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FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3604
INFO RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0220
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9117
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7303
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3572
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000224 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR WHA A/S SHANNON, USOAS AMB. MORALES, AMB. DAVIDOW, AND 
WHA/BSC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2019 
TAGS: PREL KSUM ENRG BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: U/S FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS ON UPCOMING 
CLINTON-AMORIM, OBAMA-LULA MEETINGS 
 
REF: BRASILIA 158 
 
Classified By: DCM Lisa Kubiske, Reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  In a February 21 meeting, Brazilian Ministry 
of External Relations (MRE) Under Secretary for Political 
Affairs Ambassador Everton Vargas told Ambassador Sobel that 
when FM Celso Amorim meets the Secretary next week, he will 
want to stress the importance of building on the progress 
made over the last two years in U.S.-Brazil bilateral 
relations.  Vargas said that Amorim will also want to discuss 
the economic crisis and April 2 G-20 meeting, the April 
Summit of the Americas, the Middle East peace process, and UN 
Security Council reform.  Vargas expects Amorim to raise the 
upcoming meeting between Presidents Obama and Lula, where 
Lula will likely want to discuss the financial crisis and 
U.S. relations with South America.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Vargas, who expects to be confirmed as Brazil's 
Ambassador to Germany shortly after congress reconvenes in 
March, was joined by his successor as Under Secretary for 
Political Affairs Ambassador Vera Machado, who just returned 
to Brasilia after serving as ambassador to the Vatican. 
(Note: Vargas's portfolio has recently been divided into two 
with the creation of a new Under Secretariat for Energy and 
Technology, now under Ambassador Andre Amado.  Machado will 
keep environment, international organizations, transnational 
crimes, Europe, the United States, and Canada in her 
portfolio.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (C) Vargas is focused on preparing FM Amorim for his 
February 25 meeting with the Secretary.  He stressed that the 
"cornerstone" of Amorim's message to the Secretary, which 
will "permeate all other ideas," is Brazil's desire to build 
on the progress in bilateral relations made over the last two 
years, and to continue the growing level of dialogue between 
our countries.  Amorim will likely raise the planned March 17 
meeting between Presidents Obama and Lula.  They principally 
view the meeting as a "get acquainted" session on which to 
build future relations and hope to have an "open agenda."  In 
addition to the bilateral relationship, they expect President 
Lula will want to discuss the financial crisis, UN Security 
Council Reform, South American integration, and U.S. 
relations with the region. 
 
¶4. (C) According to Vargas, the specific issues on Amorim's 
agenda will include: 
 
-- Summit of the Americas: Amorim expects that it will focus 
on the financial crisis, and does not want a 
"strait-jacketed" agenda, as the leaders should be free to 
discuss the most urgent issues for the region.  Brazil sees 
the SOA as a valuable opportunity for the new U.S. President 
to meet his regional counterparts, to discuss his 
Administration's agenda for the region, and to strengthen 
cooperation.  In this regard, Vargas believes FM Amorim will 
want to stress to the Secretary that it is important for the 
United States to recognize that the region has matured 
politically, economically, and socially.  With regard to 
Cuba, Vargas said that Brazil is pleased with the new 
Administration's actions with regard to Guantanamo and 
eventually hopes to see relations between the United States 
and Cuba normalized.  (Comment: It has become increasingly 
apparent over the last few months that the GOB views the SOA 
not as a gathering in which a single region, the Western 
Hemisphere, develops a common agenda, but rather as a forum 
for Latin America and the Caribbean to engage the United 
States and, to a lesser extent, Canada, much as regional 
leaders regularly engage Europe, Spain and Portugal, Arab 
states, and Africa.  End comment.) 
 
-- Regional Energy Cooperaton: Vargas said that Amorim is 
aware of U.S. interest in this issue and would like to know 
more about the Administration's plans.  Stating that he had 
been opposed originally to the U.S.-Brazil Biofuels MOU for 
fear that it would never get off the ground, Vargas said he 
is pleased that our cooperation in third countries now has 
good momentum and believes it could be enlarged, but stressed 
that MRE has had to apply a great deal of pressure to ensure 
it is implemented.  (Comment: Vargas' non-commital stance 
with regard to hemispheric energy matters contrasts with the 
more negative view of his MRE colleagues dealing with energy 
matters, inclding U/S Amado, who recently expressed very 
negative views about the prospects for a hemispheric energy 
agreement (ref A).  MRE's views differ from those expressed 
 
BRASILIA 00000224  002 OF 002 
 
 
by Ambassador Marcel Biato, foreign affairs advisor in the 
Presidency, in a February 20 meeting with congressional 
staffers (septel).  Biato indicated that Brazil was open to 
hearing more from the United States regarding our proposal 
for energy cooperation, thought there would be ample areas 
for cooperation, and believed it could be one of the 
significant areas for cooperation to come out of the SOA. 
Vice-Minister of Mines and Energy Roberto Zimmerman likewise 
told the Ambassador February 21 that he saw U.S. overtures on 
regional energy cooperation as timely, relevant, and 
important, indicating that he saw a number of possible areas 
for regional cooperation (septel).  End comment.) 
 
-- Haiti: Vargas said that Haiti is very much on Amorim's 
mind.  He would like to pursue further cooperation with the 
United States and wants to hear the new Administration's 
views.  "We can't stay there forever," he said, so it will be 
important to make the political process there more stable. 
In particular, he said, it will be important to ensure a 
successful transition to Preval's successor. 
 
-- Middle East: Vargas confirmed that Amorim will attend the 
upcoming meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, and said that he will 
want to hear the Secretary's perspective on the Middle East 
peace process. 
 
-- UN Reform: Amorim will want to discuss UN reform, and 
Security Council reform in particular. 
 
-- G-20: Amorim will likely seek the Secretary's views on the 
global financial crisis going into the April 2 G-20 leaders 
meeting. 
 
¶5. (C) Comment: One issue that is almost certainly not on 
Amorim's mind is the future of bilateral defense cooperation. 
 We continue to believe this is an important area for future 
cooperation between the United States and Brazil, and that a 
successful Boeing bid to sell the F/A-18 to Brazil holds the 
potential to enhance this partnership in unparalleled ways 
over the next decades.  As the purchase decision moves to the 
political levels over the next months, Amorim will be one of 
a handful of senior officials advising President Lula on it. 
We recommend using the upcoming meeting to discuss with 
Amorim the importance the United States attaches to this 
sale, our commitment to appropriate technology transfer in 
relation to the sale, and our understanding of Brazil's 
interest in using the purchase to enhance its domestic 
defense industry. 
SOBEL