VZCZCXYZ0042
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0233 1111641
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211641Z APR 09
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9118
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0268
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 9119

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000233 
 
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 XM XR XF BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION SAO PAULO: Cuba-Castro, Iran, and Mercosul 
04-18-2009 and 04-19-2009 
 
Media Reaction - Western Hemisphere: Summit of Americas; Venezuela, 
Cuba, governance, easing of restrictions; South and Central Asia: 
Iran; Sao Paulo 
 
Saturday, April 18 
 
Title- Castro answers Obama 
 
Main editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (4-18) states: 
"....For the first time in decades, the battered old expression 
["times have changed"] have now sounded to Latin American ears like 
a new password [opening the door] to an effective partnership in the 
Hemisphere.  The problem is the irregularity of expectations that 
involve the.....end of the economic embargo to Cuba.....Even so, one 
cannot deny that a wheel was put in motion for what will necessarily 
be a longer route - and subject to accidents - than what 
participants of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain 
would like it to be." 
 
Title-Brazil and Iran, dangerous relations 
 
Op-Ed in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (4-18) by Unicamp 
Professor Roberto Romano states: "Brazil is preparing itself to host 
Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad....in May....We walk through a 
route opposed to that of Iran....What can we learn from this regime? 
 Brazil and other emerging democratic countries do not have reasons 
to get closer to authoritarian governments like Iran....Brazil 
should get closer to responsible leaders in the Middle East, never 
demagogue tyrants." 
 
Title- Cuba and Ipanema 
 
Op-Ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (4-18) by columnist Clovis Rossi 
notes: "It is evident that a countdown to the end of the U.S. 
Embargo to Cuba has started...or by extension to the reintegration 
of the island to the Inter-American system, from which it has been 
suspended for 50 years.....There is no reason for the two 
countries....not to resume relations, once they were interrupted due 
to a phenomena, the Cold War, which ended two decades ago." 
 
Sunday, April 19 
 
Title- A meeting in the Caribbean 
 
Op-Ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (4-18) by columnist Clovis Rossi 
says: "I don't know, and nobody does, if the future that Obama 
promises will really be one of prosperity for all.  But what I do 
know is that the capitalism won the ideological battle, whether you 
like the result or not.  I also know that now what it is missing is 
to demonstrate whether [capitalism] is capable of winning the other 
and more important war, the one to be able to improve the national 
gross happiness index, which is more important than that of the 
Gross Domestic Product, which it knows, almost always, how to make 
it grow." 
 
Title- Mercosul, Venezuela and the democratic clause 
 
Op-Ed in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (4-18) by former Foreign 
Minister Celso Lafer states: "[Brazil's] Senate is evaluating 
Venezuela's Admission to Mercosul Protocols....The entrance of Hugo 
Chavez's Venezuela in the trade bloc does not fit because it will 
represent not only the presence of a normal conflict of interests in 
the integration process, but a significant conflict of conception 
about the purpses of the integration....This type of conflict wil 
add new tensions to Mercosul, which has alreadybeen compromised by 
significant conflicts of interests between its curren 
members.....To keep god economic and political cooperation with a 
neigbor like Venezuela is in Brazil's interest....Noneheless, 
incorporate, at this moment, Chavez' Venezuela into Mercosul is to 
contribute and condemn a innovative integration project to 
irrelevance and dissolution." 
WHITE