Cablegate: Brazil: Ambassador's Meeting with Mre Secretary-General Patriota

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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

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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

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