VZCZCXYZ0021
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0128 0741510
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 141510Z MAR 08
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8001
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 9144
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8638
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 3049

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000128 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: WESTERN HEMISPHERE: SECSTATE RICE'S VISIT 
TO BRAZIL, PRESIDENT BUSH'S STATEMENT ON CHAVEZ; SAO PAULO 
 
¶1. "The War Continues" 
 
Columnist Eliane Cantanhede commented in largest national 
circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (3/14): "Condoleezza Rice used 
her visit to Brasilia to send a tough message to Latin America, 
especially Venezuela and Ecuador.  In a meeting with Foreign 
Minister Celso Amorim, she said that borders should not serve as 
'refuge for terrorists' and demanded 'obligations' from the region's 
nations to fight terrorism.  In other words, she brought forth the 
position the US will adopt in next Monday's OAS meeting in 
Washington.  The threat of a war between Colombia (having the US 
behind it) and Ecuador (supported by Venezuela) was removed by a 
consensual decision that nothing justifies the violation of 
Ecuadorian borders.  But Bush and Rice disagree with that.... While 
the US intensifies its rhetoric, Brazil once again positions itself 
as a main mediator in the dispute." 
 
2."Inopportune Interference" 
 
Center-right, national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo (3/14) 
editorialized: "President Bush has once again demonstrated his 
inability to see the reality of a world whose political destiny 
depends decisively on US foreign policy. Now it is Latin America 
that was hit by White House's obscure conceptions.  On Wednesday, on 
the eve of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's arrival in Brazil, 
George W. Bush and her main subordinate for regional affairs, Thomas 
Shannon, trampled on their own feet, expressing extemporaneous 
ideas. At the very moment when pressures of neighboring nations, 
including Brazil, forced Hugo Chvez to adopt a surprisingly 
constructive attitude, Bush decided to accuse him of keeping 'a 
worrisome pattern of provocative behavior,' beginning with his links 
with Colombian narco-terrorists.... With this attitude, the Bush 
administration offers the conditions for Colonel Chvez to try to 
resume the role of Latin America's defender against the 'Empire' 
that wants to show the Bolivarian regime as a supporter of terrorism 
and impose the correspondent sanctions on it. Let us hope that the 
inopportune US escalation does not trample the South American 
convergence achieved in the past few days." 
Story