VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBR #0045/01 0401047
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 091047Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0441
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0012
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 000045 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
DEPARTMENT FOR S, D, P, SECC, OES, NEA, AND WHA 
NSC FOR FROMAN AND RESTREPO 
AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/09 
TAGS: PREL SENV MASS HA IR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH MRE SECRETARY-GENERAL 
PATRIOTA 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Thomas A. Shannon, Ambassador, State, Embassy 
Brasilia; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  After presenting his credentials to Brazilian 
President Lula (septel), Ambassador Shannon met for over an hour 
February 4 with Secretary-General (Deputy FM) Antonio Patriota, 
covering the work ahead in Haiti, the status of Brazil's FX2 
fighter purchase, climate change negotiations, and Brazil's efforts 
regarding Iran and the Middle East.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Patriota, who had requested the meeting with the Ambassador 
the night before and had attended the Ambassador's credentialing 
ceremony as acting foreign minister, congratulated the Ambassador 
on his new post and was pleased to hear of the upcoming visits of 
Attorney General Holder, Secretary Clinton, Secretary Locke, and 
NSC Deputy Michael Froman.  Patriota reviewed the outstanding 
bilateral items awaiting high-level agreement, including the 
Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) and gender, climate, and 
trilateral cooperation MOUs put forward by the GOB.  He outlined 
President Lula's active travel schedule over the next few months, 
which would include trips to Cancun, San Salvador, Havana, and Port 
au Prince the week of February 22; to Israel, Palestine, and Jordan 
March 15-18; and to Iran May 16-17.  Lula would also be gathering 
African agriculture ministers shortly, with the goal of taking a 
message to the G20 in May. 
 
Haiti: A Great Opportunity 
 
¶3. (C)  Following up on President Lula's comments earlier that day 
(septel), Patriota described the Haiti reconstruction effort as a 
"great opportunity" for Brazil and the United States.  Noting that 
President Lula had spent ten minutes discussing Haiti during his 
first Oval Office meeting with President Obama, he said the phone 
calls between the two leaders had been helpful to ensuring good 
communication and coordination.  Patriota called President Obama's 
engagement on Haiti "necessary and important," adding that "if the 
United States and Brazil lead, others will follow."  It goes 
without saying, he said, that the United States and Brazil should 
work closely on Haiti in the UNSC, adding that Brazil was in 
agreement that MINUSTAH should work under its current mandate for 
now, and that new recommendations should be studied as they are put 
forward. 
 
¶4. (C) Patriota stressed that Haiti was receiving an enormous 
amount of attention from President Lula and a number of other 
senior GOB officials, noting Lula's planned February 25 visit. 
Patriota said he was pleased former President Clinton had been 
chosen by the UN to lead on reconstruction and thought it would be 
positive to have Chilean President Bachelet involved once she 
leaves office.  Picking up on Lula's comment earlier in the day 
that we had to find a way around the choice between a corrupt 
Haitian government and putting so much money into the hands of 
non-Haitian NGOs, Patriota said that Marcio Pochmann, president of 
the Economic and Management Research Institute (IPEA), had recently 
done research on the effect of NGOs on development that might be 
useful in finding a new approach to Haiti reconstruction. 
 
FX2: No Decision Made 
 
¶5. (C/NF) Patriota said that Lula had told the French Ambassador 
(who also had presented credentials) that no decision on the 
fighter purchase had been made, but that Lula would do so "in the 
next few months," after convening the National Security Council (a 
body that includes key ministers and the presidents of both 
congressional chambers).  The Ambassador stressed that the decision 
to release all necessary technology to Brazil reflected a paradigm 
shift for the United States; not only did it reflect confidence in 
Boeing's product, but also confidence in Brazil. 
 
Climate Change: We Have to Move Forward 
 
¶6. (C)   Referring to President Lula's emphasis on the need for 
close U.S.-Brazil coordination heading into the UNFCCC COP-16, 
Patriota said he hoped SECC Todd Stern would be able to come to 
Brazil soon.  He said Lula was committed to the following through 
on the Copenhagen communiquC) and, unlike other BASIC countries, 
would not backtrack.  "We have to move forward," he said, 
suggesting that NSC Deputy Froman might be able to make time for 
talks on climate change during his upcoming visit. 
 
Iran and the Middle East: An Agenda of Peace 
 
 
¶7. (C) With regard to Brazil's engagement with Iran, Patriota said 
that, above all, Brazil wants to "avoid a replay of Iraq." 
Destabilization of Iran would be disastrous, he said, and as long 
as there is a possibility for diplomatic engagement, the 
international community should try it.  He said that Iranian FM 
Mottaki had sought out FM Amorim in Geneva on January 29, saying 
that he had noted flexibility on the part of the French and the 
United States.  The Ambassador said Iran needed to be the subject 
of continuing dialogue between the United States and Brazil to 
avoid misunderstanding and ensure coordination of messages.  The 
Ambassador urged the GOB to move very cautiously regarding Iran. 
He said recent acts of repression, including the executions of 
protesters, are a sign of things to come and raise questions about 
the Iranian government's ability to do a deal with the 
international community.  "The distrust is great," Patriota said, 
"and we never know how sincere" the Iranians are, but "we intend to 
continue to try" to reach a settlement.  Patriota noted that Lula 
had paid a political price internally for his engagement with Iran. 
He said criticism of Lula, especially by leaders of Brazil's Jewish 
community, had stung Lula badly.  However, Lula's consistent 
message regarding the need to acknowledge the Holocaust had won 
over some of the harshest critics of the visit of Iranian President 
Ahmadinejad, including Claudio Luiz Lottenberg of the Albert 
Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, whom Lula had invited to join his 
trip to Israel in March.  On that trip, the first by a Brazilian 
president in decades, Patriota said Lula would have "an agenda of 
peace." 
 
¶8. (U) Minimize considered. 
SHANNON