Brazilian president postpones US state visit over spying

By YANA MARULL in Brasilia Agence France-Presse Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff postponed a long- planned state visit to the Unit- ed States on Tuesday, the most serious diplomatic fallout yet from Edward Snowden's leak of Washington's spying secrets.迷你倉While both sides couched the cancellation in diplomatic terms, it marks an embarrass- ment for US President Barack Obama and a blow to his ef orts to improve ties with the key Latin American power.The visit had been sched- uled for Oct 23 in Washington, but was called into question after documents leaked by Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, revealed the extent of US spy- ing on its Brazilian ally.Obama has been trying to defuse the dispute during talks with Roussef on the sidelines of this month's G20 summit, and he spoke to her again on Monday by telephone.But Brazil was unmoved, and on Tuesday Rousseff brought an end to the specu- lation, coni rming that her trip was of ."h e two presidents decided to postpone the state visit since the outcome of this visit should not be conditioned on an issue which, for Brazil, has not been satisfactorily resolved," Rous- sef 's oi ce said.Her statement rel ected Bra- zil's anger over Snowden's dis- closures that the NSA spied on her e-mail communications and on the state-run energy giant Petrobras."h e illegal interceptions of communications and data of citizens, companies and mem- bers of the Brazilian govern- ment represents a serious act which violates national sov- ereignty and is incompatible with democratic coexistence between friendly countries,"Roussef 's statement said.David Fleischer, a Brasilia- based international expert, described the visit's postpone- ment as a diplomat儲存倉c "slap in Obama's face". He linked the move to Roussef 's slumping popularity since last June'snationwide street protests, ahead of next year's presiden- tial polls."She is showing firmness toward Obama, the world'smost powerful leader, and this goes down well with the Bra- zilian public," Tullo Vigevani, a Sao Paulo University analyst, said.In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Car- ney said, "It's because the relationship is so important and because it has so many facets that the president agrees with this decision they made together to postpone the visit."Insisting that another, later visit could be organized, Car- ney added, "It should not be overshadowed by a bilateral issue, no matter how impor- tant or challenging the issue may be."h e spying row stems from allegations made by Snowden, who l ed the United States and revealed the scope of the NSA'sactivities to Brazil-based jour- nalist Glenn Greenwald.In July, the Brazilian daily Globo — citing documents provided by Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia — reported that US agencies eavesdrop on Brazilians' phone calls and Internet communications.The report said Washing- ton maintained an intelli- gence base in Brasilia, part of a network of 16 such stations around the world.Brazilian Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo dis- missed claims by US oi cials that the NSA was only collect- ing metadata logs of phone numbers called and the dura- tion of such calls and not lis- tening in on calls. Washington, he said, is conducting a "much deeper surveillance".She is showing ? rmness toward Obama, the world'smost powerful leader, and this goes down well with the Brazilian public."TULLO VIGEVANI ANALYST AT SAO PAULO UNIVERSITY迷你倉