Mending fences in Brazil after Snowden leaks

BRASLIA - Liliana Ayalde couldn't have picked a worse time to start her job as U.S. ambassador to Brazil.

Ayalde, a career diplomat who spent most of her 30 years focused on Latin America, was excited about her first opportunity to serve in Brazil, the biggest country - both geographically and economically - in the region. But she arrived in the capital of Braslia on Sept. 16, just days after documents released by Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency had monitored the communications of several heads of state, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Ayalde hadn't even left the airport in Braslia when she was confronted by reporters asking about the scandal. The next day, she helped coordinate the phone call between President Obama and Rousseff that ended with the cancellation of Brazil's planned state visit to Washington.

"When I first was offered the opportunity, I was delighted and very honored because we were at the height of our partnership on a broad array of different dialogues - anything from energy, education, commercial matters. Just an amazing variety of common interests," Ayalde said last week. "Little did I know."

Monday marks a key moment toward mending that tattered relationship, when Vice President Biden visits Brazil to watch the U.S. national team's first World Cup match in Natal. Biden will use the trip to meet with Rousseff, marking the highest-level meeting between the two countries since September's NSA revelations.

Given how difficult the past nine months have been, it will take more than one meeting to set things straight.

The United States and Brazil have long had a complicated relationship. As the two biggest economies in the Western Hemisphere, their governments have worked closely on a wide array of economic and political issues. That relationship has been strained frequently in recent years, given Brazil's close relationship with American adversaries Cuba and Venezuela, Brazil's refusal to assist in the U.S. war in Iraq, and other issues.

As Brazil's economy and influence have continued to grow, some think the country has positioned itself as more of a competitor to the U.S., not a close ally.

"It's very clear that they see their influence in the region inversely proportional to U.S. interests," said Frank Mora, who was the Defense Department's assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere until last year. "In their minds, if U.S. influence in the region is increasing, that means they're decreasing."

That could help explain why Brazil reacted so forcefully to the Snowden disclosures while other countries, such as Mexico, quickly moved past it, said Mora, who's now the director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University. Not only did Rousseff call off the state visit to Washington, but she took to the podium at the United Nations and accused the U.S. of a "violation of human rights."

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Mending fences in Brazil after Snowden leaks