Charming Duo

Just a few days apart in October, Pope John Paul II and President Bill Clinton were guests in Brazil. Very sick, but still quite alert, the Holy Father was received with the enthusiasm that you would expect from the "largest Catholic nation on earth." For Clinton, however, lack of diplomatic finesse and mishandling by his advance men had set the field for what promised to be a disastrous trip. More than anything else this is the story of how the Yankee President charisma and charm won the hearts of Brazilians and converted an almost-sure fiasco into a glaring diplomatic success that made even TV presenters choke with emotion. During his visit to a favela (shanty town) community in Rio, TV Bandeirantes reporter Cláudio Petraglia commented, "That's too much emotion. You fill like crying." That line made you puke, said TV commentator João Carlos Pedroso.

Elma Lia Nascimento

The two most powerful men on earth, Pope John Paul II and President William Jefferson Clinton, visited Brazil in October. The way both were received, however, was quite different, highlighting the awkwardness of the U.S. public-relations apparatus compared to that of the Holy See and the power of the press in creating crises and then manipulating public opinion.

While Clinton did not bring throngs to the streets, was booed, had to face signs of "go home," was burned in effigy while meeting Brazilian congress' leaders, and even had his limousine hit by horse excrement, John Paul—visibly sick and having a hard time to walk—was constantly followed by an adoring crowd that shouted "If God is Brazilian, then the Pope is Carioca (from Rio)," "Ah, I am Catholic," and "John Paul, we love you." He was also offered a ticker-tape parade through the streets of Rio and an estimated 2 million people were present at an open-air mass celebration at Aterro do Flamengo (Flamengo beach landfill).

It was quite a different scenario for the White House tenant. When Air Force One touched down at the international airport of Brasília, capital of Brazil, on October 13, you could almost hear a collective boo from 160 million Brazilians. Mirroring the mood of the nation, Veja, the nation's main weekly news magazine, with more than 1.2 million copies, headlined on its cover under a picture of a visibly annoyed and haughty Clinton: "The Empire's Arrogance".

The Veja piece was just a summation of a flood of bad press on the days leading to Bill Clinton's visit. Among other things, the U.S. President was compared to Rambo on a mission to subjugate uncivilized Amazon natives. But the love-hate Brazilian ambivalence towards Uncle Sam wouldn't have so acutely shown its thorny side if it weren't for several mistakes and miscalculations committed by the advance troops in charge of preparing Clinton's visit.

The demands and lack of diplomatic finesse by the American handlers of the President with special mention to American ambassador Melvyn Levitzky—he was called "the newest villain from Gotham City" by rock composer and songstress Rita Lee—opened a can of animosity. In Rio, personnel from the American Consulate, after previewing the Vila Olímpica sports complex where Clinton was supposed to get close to the population, demanded among other things permission to bring in heavy weaponry, the closing of the sports complex in the two days preceding the visit, the installation of a 10-foot-tall bulletproof glass wall, and that the suburban train that passes close by be stopped for four hours the day of the visit. Marcello Alencar, Rio state's governor, scoffed at the request and ignored it.

Some Brazilian journalists discounted these demands attributing it to an understandable Yankee paranoia with their president's security. But even the most understanding souls couldn't explain why the President's men requested that Brazil interrupt for one day its daylight saving time so Clinton would have a full hour more to prepare for his evening schedule. (This demand reported by the New York Times never occurred, according to the White House). At the foreign ministry building in Brasília, agents frisked flower beds looking for explosives, they also wanted the Brazilian government to ban some pesky mosquitoes from a lake across from the Alvorada, the presidential palace. "Remember! That's the President of the United States," the American advance men repeated ad nauseam.

For most Brazilians, however, being president of the planet's leading power didn't justify the president's handlers' behavior. Antônio Carlos Magalhães, the president of the senate, threatened to cancel a meeting scheduled between Clinton and the senators when it was disclosed that the Yankee chief would only meet ten senators and that the entrance to congress should be closed. Michel Temer, president of the House of Representatives (Câmara dos Deputados) joined in arguing: "Congress is the people's house. We have no way to prevent the free circulation of congressmen or choose who will be allowed to the meeting. If they persevere in this attitude we will not be able to receive President Clinton."

The president of the Supremo Tribunal Federal (Supreme Court), Celso de Mello, decided to snub Clinton in a very public way. He accused the U.S. of "a gesture of imperial arrogance" by making public the document criticizing Brazil and then keeping its negative comments about the Judiciary even after apologizing for other criticisms. De Mello then announced that he would skip the dinner offered Clinton by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Beware of Brazil

Folha de São Paulo, the leading Brazilian newspaper, published a cartoon in which American special agents raid the Brazilian President's cabinet in preparation for Clinton's visit. While one of them frisks the President himself the others rummage through his room. Not everybody was outraged though. The same Folha published the opinion of Fernando Rodrigues, one of its columnists: "It is logical that Clinton should want to guarantee his personal safety...knowing that in this Third World country people have a habit of dying from stray bullets fired from who knows where." And he continued: "They published a document saying that corruption in Brazil is endemic. Is that false? No, it is absolutely true."

Respected political commentator, Márcio Moreira Alves, wrote in his column in Rio's daily newspaper O Globo: "As the French say only the truth hurts…(The report) says that our education is second-rate, that corruption is endemic, that the Justice is slow and does not work, but that despite all those blemishes Brazil offers excellent opportunities for investment. Is there any falsehood in these statements?...What the Americans should have said is that the Brazilian corruption, when big, goes completely unpunished. There is nobody in jail for having robbed millions." According to Moreira Alves, Brazilians have plenty of reason to be mad at the U.S., but for much more serious matters. "The trade barriers that they impose to important products in our line of export products are scandalous," he wrote. "Their discrimination against Brazilian gasoline, for example, was condemned by the World Trade Organization."

The close to 100 American journalists who accompanied the President during his trip to Brazil were warned about the need for taking hepatitis A and typhus shots. They were also told that there would be secure in the cities they were going to visit, but they were also reminded that secure is "a relative term" in Brazil. In a 20-page booklet they also learned the dangers of taking a bus in Rio and the problems of chronic traffic jams in São Paulo as well as what was called the rational use of space by Paulistanos. According to the guide, the lack of areas for having sex is so acute in São Paulo that couples usually park their cars along the freeways to make love. Journalists were also reminded not to wear tennis shoes when covering the visit since Brazilians excel in "pomp and circumstance."

The White House brochure calls Brasília, the capital, a city without a soul, which makes it perfect for the White House reporters, the booklet says with official humor. At least they know their capitals. Recently, Peter Jennings, the ABC World News anchor, announced that Pope John Paul II had arrived "in the capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro." This is not true since April 1960.

Brazilians believe that they deserved a little more respect and consideration from the U.S. As weekly news magazine Isto É informed, Brazil has become "a source of dollars and jobs for the gringos." " Our imports," the magazine wrote, "generate close to 200 thousand jobs in the USA and guarantee close to $5 billion more in their trade balance."

All for the Pope

Nobody complained when more than 30,000 men from the Armed Forces and from the Federal, Civilian and Military polices were amassed in Rio to protect John Paul II with the help of 30 motorcycles and three helicopters for his promenade through the city. During the whole itinerary police agents were never more than 30 yards apart. And there was hardly any protest against interference in internal affairs when the Pope scolded the government for not paying enough attention to Blacks, Indians, and the dispossessed.

"The social imbalances," he said in one of several speeches, "the unequal and unjust distribution of economic means, which generates conflicts in the city and in the countryside, the need of an ample diffusion of the basic means of health and culture, the problems of the unprotected childhood of the big cities, not to cite others, constitute a challenge of enormous proportions to Brazilian leaders."

It seemed also too natural to hear the Pope condemning any form of abortion or any birth control method besides the natural one approved by the Church. Nobody has accused the Pope of meddling in domestic affairs. On the contrary, it was the government that was scrambling for cover when First Lady Ruth Cardoso defended abortion in cases of rape
and when the mother's life is in danger.

The Church hierarchy's response to this so-called outrage was prompt and bishops hinted not so subtly that the President's wife might be hindering her husband's chances of winning a second mandate in the 1998 elections. Dom Lucas Moreira Neves, president of CNBB (Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil—National Conference of Bishops of Brazil) didn't hide his annoyance: "It was extremely inopportune that Dona Ruth would talk about abortion one day before the Pope's arrival. It was unfortunate. She should renege on what she said."

On the same line of opposition, Veja, which considered all too natural the papal interference, published a cover story on the eve of the Pope's arrival with 20 women celebrities together with two household maids confessing to have had an abortion. Since the practice is illegal in Brazil, they were risking prosecution and a three-year prison term by this disclosure. The women who made their confession had their mugs printed on the magazine's cover under the title: "I Had an Abortion."

According to a poll taken by the Gerp Institute and Rio's daily Jornal do Brasil just before the Pope's arrival, 76 percent of Rio's Catholic families are in favor of abortion when there is rape or risk to the mother's life. Anthropologist Ruth Cardoso, however, was the only one on the government circle brave enough to express what she feels and risk the wrath of the Church. "The relation between the Pope and congress is zero," the First Lady declared. "This is a problem of Brazilian society."

President FHC himself, with an eye on a second mandate, while waiting for the Pope's arrival at the Galeão Air Base in Rio, refused to address the controversy and showed irritation when approached by a reporter who wanted to know what he though about his wife's comments. "This is not the time to talk about this," he rebuffed. There are some, however, who believe that the Ruth Cardoso statement was the way that the President found to rebuke the intrusiveness of the Church on domestic affairs. The administration seemed particularly vexed with Pope's backing of the Movimento dos Sem-Terra (Landless Movement) whose members have radicalized the agrarian reform by invading farms. In an ironic tone, the President announced that he was going to seek the Church's advice on how to deal with unemployment, an increasing problem in Brazil and the butt of most of the criticism being directed at the administration nowadays.

The most controversial talk was reserved for the Palácio das Laranjeiras's 30-minute meeting in Portuguese between the President and the Pope. What is happening with the Indians, the Supreme Pontiff wanted to know. They are not more than 300,000 in a country of 160 million, reminded the President and they have reservations of close to one million square km, or more land than the whole of Poland. How about the street children, the Polish Karol Wojtyla asked. The problem has being greatly exaggerated, guaranteed Cardoso. In São Paulo where the problems is more acute, there is no more than 800 (that is eight hundred) street kids. The President was ready to prove that the problems raised by the Bishop of Rome were non-issues.

The same Jornal do Brasil/Gerp poll cited above revealed that 74 percent of Rio's Catholics think priests should marry; another 58 percent are in favor of ordaining sisters; 54 percent defend sex before marriage; 84 percent approve of birth control; 58% favor the death penalty. All of these issues are against the teachings of the Church. The study has also shown that even in fundamental questions of faith like the existence of heaven and hell, only 69% are in tune with Rome. Eighteen percent of Carioca (from Rio) Catholics don't believe there is an eternal life and 13 percent of them have their doubts. All of them insist, however, on being called Catholic.

Just before the arrival of the Pope, authorities in Rio promoted a super cleansing of the city. The cleaning up included a $600,000 paint job of 15 churches, most of them on the route of the Pope, and the hiding of some embarrassing people: beggars, homeless, and street children. They were all removed from their habitual habitat around town and taken to the city's so-called model farm.

In response to a request from Rio's Cardinal Eugênio Sales, the police occupied the favelas (shantytowns) of Turano, Salgueiro, Chinelinho, and Bicão, all in the Tijuca neighborhood where the Pope stayed. And the media was so enthralled with covering the Holy Father that it practically ignored two massacres that occurred during the Pope's visit. On October 4, the day John Paul arrived, military police killed five men at favela Rato Molhado (Wet Rat). Two days later, the same group from the 3rd military battalion massacred another six people at favela Águia de Ouro (Golden Eagle)

The security apparatus during the Pope's excursions through the city was so extreme that John Paul II made it known that he didn't like it. So the next time he went to the streets the police hid their heavy weapons and stopped using dogs to maintain the public at a distance. But the Holy Father was not informed that at the Turano Complex, 200 men from Bope (Batalhão de Operações Especiais—Special Operations Battalion) took over the spot, frisking people and detaining suspects. "The Pope is alive, whole and well," declared a triumphant colonel Eduardo Bacelar, coordinator of the CML (Comando Militar do Leste—East Military Command) just before John Paul's departure. "There was no incident with the population. We have accomplished our mission."

Magic Clinton

Brazilian authorities saw the Clinton trip as a big boost for Mercosul, the South American common market comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile. After Clinton revealed during a closed-door meeting with Cardoso that he was not against Mercosul, the Brazilian President exulted and told his guest: "Tell this outside." And so Clinton did soon afterwards during his press conference: "I am in favor of Mercosul," he said. "It was a positive thing for Brazil,
for all the member countries and it was also very good for the United States."

Clinton was reciprocating the praise made by Brazilian ambassador in Washington, Juracy Magalhães 30 years earlier. In 1964 Magalhães had declared: "What is good for the United Sates is good for Brazil." Saying that what is good for Brazil is good for the United States, Clinton made his country more trustworthy as a commercial partner in the eyes of Brazilians. Brazilian diplomats were ecstatic. "When the president of the world's main economic power says that Mercosul is a good thing, our bargaining power naturally increases," exulted José Botafogo Gonçalves, the foreign ministry's general undersecretary for economic integration affairs.

The American President signed seven agreements with Brazil dealing with such matters as education and nuclear energy, but they were all more symbolic than substantive. The visit was important to bring the two countries closer together. From the Brazilian point of view, however, serious problems like the barriers imposed on Brazilian products by the U.S. were not discussed. Brasília doesn't believe any progress can be made in this area in a bilateral discussion and is ready to appeal to the WTO (World Trade Organization) against the surtaxes on Brazilian steel. "It is useless to talk about FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas known as ALCA in Latin America) when the United States doesn't give the example and doesn't open its economy to some Brazilian products," commented foreign minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia. The American President would like to see FTAA up and running by 2005. Brazil, afraid that it will be deluged by better and cheaper products from the U.S., however, would prefer stretching this deadline as much as possible.

On his private talk with Clinton, Cardoso complained about the trade barriers against Brazilian products. The American chief said that he understood where FHC was coming from, but there was not much that he could do. For one thing, there is the U.S. Congress, and the issue involved a series of areas including laws and regulations, as well as industrial lobbies and American jobs. He promised, however, to take a close look at the subject and review the barriers.

When a Brazilian reporter told Clinton at a press conference in Brasília that Brazilians felt "mistreated" by harsh security measures and by the Commerce Department report that described corruption as "endemic" in Brazil, Clinton apologized. The security precautions, he explained, were not caused by mistrust of the Brazilian people, but reflected a constant American concern. As for the report, he called it "an appalling error of judgment." Talking to reporters on Air Force One on its way to Brazil, the President had said when asked about Brazilian hurt feelings: "I don't know anything about the facts. If we did anything we shouldn't have done, I'm sorry. But I can tell you this, the relationship that I hope that we have with Brazil is better than it's been in a very, very long time, maybe ever—but certainly in a long time. And the relationship we need to build with Brazil is critical to the future."

It took Clinton and his proverbial marketeering talent just a few statements, plenty of smiles and pressing of flesh to dissipate all the bad vibes brought in by his White House arrogant and tactless advance men. As in a magic show in which you see the tricks being done, but cannot explain them or believe your eyes, the American President mesmerized the country. He gave a "show of presidential diplomacy," wrote weekly news magazine Isto É in a glowing cover story about the Clinton visit.

But the description that most people, including journalists and columnists, thought to be the most fitting was the one given by Jamelão, 84, one of the deans of Brazilian samba and a patrimony from Escola de Samba Mangueira. "Here he was happy as a chick on trash," he said about the President's demeanor during his visit to Mangueira, adding: "He is a very humble and nice guy. All they talked about him was just intrigue from the opposition."

The one-hour-and-forty-minute tour of Mangueira seemed more like a campaign stop. "Hello," he started, being answered `Hello' by screaming children. Accompanied by soccer legend and sports minister Pelé—Clinton apparently kicked him on the shin when playing with the ball—the Yankee President kissed babies and youngsters, wore a cap and a pin from Mangueira, gave autographs, posed for pictures, scored a penalty kick, tried to play tamborim with the sambistas, and was gently roughed up by sweaty and enthusiastic young girls. "He let his guard down and I kissed him. I am still moved," declared a visibly happy Josy Rodrigues, a 14-year-old girl athlete, after a very close encounter with the White House chief.

And a group of protesters who had prepared a large display against Clinton, weighed the circumstances, rolled their cloth sign, and joined in the cheerful welcome. Everybody had forgotten by then that 200 U.S. police agents together with 30 men from the Brazilian Federal Police were heavily armed, keeping a watchful eye over Clinton's entourage and the 2,000 guests, and that the Mangueira hill and surrounding areas were occupied by military police. And Hillary Clinton was given flowers by two grand dames of Mangueira, Dona Zica and Dona Neuma, the same Dona Neuma, 75, who just a few days before had said in a burst of anger: "If President Clinton's people trust us so little, he might as well not come. Let him stay home and take advantage of his United States."

Oozing Charm

Clinton turned on his charm the night he arrived in Brasília. While every American learns that the Wright Brothers are the fathers of aviation, the Yankee leader deferred to his host country's beliefs, recognizing that Brazilian Santos Dumont is the real father of aviation. On the same speech at Itamaraty—the Brazilian foreign ministry—Clinton has shown that he had done his homework. He talked about writer Jorge Amado, painter Cândido Portinari and declared his love for Brazilian music citing bossa nova and the tropicalismo movement from the late sixties. Compare this to
Ronald Reagan, who on his visit to Brazil in December 1982, during an official banquet in Brasília raised a toast to the "people of Bolivia."

In São Paulo, talking to business leaders, Clinton was again a charmer and got applause even when defending protectionism, what Brazil is accused of doing. In this case, much of the applause had to do with the Brazilian opposition to what they see as Yankee protectionism. Once again, the President bewitched the audience by talking about some very Paulista (from São Paulo) characteristics like the Italian-origin bohemian neighborhood of Bexiga and Liberdade, the area with a heavy concentration of Japanese people. And Clinton was loudly applauded when he declared, "If Brazil is the country of the future, São Paulo is already the future."

According to former minister Marcus Vinícius Pratini de Moraes, the president of AEB (Associação de Comércio Exterior do Brasil—Brazil's Foreign Trade Association), tariffs and other barriers imposed on Brazilian products by the U.S. are costing $3 billion a year to the nation's economy. Textiles, steel, orange juice, and shoes are some of the products that suffer restrictions.