U.S. aims for better outcome with Brazil after tough summit
The United States and Brazil are the two largest economies and democracies in the Western Hemisphere.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due here next week for another jab at reaching convergence on key foreign policy and global finance issues, including Cuba, the Middle East, monetary expansion and trade.
President Barack Obama and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil deliver statements to the press in the Oval Office, April 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
UPI
BRASILIA, Brazil– U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Brazil next week for another jab at reaching convergence on key foreign policy and global finance issues, including Cuba, the Middle East, monetary expansion and trade.
The follow-up to this week’s Washington summit of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and U.S. President Barack Obama follows news reports the talks didn’t achieve a level of success preferred by either side.
The Obama-Rousseff meeting built on the U.S. president’s initiatives on international diplomacy and trade, taken when he visited Brazil in March 2011.
More than a year after that visit, contacts have grown between the two sides but differences remain over Brazil’s positions on Cuba, Iran, Syria, monetary policies and trade.
As a result, little progress was made toward Brazilian expectation of winning U.S. support for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat, Brazilian media reported.
Brazilian-U.S. defense cooperation has grown since Rousseff took over from Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last year but analysts ask if recent growth in contact will lead to U.S. defense suppliers having a greater share of the Brazilian armed forces’ multibillion-dollar shopping spree.
The Boeing Co. is a contender for a multibillion-dollar contract for the supply of 36 or more fighter jets to replace the Brazilian air force’s aging inventory.
Boeing is fielding its F-16 Super Hornet jet fighter against French Dassault Aviation’s Rafale jet and Swedish firm Saab’s Gripen jet fighter in the Brazilian air force’s FX-2 jet fighter competition, a major part of Brazil’s military modernization program.
Brazil reacted angrily when the U.S. Air Force abruptly canceled a program that could have landed aircraft maker Embraer a contract for the supply of Super Tucano light aircraft for U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
Embraer’s Super Tucano entry caused adverse reaction among U.S. defense suppliers and Air Force procurement officials faced the prospect of being hauled into court. Litigation is pending over the Embraer deal that failed to materialize.
Clinton’s bridge building diplomacy includes meetings at the Bilateral Dialogue forum, where the secretary of State will renew contacts with Brazilian External Affairs Minister Antonio Patriota.
Clinton is also to attend the Open Government Partnership conference Tuesday and Wednesday in Brasilia. OGP was launched last year to look into potential collaboration at different levels.
Business collaboration has been clouded by Brazilian accusations that neither the European Union nor the United States are doing enough to deal with a “monetary tsunami” which has led to large liquidity transfers to countries with attractive interest rates.
Brazil says the inward investment has unduly overvalued its currency and made Brazilian exports harder to promote.
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Brazil’s blackness: Will Brazil embrace its African-Brazilian diversity politically and economically?
Dilemma X
Brazil’s most recent 2010 census shows African-Brazilians in the majority for the first time at 97 million people of the nation’s 190 million people.
Results show 50.7% of Brazilians now define themselves as black or mixed race compared with 47.7% whites
The poorest section of society was 76.3% African-Brazilian and 23.7% white. The majority of Brazil’s slums are populated with mixed race and black populations.
In 1872, when Brazil’s first census was conducted, the population was split into just two groups: free people and slaves.
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The wealthiest group of Brazilians was made up of 82.3% white people and just 17.7% African-Brazilians.
Will the Afro-Brazilian electorate realize their voting potential and could this impact African Americans and blacks in the Caribbean economically?
It is said by some that in Brazil every black person is going to be a victim of racism, prejudice and discrimination.
When Europeans first arrived to what is now Brazil it has been estimated that there were over 2 million Amerindian people who were living there. The large Native Americans died in large numbers due to many reasons brought on by the Europeans including diseases introduced by Europeans.
The European Portuguese began to settle in Brazil and started importing enslaved African people.
During the Atlantic slave trade Europeans enslaved millions of Africans and brought them to work the massive plantations. It is estimated that over 35% of all enslaved Africans were brought to Brazil. Brazil had the largest enslaved population in the world.
Brazil achieved independence from Portugal in 1822. In 1885, enslaved people over age 60 were freed.
Slavery was fully abolished in 1889 with the signing of the lei aurea, or Golden Law, just 11 years before 1900. Brazil became the last nation in the Western Hemisphere to formally abolish slavery.
After independence from Portugal, Brazil started receiving immigrants from Central Europe from Prussia (now Germany) and other nations. Later, a very large number of Italians and Spanish immigrants arrived into Brazil.
In the early 1900s Poland, Russia and Romania, including many Jewish people immigrated into Brazil. In the middle 1990s a large number of Japanese began to immigrate to Brazil. By the late 1900s Brazil received immigrants from Angola, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, China, Korea and other Latin American countries. Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.
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Will the 2016 Summer Olympic Games bring world attention to the racial problems of Brazil?
The 2016 Summer Olympics, (Games of the XXXI Olympiad) and the 2016 Summer Paralympics will be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as announced at the 121st IOC Session. It is the first time the Olympic Games will be held in South America and the first time the Olympic Games will be hosted in a majority African descent populated country.
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President Barack Obama speaking to the International Olympic Committee in hopes to bring the 2016 games to the United States and the city of Chicago
Chicago was competing against Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.
The President’s statements pointed out to the diversity of the U.S. population is its strength. With the racial divisions in Brazil, was the President speaking about Brazil’s racial issues?
Racism in Brazil
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The 35th president of Brazil, Luiz Lula da Silva, who was in office from January 2003 to December 2010, Lula criticized the United Nations for not granting to any country in Africa or Latin America a permanent seat on the Security Council.
“It isn’t possible that the African continent, with 53 countries, has no permanent representation on the Security Council,” he said.
“It isn’t possible that Latin America, with its 400 million inhabitants, does not have permanent representation. Five countries decide what to do and how to do it, regardless of the rest of the humans living on this planet.” Lula was referring to the 5 permanent members of Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States).
Lula da Silva was Brazil’s most travelled President and made 12 trips in 8 years visiting 25 different African countries. The number of Brazilian embassies in Africa more than doubled to 35, while bilateral trade increased fivefold to $26 billion (£16bn) in 2010.
On Lula’s last African tour as president, he said Brazil could never repay its historic debt to the continent. He stated “Brazil would not be what it is today without the participation of millions of Africans who helped build our country.”…”Whoever comes after me has the moral, political and ethical obligation to do much more.”
Lula had said the relationship between Brazil, the country with the biggest population of African descent outside Africa, and African countries is more than just business.
In 1982, Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio (Benedita da Silva) in the city of Rio de Janeiro became Brazil’s first Black city councilwoman. In 1986 Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio was elected to the National Congress of Brazil, the first black woman elected to the Brazilian National Congress. She was elected to the Federal Senate of Brazil in 1994 and took office in 1995 becoming the first female senator in Brazil. She also became the first black Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro. Later, Social Action Secretary in the Government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Brazil’s president Luiz Lula da Silva blamed white people for the world’s current economic crisis
On January 1, 2011 Dilma Rousseff became Brazil’s first elected female president. Rousseff was also the first woman to become Chief of Staff of Brazil, appointed by then President Luiz Lula da Silva.
The Cabinet of Brazil is comprised of the Ministers of State and senior advisors of the executive branch of the federal government of Brazil. All Cabinet positions are appointed by the President. There are 24 Ministries of State and 14 other cabinet-level offices.
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The largest cities in Brazil are:
São Paulo: 11,316,149
Rio de Janeiro: 6,355,949
Salvador: 2,693,605
Brasília: 2,609,997
Fortaleza: 2,476,589
Belo Horizonte: 2,385,639
Manaus: 1,832,423
Curitiba: 1,764,540
Recife: 1,536,934
Porto Alegre: 1,413,094
Dilemma X 
April 13, 2012
Government/Politics, International, Religion & Spirituality