This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

S E C R E T BRASILIA 001207 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2015 
TAGS: PINR PREL BR US
SUBJECT:  BRAZIL:  Ambassador's Lunch with General Jorge 
Armando Felix, Minister for Institutional Security 
 
Classified by Ambassador John J. Danilovich for reasons 1.4 
(B),(C) and(D). 
 
1.(S)  Ambassador hosted General Jorge Armando Felix, 
Minister for Institutional Security, for lunch at the 
residence on 4 May 2005.  While General Felix has much less 
influence than his predecessor from the previous 
government, he is still the country's most senior 
intelligence official and the rough equivalent of national 
security advisor to the president.  In addition to his own 
staff at the Ministry for Institutional Security (GSI), 
which contains representatives from the various Brazilian 
Government security and foreign relations agencies, General 
Felix is also responsible for overseeing the Brazilian 
National Intelligence Agency (ABIN). 
 
2.(S)  The Tri-Border Region:  The Ambassador asked General 
Felix for an assessment of the transnational crime 
situation in the tri-border region of Brazil, Argentina and 
Paraguay.  General Felix admitted that there were serious 
problems in the region and that the illegal movement of 
arms, money, drugs and the like through the region was of 
concern to the Brazilian Government.  Felix said that both 
ABIN and the Brazilian Federal Police (DPF) were devoting 
additional personnel and resources to the problem and noted 
that ABIN even had some joint programs with RMAS that were 
focused on these issues. 
 
3.(S)  Counterterrorism:  This led to a discussion on 
terrorism issues/operations in the tri-border region and 
throughout Brazil.  General Felix said that ABIN worked 
closely with RMAS in jointly targeting individuals of 
interest, and the Ambassador expressed his appreciation for 
this assistance.  General Felix said that in addition to 
the joint operations that we were working together, the 
Brazilian government was also appealing to moderate, second 
generation Arabs, many of whom were successful businessmen 
in Brazil, to keep a close eye on fellow Arabs who may be 
influenced by Arab extremists and/or terrorist groups. 
General Felix said that it was in the interest of these 
moderate, Arabs to keep potential firebrands in line and 
keep the microscope off of the Arab community in Brazil. 
General Felix said that the recently murdered former prime 
minister of Lebanon sent that same message to the Arab 
community in Brazil during a visit a few years back. 
General Felix said that it was important that 
counterterrorism operations were packaged properly so as 
not to negatively reflect on the proud and successful Arab 
community in Brazil. 
 
4.(S)  Venezuela:  Following the CT discussion, the 
Ambassador raised Venezuela and its president Hugo Chavez 
and noted that Chavez was disrupting Brazil's efforts to 
play a leading role politically and economically in South 
America.  General Felix nodded his head and appeared to be 
very carefully measuring his response.  He then said that 
he had his own personal opinions about Chavez (which he did 
not share) that were different from the Brazilian 
Government?s position.  That being said, General Felix said 
that he preferred keeping in line with the official 
position (though he did not elaborate on it either).  Felix 
noted that whether one was pro- or anti-Chavez, he had 
become very much a part of the "Latin American" reality. 
 
5.(S)  Additional Assistance:  The Ambassador asked General 
Felix if there were any areas where the USG could better 
assist the GSI and/or ABIN.  Felix said that he was very 
happy with the assistance currently being provided by the 
USG.  One area where he claimed that the Brazilian 
Government was falling behind was in protecting its own 
classified and unclassified computer systems.  Felix said 
that he would welcome any assistance (courses, visitors, 
etc.) in this area.  Felix also said that he was trying to 
beef up the GSI and ABIN's SIGINT capabilities and could 
always use some assistance along those lines. 
 
6.(S)  Embassy Comment:  General Felix is an amiable, low- 
key individual.  He does not appear overly ambitious and 
admitted that he preferred traveling for the sake of 
pleasure as opposed to business.  He is not someone who 
will make waves, and this likely contributed to his walking 
carefully through the Venezuela discussion.  The above 
being said, General Felix has always been a straightforward 
interlocutor, and his term at GSI has been highlighted by 
very cooperative, joint CT operations between RMAS and 
ABIN.  All in all, his continued presence at GSI bodes well 
for U.S. interests. 
 
DANILOVICH