Echec de BHO au Brésil

Echec de BHO au Brésil

A la fin du mois, alors que l’attaque contre la Libye de Kadhafi était lancée, BHO se trouvait en Amérique latine, au Brésil principalement, jouant au football avec des gosses des favelas de Rio notamment. Accessoirement, tout de même, il rencontra la nouvelle présidente, depuis le 1er janvier, Dilma Rousseff. Les stratèges du département d’Etat, suivis par les commentateurs-Système qui vont bien, avaient conclu que l’occasion était bonne, que Rousseff était plus accommodante que Lula, qu’on pouvait récupérer le Brésil on board, dans les vastes entreprises américanistes. Ils s’étaient donc trompés…

Greg Grandin tire les leçons de cette visite, sur AlJazeera.net, le 30 mars 2011. La crise libyenne, et l’intervention US très, très mal perçue au Brésil, a servi de catalyseur conjoncturel au raidissement brésilien par rapport à ce qu'on en attendait à Washington. Rousseff n’est pas Lula (bien que très proche de lui), mais il n’est pas assuré que ce soit une sinécure pour les USA…

«The Washington Post, the New York Times, and National Public Radio, along with a host of other newspapers, cable news commentators, and blogs, all predicted that Obama, the US's first African American president, and Rousseff, Brazil's first woman leader, would find common ground, reversing the deterioration of diplomatic relations that had begun under Rousseff's predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. […]

»…Rousseff, it was reported, would be eager to use the trip to distance herself from her political patron, Lula. Though she was a member of a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organisation opposing a US-backed dictatorship during her youth in the 1970s, Brazil's new leader had, according to the Washington Post, a “practical approach to governance and foreign relations after eight years of the flamboyant Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva”.

»“She's a different person and has a different style,” remarked the chairman of Goldman Sachs asset management. She was “warm” and would welcome Obama cordially (has it really gotten to the point where the US, which for decades presided imperiously over the international community, is today just happy that foreign leaders aren’t rude when its presidents come calling?)… […]

»Unfortunately for Washington the reality has departed from the narrative. Brazil, under Rousseff, continues largely to follow its own diplomatic lights. Even before Obama landed in Rio, Brazil, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, joined with China and Germany to abstain from the vote authorising “all necessary measures” against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

»Since then, its opposition to the bombing has hardened. According to the Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), Brazil's foreign ministry – still, for the most part, staffed by the diplomats who charted Lula's foreign policy – recently issued a statement condemning the loss of civilian lives and calling for the start of dialogue.

»Lula himself has endorsed Dilma's critical position on Libya, going further in his condemnation of the intervention… […] These comments were the first indication that the ex-president, still enormously popular and influential in Brazil, planned to continue to openly weigh in on his successor’s foreign Policy. […]

»On other important issues as well, Brazil continues push back against Washington.

»The US-controlled International Monetary Fund (IMF), for example, is demanding that Brazil, one of the world's fastest growing economies, calm bond market concerns about inflation by reining in social spending. Dilma's economic team has so far balked. It argues instead that inflation can be controlled by government regulation of “hot money”" that is, the ability of foreign capital to place speculative bets on, and reap enormous profits off of, Brazil’s currency. […]

»Likewise, Brazil continues to be the main obstacle to jumpstarting the Doha Round of the world trade talks, demanding that the US and Europe lower tariffs to the products and commodities of the developing world. While graciously hosting the US president, Rousseff nonetheless strongly criticized Washington’s ability to preach free trade while practicing protectionism, demanding that the US open its markets to Brazilian imports such as ethanol, steel, and orange juice.»

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