A/S SHANNON MEETS WITH MRE POLITICAL UNDERSECRETARY GENERAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIO DE JANEIRO 000363

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/09
TAGS: PREL MARR CASC UNSC IR BR
SUBJECT: A/S SHANNON MEETS WITH MRE POLITICAL UNDERSECRETARY GENERAL
FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS

RIO DE JAN 00000363 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Lisa Kubiske, Charge d'Affaires; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)

SUMMARY




1. (SBU) On October 22, 2009, WHA Assistant Secretary Tom Shannon
met with Ambassador Vera Machado, Under-Secretary General for
Political Affairs from the Ministry of External Relations (MRE) in
Salvador, Bahia, on the margins of the Third Steering Group Meeting
for the Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial Discrimination
(reftel). Charge d'Affaires, WHA/BSC Office Director, and Rio
Pol/Econoff (notetaker) also attended the meeting. The MRE's
Director for United Nations Division Gilda Motta Santos Neves,
Director for U.S., Canadian, and Inter-American Affairs Department
Carlos Abreu, and the Brazilian Embassy Chief of Staff to the
Ambassador in Washington Alexandre Ghisleni accompanied Machado.




2. (C) Machado praised plans for a U.S.-Brazil high-level dialogue,
and suggested adding the topic of gender. She said the U.S.-Brazil
Defense Cooperation Agreement was in the "final" stages of analysis
in Brasilia. A/S Shannon raised the Sean Goldman custody case in
the context of Brazil's Hague Convention obligations. UN Division
Head Gilda Motta Santos called Brazil's upcoming term as an elected
member of the Security Council (UNSC) "special," and suggested
regular, strategic consultations with the United States on UNSC
issues. A/S Shannon strongly urged Machado to exercise the MRE's
influence with Iran to promote democracy and human rights, to which
she agreed, stating the MRE would ask Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to stay the executions of hundreds of democracy
protesters. End Summary.



U.S.-BRAZIL DIALOGUE




3. (C) Machado praised the plans for a high-level Dialogue and
suggested adding the topic of gender, stating, "It would send a
good signal to Secretary Clinton." On overall dialogue issues,
Abreu said MRE faced a challenge on mechanisms that were not
State/MRE-led. He suggested creating mechanisms at the ministerial
level and then transferring leadership to the presidential level.
According to Abreu, dialogue mechanisms not under MRE control
"don't work well." He criticized other ministries for a "lack of
institutional memory," and suggested the GoB could improve this by
emulating the existing bilateral Economic Policy Dialogue (EPD),
which incorporates effective recording of minutes.



BRAZIL'S NEW AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES




4. (C) With the arrival of a Mauro Vieira, the new Brazilian
Ambassador to the United States, Machado said the MRE was in a
process of "change." She stated the MRE was producing a paper with
ideas on possible new areas of bilateral engagement. With Vieira
in Washington, Machado said, there will be "lots of advances."
Machado expressed concern about a possible delay of Ambassador
Vieira's confirmation in the Brazilian Senate. While explaining a
window of time currently exists to push through the confirmation,
she said such a window would likely close by mid-December when the
Brazilians break for the holidays.



DEFENSE COOPERATION AGREEMENT




5. (C) According to Machado, the U.S.-Brazil Defense Cooperation
Agreement was in the "final" stages of analysis in Brasilia, and
the Ministry of Defense (MOD) was "very favorable" towards it.
Abreu said the agreement was similar to other bilateral defense
agreements Brazil had entered into, citing Namibia as an example.
He claimed these similarities helped to make the Brazilian
inter-ministerial review process easier. (Note: Embassy was
subsequently informed that FM Amorim has provided MRE approval of
the DCA to the MOD. End note.)

RIO DE JAN 00000363 002.2 OF 002


SEAN GOLDMAN CASE




6. (C) A/S Shannon raised the Sean Goldman custody case in the
context of Brazil's Hague Convention obligations, urging the MRE to
help return Goldman to his father's custody. Ghisleni suggested
that U.S. Members of Congress should avoid "inflammatory speech" in
a Congressional hearing on child abductions scheduled for early
November. According to Ghisleni, harshly-worded language could be
a potentially negative influence on a court proceeding in Rio de
Janeiro, to take place shortly following the hearing.



BRAZIL'S ELECTED MEMBER ROLE IN THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL




7. (C) UN Division Head Santos called Brazil's upcoming term as an
elected member of the UN Security Council "special," explaining
that many countries were very interested to see how Brazil would
use its seat. "Although this is our 10th time on the Council, there
is a sense that this time is different," she said. According to
Santos, Brazil now needs more "contacts" on UNSC issues, and she
suggested regular "strategic" consultations, as opposed to an "as
needed basis," between MRE and State. "We have a lot to learn from
you," she said. Machado also stressed the need for closer
coordination with the United States in the UN, and mentioned human
rights as a specific area.



IRAN




8. (C) A/S Shannon strongly urged Machado to exercise the MRE's
influence with Iran to promote democracy and human rights. He
encouraged Brazil to use its voice with President Ahmadinejad to
stay the executions of the hundreds of protesters arrested after
the presidential elections last June. Machado agreed with A/S
Shannon's concern and said the MRE would raise the issue with the
Iranians.