For U.S. Trade Secretary Robert Zoellick Brazil is
welcome to go sell in Antarctica if the country is not happy
with the U.S. trade conditions. A national
plebiscite, however, shows that an immense majority
of Brazilians is against the FTAA as proposed by the U.S..

Daniel McLaughlin

In the Oct 13 edition of the Miami Herald, the U.S. Trade Secretary Robert Zoellick, sent a harsh message to the new Brazilian government. Zoellick stated that Brazil has a choice: to accept the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) or to go sell their products in Antarctica.

Mr. Zoellick is quoted in the Miami Herald as saying, "We wish to make the first offer of partnership in the FTAA to Latin America, because they are close partners. But, if they decide that they want to go in another direction, if they wish to take the southern route to Antarctica, then we will look to the east and the west."

The following day, at The Conference of the Americas sponsored by that newspaper, Mr Zoellick gave the same message in his talk without mentioning Antarctica. He tried to minimize the fact that support for the FTAA is wearing thin in Latin America and, in particular, there is growing opposition in Brazil.

A plebiscite on the FTAA taken in early September and organized by CNBB (Conferência Nacional dos Bipos do Brasil—National Conference of Brazilian Catholic Bishops) indicated that 94 percent of the 10 million Brazilians who voted see the FTAA as an annexation of Brazil by the United States. A top official in the US government when asked what he thought about this belief on the part of many Brazilians, said that the FTAA is “a choice for Brazil and not an imperative. It is an opportunity for Brazil, not an annexation of Brazil.”

Luis Inácio 'Lula' da Silva, still a presidential candidate at the time, said that he would not comment on the talk of Mr. Zoellick as he doesn't know him. Later in the day, when the subject was brought up again, he responded by saying that he "will not respond to an underling of an underling of an underling in the US government. There are many who make stupid statements about Brazil and, God willing, later they will come to respect Brazil." Zoellick is a member of President Bush's Cabinet, with the rank of Ambassador and a close ally of Brazil in the current administration, according to an editorial in the daily O Estado de S. Paulo.

When asked by a reporter of Folha de S. Paulo, if it would not be important for a candidate to the presidency to know who Mr. Zoellick is, Lula responded that he does not believe that President Bush has the obligation to know the names of those in the first or second level government positions of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Lula said that, if elected, he would be willing to meet with President Bush and talk about ALCA—as the FTAA is known in Brazil—on that high level: President to President. It would be a talk, he said, in which he would defend the interests of Brazil as President Bush defends the interests of the US.

The newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, in its editorial of Oct. 16th entitled “Alca or the Antarctica" understands that the statement by the U. S. Trade Secretary, Robert Zoellick, about the adherence of Brazil to ALCA should be understood as a provocation.

Daniel McLaughlin is a Maryknoll missioner in São Paulo and can be reached at sejup1@alternex.com.br. This article was distributed by Sejup, which can be visited at  www.oneworld.net/sejup

Send your
comments to
Brazzil