Pubdate: Wed, 30 Aug 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: (212) 556-3622
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Larry Rohter

BRAZIL BEGINS TO TAKE ROLE ON THE WORLD STAGE

BRASILIA -- When Henry A. Kissinger visited here as secretary of state
in the mid-1970's, his Brazilian counterpart, Antonio Azeredo da
Silveira, made a point of escorting him on a tour of Itamaraty Palace,
the ultramodern glass and marble headquarters of the Brazilian Foreign
Ministry.

Afterward, Mr. Silveira asked his American guest for his impressions.  

Grinning with amusement, Mr. Silveira later recalled in an interview 
Mr. Kissinger's reply: "It's a magnificent building, Antonio. Now all 
you need is a foreign policy to go with it."  

Nearly a quarter of a century later, the joke may finally be on the
United States. Today an increasingly confident and assertive Brazil is
emerging as both an American partner and rival in Latin America,
steering its own course on political and economic matters and, in the
words of Anthony S. Harrington, the United States ambassador here,
"stepping out onto the world stage in a way that it never has before."

At the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle last fall, for 
instance, it was Brazil that led the bloc of developing nations in 
criticizing Washington's position. And on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, Brazil 
is sponsoring a first meeting of South American presidents here that is 
being seen as both a coming-out party and an effort to forge a unified 
regional front in negotiations with the United States about a 
hemispheric free-trade zone.  

"It is clearly the judgment that the continent is now ready for Brazil
to assume a broader, more dynamic leadership role in regional affairs,"
Riordan Roett, director of the Western Hemisphere Program at Johns
Hopkins University, said in referring to Brazilian leaders in an essay
published this month by the Web site InfoBrazil.com. "And it is now
understood in South America that the regional card to play is one that
is led from Brasilia."

As the largest country in Latin America but separated from its Spanish-
speaking neighbors by its Portuguese language, Brazil has traditionally 
conducted a foreign policy that is pragmatic but that only recently 
began to emphasize relations within the region. By habit, said Helio 
Jaguaribe of the Institute for Political and Social Studies in Rio de 
Janeiro, "Brazil seeks cooperation," recognizing that "whether or not 
you like the United States, you have to live with it."  

For that reason the United States has welcomed the summit meeting, even 
though one of its goals is to blunt Washington's strategy in trade 
talks of favoring bilateral agreements in which it has the upper hand.  

"A South America assembled into a single bloc would add up to more than 
the sum of its parts and therefore be in a position to insist on more 
balanced negotiations with the North American trading bloc," said 
Gilberto Dupas of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University 
of Sao Paulo.  

If regional integration is to take place, the State Department would 
clearly prefer to see Brazil lead it rather than Venezuela's firebrand 
president, Hugo Chavez, whose calls for South American unity contain 
authoritarian and markedly anti-American elements. Indeed, given its 
sheer size and the relative maturity and health of its democracy 
compared with some of its more troubled neighbors, Brazil may be best 
positioned to lead such a effort.  

"I think President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is looked upon as somewhat 
of an uncle by some of the other leaders in South America," Ambassador 
Harrington said in an interview. "His orientation and goal is to steer 
onto the path of democracy a few countries that may be a little more 
challenged there."  

The United States has recognized the benefits of Brazil's playing such 
a role since the early 1980's, when Brazilian diplomacy guided a 
leftist government in Suriname away from a flirtation with Cuba. More 
recently, Brazil helped negotiate the end to a potentially explosive 
border dispute between Ecuador and Peru, and has used its influence to 
head off potential military coups in Paraguay.  

President Clinton praised Brazil and Argentina during a visit to 
nuclear-armed India and Pakistan this spring as examples of nations 
that have successfully negotiated an end to dangerous nuclear programs 
and even become allies. Bitter military rivals for most of their 
history, Brazil and Argentina have in the last decade become partners 
in the Mercosul trade bloc and are now talking about adopting a common 
currency.  

The United States and Brazil have disagreed recently, however, over the 
suspect presidential election in Peru that resulted in a third term for 
Alberto K. Fujimori. The United States was pushing behind the scenes 
for sanctions, and American officials have complained privately that 
Brazil was undermining their efforts to nudge the Organization of 
American States into a tough collective stance.  

"Washington should have seen that one coming," said David Fleischer, a 
professor of political science at the National University of Brasilia. 
"If you want to bring the Andean nations into Mercosul, as Brazil 
apparently does, you are not going to want to slap them in the face."  

But it is the crisis in Colombia, with which Brazil shares a 1,000-mile 
border, that seems to have the most potential to become a source of 
disagreement with Washington. The Clinton administration's plan to 
supply $1.3 billion in military and economic aid to President Andres 
Pastrana of Colombia has been widely criticized in the Brazilian press 
and Congress, and official support for the American-backed effort 
appears lukewarm, at best.  

"Brazil certainly has concerns there could be a spillover onto our 
side, whether of coca cultivation and trafficking or of combat between 
the Colombian Army and guerrillas," Brazil's foreign minister, Luiz 
Felipe Lampreia, said in an interview here. The American aid plan to 
Colombia, he added, represents "a stepping up of the level of conflict" 
that "could generate this effect."  

At a joint news conference with Secretary of State Madeleine K. 
Albright during her South American tour this month, Mr. Lampreia's 
remarks were even stronger. "We do not have the same degree of 
commitment," he said of the plan in Colombia, with Dr. Albright by his 
side. "We have no intention of participating in any common or concerted 
international action."  

Another point of potential tension is the hemispheric free-trade talks, 
which are supposed to reach an agreement by 2005.  

Brazil and the United States are the co-chairmen, but after six years 
of negotiations, it is clear that the two nations have very different 
views, with some officials in Washington describing Brazil's position 
as "obstructionist."  

Brazil, in turn, complains of protectionist barriers and subsidies in 
the United States that discriminate against Brazilian products ranging 
from steel and textiles to sugar and orange juice.  

Speaking of access to the American market, Mr. Lampreia said, "What is 
essential for us is a free-trade agreement completely devoid of tariff 
and nontariff barriers so that we can have unobstructed access."  
- ---
MAP posted-by: John Chase