV Record's evening news carried images from the Under Secretary's lunch Sunday with young leaders from the U.S. Embassy's Youth Ambassadors program and her visit late Monday to the Meninos de Morumbi youth program. Rede TV also covered her visit to the NGO Meninos do Morumbi. The liberal daily Folha de Sao Paulo devoted a four-column report with photo on U/S Hughes's lecture at Mackenzie College. Online publications such as O Estado de Sco Paulo's news agency "Agencia Estado" and the news service "Ultimo Segundo" also reported on Hughes's speech and discussion with students. While the Folha report focused on the students' criticism of Hughes's remarks, the "Agencia Estado" and "Ultimo Segundo" reports noted the criticism but also quoted professors and students who welcomed the opportunity to have a frank discussion with a U.S. official. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶15. U/S Hughes's visit enabled us to afford our key Brazilian interlocutors, as well as a cross-section of students and youth, the opportunity for a face-to-face exchange with a high-level USG representative who was able to articulate the administration's policies and the rationale behind current and sometimes controversial U.S. foreign policy decisions. U/S Hughes's willingness to engage with a wide range of audiences -- from SAO PAULO 00000293 004 OF 004 students to former government ministers, explaining administration foreign policy at one moment, and talking with Youth Ambassadors and teenagers from Meninos do Morumbi -- about their impressions of the U.S. and their plans for the future, helped to put a human face on the USG, emphasizing the close ties and shared values between the U.S. and Brazil. Overall, the visit measurably advanced our top public diplomacy goals. End Comment. ¶16. This cable was cleared/coordinated with Embassy Brasilia and with U/S Hughes's delegation. MCMULLEN