Como o The New York Times noticiou o dia de Obama, ontem no Brasil.
By JACKIE CALMES and ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
BRASÍLIA — Behind the scenes here, President Obama on Saturday performed the most profound act of a commander in chief: sending American forces into conflict. Publicly, however, he kept to the schedule of his first visit to South America, hailing the United States’ growing economic and political ties with Brazil and predicting “a path toward even greater cooperation for decades to come.”
The two countries’ differences were also aired, if gently, as Mr. Obama met with the newly elected president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, who has signaled a desire for closer relations with the United States.
Each president criticized the trade barriers of the other’s country even as they celebrated improvements in their relations, including an increase in trade that has created jobs in both places.
Mr. Obama praised Brazil as “a global leader” but declined to endorse its bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, which is considering a reorganization to give permanent membership and a greater voice to emerging powers like Brazil. Last fall, in a visit to India, Mr. Obama lent support to that country’s hopes for a permanent seat.
Brazil and India, both temporary members of the Security Council, were among the five nations that abstained in Thursday’s vote to authorize force against Libya. They said the resolution was too broad, illustrating a desire to act independent of the traditional big powers.
While Mr. Obama and Ms. Rousseff did not announce any major agreements after their private meeting and subsequent sessions with business leaders from the United States and Brazil, they did announce accords for further talks toward cooperation on economic, financial, energy and trade issues.
“It’s time for the United States to treat our engagement with Brazil on economic issues as seriously as we do with nations like China and India,” Mr. Obama said to applause at a forum of American and Brazilian corporate executives.
Mr. Obama came here with his family and top advisers to open a five-day trip to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador that was intended to underscore economic opportunities in the region, especially in Brazil. But his visit was overshadowed from the start by the approach of the multinational military campaign to defend the Libyan opposition against attack by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces. By late afternoon, Mr. Obama interrupted his appearances to announce to reporters that American troops had joined those from European and Arab nations in carrying out the Security Council resolution.
Even in a presidency that has been defined by crises inherited and new, Mr. Obama’s day stood out for the mix of long-planned diplomacy and unexpected crisis management. Besides the situation in Libya, administration officials were monitoring events in Japan.
The Obama administration has long described the trip, especially its Brazil leg, in terms of its potential economic benefits for the United States — in keeping with Mr. Obama’s main domestic theme.
So White House officials remained confident that his absence from Washington was easily justifiable in terms most Americans could support — especially given the ever-present communications available to a traveling president.
In his weekly address carried Saturday on radio and the Internet, Mr. Obama spoke of the hundreds of thousands of American jobs owing to exports to Brazil and Chile. And in remarks here, he said: “Brazil’s extraordinary rise has captured the attention of the world. The United States doesn’t simply recognize Brazil’s rise; we support it enthusiastically.”
For all of the mutual praise, Mr. Obama and Ms. Rousseff were direct in their criticisms, particularly Ms. Rousseff.
She said the two countries’ relationship had in the past been marked by “empty rhetoric” from the United States. A “deeper relationship” with Brazil, which now has the world’s seventh-largest economy, “has to be a construct amongst equals,” she said.
She objected to what she called American protectionism in some areas, saying that she understood that the United States had to take “tough measures” to restore growth after the global financial crisis, which Brazil largely escaped. But, she added, stronger ties would require the United States to lower trade barriers for Brazilian products like ethanol, beef, cotton, orange juice and aircraft.
Mr. Obama had a similar complaint against Brazil. “As the World Bank has noted, there are still too many obstacles in the way of doing business in Brazil,” he told a business group. “And I know Brazil has issues with certain policies in the U.S.
“But I also know that there is no country that has more to gain than Brazil from expanded trade and open markets.”
Repeatedly, Mr. Obama said the United States wanted to help Brazil in building infrastructure for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, and in developing Brazil’s recently discovered deepwater oil reserves, and then buying the oil.
“At a time when we’ve been reminded how easily instability in other parts of the world can affect the price of oil,” Mr. Obama said, “the United States could not be happier with the potential for a new, stable source of energy.”
He and Ms. Rousseff also agreed to form a “Green Economy Partnership” to develop and help finance biofuels and other clean energy sources.
Brazil is expected to spend about $200 billion on public works related to the World Cup and Summer Olympics. “American companies stand ready to help you meet this challenge, on everything from engineering to manufacturing to construction,” Mr. Obama said.
The presidents announced an open-skies accord, a sort of free-market agreement liberalizing commercial aviation between their countries. But Mr. Obama said the two sides had not reached agreement on waiving visa requirements, as the Brazilians and the American tourist industry want.
Aside from its potential for better economic ties, the trip had also been promoted by the administration as a way for Mr. Obama to connect more generally with Latin Americans, especially in Brazil, a multiracial society where he has been wildly popular since his presidential campaign.
But the White House’s plans to stage a speech in a plaza where thousands of Brazilians could see him were aborted in favor of one indoors, at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, because of Secret Service security concerns.
To the delight of the Brazilians, Mr. Obama is traveling with his family: his wife, Michelle; his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who are on spring break; his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson; and Eleanor Kaye Wilson, his daughters’ godmother.
Mrs. Obama is holding public events of her own, mostly to promote better education among South America’s large youth population.
Alexei Barrionuevo contributed reporting.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário