Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BRASILIA396
2007-03-06 18:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Brasilia
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH SENIOR BRAZILIAN POLICYMAKERS PRIOR

Tags:  PREL ECON PTER OVIP SENV PGOV EAGR BR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7386
PP RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #0396/01 0651855
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061855Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8289
INFO RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 6324
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 3968
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 9353
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 4629
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6779
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 5976
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
RUEABND/DEA WASHDC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000396 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

NSC FOR FISK/CARDENAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ECON PTER OVIP SENV PGOV EAGR BR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH SENIOR BRAZILIAN POLICYMAKERS PRIOR
TO POTUS VISIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000396

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

NSC FOR FISK/CARDENAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ECON PTER OVIP SENV PGOV EAGR BR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH SENIOR BRAZILIAN POLICYMAKERS PRIOR
TO POTUS VISIT


1. (SBU) Summary. On February 27, the Ambassador met (separately)
with three influential GOB policymakers: Minister of Justice Marcio
Thomaz Bastos, MFA U/S for Political Affairs Everton Vieira Vargas,
and Lula Private Secretary Gilberto Carvalho. The wide-ranging
discussion touched upon a number of different issues, including
possible topics which might be raised at the upcoming March 9
meeting between POTUS and Lula in Sao Paulo, bilateral cooperation
on biofuels, negotiations on an amended extradition treaty, and
climate change. Minister Bastos indicated that he would soon be
departing the cabinet and that current Minister of Institutional
Relations Tarso Genro (part of the Rio Grande do Sul camp of the PT)
would replace him. Bastos predicted that the President's new
cabinet would be more disposed to working with the USG bilaterally
than Lula's current, more ideological crew. For his part, Gilberto
Carvalho conceded, Lula staff had not focussed a great deal on the
March 31 visit given that POTUS's March 8-9 stop in Sao Paulo would
occur first and that was monopolizing their attention. Lula, he
declared, was busy preparing for his meeting with POTUS in Sao Paulo
and very much wanted that event to go well and was anxious about it.
End Summary.

Discussion with Justice Minister Bastos
-------------- --------------

2. (SBU) Minister Bastos reiterated that the new Lula
administration should be less ideological, saying that sometimes
during the first term, some members of the administration had been
ideologically still in the stone age. He added that the current,
new generation of governors, figures such as Eduardo Campos of
Pernambuco, Aecio Neves of Minas Gerais, and Jose Serra of Sao
Paulo, is very business-minded and results-oriented. This all leads
to a new political environment within Brazil. Turning to bilateral
issues, the Ambassador mentioned that the USG would like to improve

the current 3+1 (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay plus the U.S.)
counter-terrorism mechanism to make it more effective. Minister
Bastos replied that now is an excellent time for that, as he finds
that the ministers of justice in the southern cone region as well as
Brazilian governors are much more receptive to integration and
cooperation in areas of security and justice than before.


3. (SBU) The Ambassador inquired about the Minister's expected
departure from the cabinet and who he expected would be his
successor. Bastos replied that he thought President Lula would soon
announce that Minister of Institutional Relations Tarso Genro would
be his successor. Bastos said that he would move to Sao Paulo, but
that he intends to continue his traditional weekly one-on-one
meetings with President Lula in an advisory capacity even after he
leaves office. Comment: This is probably due to the fact that he is
his personal attorney. End Comment. He added that the transition
will likely take at least several weeks during which time Bastos
will pass several complicated issues to Genro. Bastos suggested
that while Genro is a member of the PT party, he is also worldly
aware and open-minded, and should be considered a good contact as
well, especially in light of the growing importance of issues
covered by the Ministry of Justice.


4. (SBU) Bastos mentioned that he recently drafted 16 bills that
could well have a significant impact on security issues. He had
passed these measures on to President Lula who is currently
reviewing them and should soon be making a public announcement. One
of the bills would create 14,000 new beds in the Brazilian prison
system so as to increase the GOB's capacity to keep criminals behind
bars. The Ambassador mentioned that DEA Administrator Tandy would
be visiting Brazil at the end of March and asked Bastos if he would
be receptive to meeting her in Sao Paulo (a proposal to which the
Minister agreed.) The Ambassador also noted that the USG would like
to pursue an amendment to improve the existing extradition treaty,
not to try to draft a new one. The Minister agreed that this would
be a good idea, that the MOJ already has people studying this issue,
and suggested that Dr. Antenor Madruga, who already has an ongoing
relationship with the USDOJ, be the point of contact for continuing
discussions on this.

Meeting with MFA U/S Vargas
--------------

5. (SBU) With respect to the upcoming POTUS visit to Sao Paulo, the
Ambassador and Vargas agreed that increasing people-to-people
contact, through tourism, business, science and technology, and
exchanges, would be a worthwhile topic of discussion at the summit.
The two noted that biofuels would be another key focus of

BRASILIA 00000396 002 OF 002


discussion. Vargas then added what he said was a wholly personal
(not discussed with others in the GOB yet) idea about inviting 5-10
heads of state to participate in a dinner at the close of a biofuels
conference to be held in Rio de Janeiro next year. The Ambassador
agreed that it would be good to discuss such an initiative at the
summit. Vargas said he did not have specific information about
which regional issues President Lula wished to bring up. He said he
imagined that Lula would include the Doha Round in the list of
international issues to be discussed. When the Ambassador asked
whether Lula would bring up the Middle East, Vargas said it was more
likely that FM Amorim would raise it during his March 8 encounter
with the Secretary, but allowed that he could not predict with
certainty what Lula would choose to raise with the President.


6. (SBU) The Ambassador asked if the issue of climate change and
deforestation could arise during the March 31 summit at Camp David.
Vargas noted that the GOB will be making a presentation at an
international conference in Cairns, Australia the week of March 5,
adding that the U.S. delegation had already been in contact with the
Brazilian delegation regarding that presentation. He opined that
Lula might bring up climate change and deforestation within the
context of biofuels during the summit in Sao Paulo. For his part,
the Ambassador noted the First Lady's interest in possibly
addressing the theme of malaria, specifically the bed netting
initiative. Vargas stated that this was a particularly important
issue for the rural states of Rondonia, Acre, Mato Grosso and
Amazonas.

Meeting with Lula Private Secretary Gilberto Carvalho
-------------- --------------

7. (U) The conversation with Carvalho, a member of Lula's inside
circle, touched mostly upon the modalities regarding the March 8-9
POTUS visit to Sao Paulo and the return March 31 Lula visit to the
U.S. Carvalho noted that the GOB was considering staging a
business-themed event during the latter trip, possibly in
Washington, D.C. or New York. Lula, he said, had a good story to
tell with respect to the economy, adding that the President's second
term could see further opening in terms of imports regardless of the
outcome of the Doha Development Round. Other than that, Carvalho
conceded, Lula staff had not focussed a great deal on the March 31
visit given that the March 8-9 trip would occur first and that was
monopolizing their attention. Lula, he declared, was busy preparing
for his meeting with POTUS in Sao Paulo and very much wanted that
event to go well.

Chicola