Brazil’s leftwing leaders mourn Chavez with not-so-veiled criticism

Paulo Sotero – Financial Times, 03/11/2013

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff declared three days of official mourning in honour of her late Venezuelan colleague Hugo Chávez Frias, who died on Tuesday in Caracas after a two-year public battle with cancer. “We recognize a great leader, an irreparable loss and above all a friend of Brazil, a friend of the Brazilian people,” she said before leading a minute of silence at a meeting with rural leaders in Brasília carried live on national television.

There was, however, an uncharacteristic twist in Rousseff’s expression of condolences. “On many occasions,” she noted, “the Brazilian government did not agree” with the policies of the Bolivarian leader. Insiders say this was not an extemporaneous remark, but a pre-planned statement calibrated for domestic and international consumption.

Rousseff also put some distance between her government and Venezuelan Bolivarians and their allies by returning to Brasília before the official funeral ceremony on Friday, attended by three dozen leaders, including Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Cuba’s Raul Castro.

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Brazil leader arrives in Cuba to talk trade, ties

Jeff Franks – Reuters, 01/30/2012

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff waves during an official visit to Cuba after arriving at Havana's Jose Marti airport January 30, 2012. REUTERS/Enrique de la Osa

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff arrived in Havana on Monday for a two-day visit focused on trade, but nagged by Cuba’s ever-present human rights issues.

She was scheduled to tour the port of Mariel near Havana, where Brazil is helping finance an $800 million renovation by Brazilian engineering giant Odebrecht; witness the signing of new trade agreements with the Communist island; and meet with President Raul Castro and possibly his older brother Fidel Castro.

Rousseff was greeted at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, then driven away without addressing reporters.

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Cuba trade focus as Brazil’s President Rousseff visits

BBC News, 01/30/2012

President Rousseff has been in office for just over a year

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is set to make her first official visit to Cuba with the emphasis on fostering business ties.

Communist-run Cuba, under a US trade embargo for 50 years, has seen some economic reforms under Raul Castro.

Ms Rousseff is due to hold talks with Mr Castro but it is not clear if she will meet former leader Fidel Castro.

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Brazilian leader under pressure on rights ahead of Cuba trip

Vinod Sreeharsa – McClatchy/Miami Herald, 01/28/2012

Dilma Rousseff arrives in Cuba on Monday on her first visit there as Brazil’s president, and she’s facing pressure to take a stronger and more public stance on human rights violations that continue under the Cuban government.

Rousseff meets with Raul Castro on Tuesday.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, a government critic, sought to meet Rousseff. She tried to compare herself to Brazil’s leader back when Rousseff was a young Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured by Brazil’s military dictatorship.

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Brazil wants to help Cuba update its economic model

EFE/Fox News Latino, 11/02/2011

 Brazil wants to help Cuba “update” its economic model and increase its exports, the Brazilian ambassador said Wednesday at the Havana International Trade Fair.

Jose Eduardo Martins confirmed Wednesday that Brazil shares Cuba’s “optimism” regarding its economic outlook as a result of the reform plan being pushed by the government of President Raul Castro.

“I’m sure that the Brazilian business community is not only coming here to sell, but also to help in the effort of ‘updating’ the Cuban economic model and in the effort of Cuba to increase its export capacity and reduce imports,” Martins said.

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