VZCZCXRO7037
OO RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #0823 1171717
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271717Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5228
INFO RUEAHQA/OSAF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 6832
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 1954
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 4668
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO 0146
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 3717
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 2961

UNCLAS BRASILIA 000823 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR H AND RM/F/DFS/FO/AA/CAA 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OREP AMGT ASEC AFIN SENV TBIO KSCA OTRA BR
SUBJECT: CODEL SPECTER VISIT TO BRAZIL APRIL 12-15, 2006 
 
REFS: (A) STATE 52607, (B) STATE 52608 
 
¶1. (SBU) The Congressional delegation headed by Senator Arlen 
Specter, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, visited Brasilia and 
Manaus April 12-15, 2006, and met with Brazilian officials to 
discuss narcotics, immigration and environmental issues.  Codel 
members included Senator Specter and Mrs. Joan Specter, Senator Jeff 
Sessions and Mrs. Mary Sessions, Staffer Evan Kelly, Dr. Michael 
Curran and military escorts Lt. Col Nicholas Johnston and Shawn 
Baldy. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In Brasilia, Senators Specter and Sessions, accompanied by 
Charge and Emboffs, met with Foreign Ministry Under Secretary Jose 
Eduardo Felicio, who has responsibility in the ministry for South 
America, trade, and narcotics and security issues.  Addressing first 
the question of narcotics, Felicio and his senior advisor on 
transnational crime gave an overview of narcotics trafficking in 
Brazil.  They noted that most Colombian cocaine moves through Brazil 
en route to Europe and Africa (vice the U.S., where prices are 
lower), and that Brazil's aerial interdiction program and vigilance 
on its Amazon border with Colombia had reduced Colombian drug flows 
into the country.  However, they expressed deep concern about the 
possibility of increased flows of relatively inexpensive coca 
products into Brazil from Bolivia, since those drugs are the base 
for most of the crack consumed in Brazil, and the main trafficking 
product of the violent criminal organizations ravaging Rio and other 
cities.  In response to a question from Senator Sessions on how 
Brazil assesses Chavez's influence in the region, Felicio replied 
that the GOB has concerns about Chavez's rhetoric, but also stressed 
he has a democratic mandate.  He added that Brazil "has seen no 
clear evidence" that Chavez is carrying out destabilizing actions in 
other countries, though he added that the GOB "would act" on such 
information if it receives it.  Charge rejoined that it is widely 
understood that FARC elements operate with impunity in some areas of 
Venezuela - certainly a destabilizing fact from the GOC's viewpoint. 
 In response to questions from the senators on immigration, Felicio 
said that Brazil's one million-plus immigrants (legal and otherwise) 
in the U.S. are generally law-abiding and productive, but probably 
would not fit easily into new "guest worker" categories under U.S. 
consideration.  Felicio, who served in the U.S., noted that most 
Brazilians in the United States are "reasonably" educated persons 
with middle class backgrounds and skills, and not agricultural 
workers - presumably the main category of "guest worker" under 
consideration. 
 
¶3. (U) In Manaus, Senators Specter and Sessions were briefed by NASA 
Coordinator Josefine Durazo on the work that agency is doing in the 
Amazon.  U.S. scientists, sponsored by NASA, are in the Amazon 
working with their Brazilian counterparts utilizing data from NASA 
satellites to measure atmospheric changes caused by land use changes 
such as deforestation through logging and/or fires. Senator Specter 
and Sessions were also briefed on how in the Brazilian Amazon region 
alone, the annual deforestation rate covers about 7700 square miles 
(an area about the size of New Jersey) and its impact on global 
warming.  The CODEL had an opportunity to speak with indigenous 
people about how the environmental movement has affected their 
ability to use the forests, and saw specimens on the endangered 
species list. 
 
¶4. (U) Embassy Brasilia trusts that their brief, but intense three 
days in Brazil provided the delegation with a overview of the 
bilateral relationship, and how the United States and Brazil are 
working together to resolve the challenges of drug trafficking, 
strengthening democracies and reducing deforestation in the 
Americas. 
 
¶5. (U) This cable was not cleared by CODEL Specter prior to 
transmission. 
 
CHICOLA