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C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000808 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EFIN ENRG AR BR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S APRIL 24 LUNCH WITH BRAZILIAN 
AMBASSADOR 
 
REF: BRASILIA 00708 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR E. ANTHONY WAYNE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Ambassador met April 24 with Brazil's Ambassador to 
Argentina, Mauro Viera, to discuss the April 26-27 visit of 
President Lula to Argentina (after Lula's visit to Chile). 
Following are highlights of the discussion: 
 
¶2.  (C) Brazil-Argentine Relations:  Friday morning, Lula 
will meet privately with Kirchner at the Argentine 
presidential residence of Olivos and then for lunch they will 
be joined by the first ladies and probably Foreign Minister 
Amorim, Advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia and Ambassador Viera for 
Brazil.  The main purpose of the meeting is for Lula to have 
private &political8 talks with Kirchner, particularly about 
regional events and actors and an opportunity to shore up 
personal relations. 
 
¶3.  (C) Bio-fuels:  The Brazilians feel they have effectively 
rebutted recent criticism by Chavez and Castro of their 
bio-fuels cooperation with the U.S., but they are still not 
happy with Chavez' populist antics.  As for the Argentines, 
Brazil is open to including them in broader efforts, but they 
have not asked. 
 
¶4.  (C) Banco del Sur:  Chavez clearly wants this for 
ideological reasons, but it is not clear what its role would 
be.  The region does not need a mini-IMF.  It has plenty of 
development bank money available from the World Bank, the IDB 
and Brazil's own development bank, plus the Andean Fund 
(CAF).  In fact, Argentina has borrowed almost $1.9 billion 
from Brazil's bank and can borrow more.  What will another 
bank with $400 million in capital provide?  The Brazilians 
might be open to be some more specialized uses for an 
institution, such as helping financing infrastructure, but 
they need to be convinced. 
 
¶5.  (C) U.S.-Brazil, U.S.-Argentine relations: Brazil is very 
pleased with its cooperative arrangements with the U.S. in 
many fields, and President Lula was very pleased with his 
visit to Camp David.  Brazil will resist efforts by others to 
turn this cooperation into something negative for relations 
in South America.  This is not a zero sum game, and Brazil 
has little patience with Chavez and others who try to portray 
it that way.  Also, Brazil is aware (citing Secretary Rice's 
meeting with Foreign Minister Amorim) of U.S. upset with 
Argentina and with Kirchner's tendency to not remember all 
the U.S. has done to help Argentina in the past.  The 
Brazilians think this attitude is short-sighted. 
 
¶6.  (C) Bolivia-Brazil:  Lula had a very tough talk with Evo 
Morales in Venezuela and is very upset with Bolivia's actions 
in the energy sector.  Serious talks between the Brazilian 
energy minister and Bolivian counterparts followed, but 
Brazil is still quite wary about what Morales might announce 
in terms of further nationalizations in the weeks ahead. 
This worry has just underscored the need to diversify sources 
of energy supply. 
 
¶7.  (C) Petrobras-Argentine relations:  The stir caused over 
the critical statements by Petrobras CEO about Argentine 
energy policies has blown over.  But, the CEO was, in part, 
responding to stockholder pressures to show more profit, when 
he made his initial comments.  GOA Planning Minister De Vido 
sent a threatening letter afterwards, but the Brazilians did 
not take up that tone and responded with a high road response 
about the importance of long term relations and the 
commitment of Brazil to invest.  This smoothed ruffled 
feathers but again showed extreme sensitivity in Argentina to 
things that look even mildly critical of official policies. 
WAYNE