ASSESSORIA DE IMPRENSA DO GABINETE

Seleção Diária de Notícias Internacionais

Quinta-feira, 11 de julho de 2013

CÚPULA DO MERCOSUL 3
El País (Uruguai) – Mercosur, bloque fracturado y espiado 3
Ansa Latina (Itália) – Rousseff impulsa consenso sobre espionaje en Mercosur 5
Telesur TV (Venezuela) - Brasil confirma que tema de espionaje de EE.UU. estará en agenda del
Mercosur 6
Mercopress (Uruguai) - Summit in Montevideo could further expose the fragility of a Mercosur turned
political 7
El Mundo (Venezuela) - Mercosur amenazado por el aislamiento 8
El Espectador (Uruguai) - "No precisamos Alianza del Pacífico para estar en Asia" 10
Prensa Latina (Cuba) - Guyana and Suriname to Join MERCOSUR 10
Los Tiempos (Paraguai) - Mercosur debatirá regreso de Paraguay 11
Los Tiempos (Bolívia) - Mercosur: turismo gay e integración en la agenda 12

ESPIONAGEM 13
Business News Americas (Chile) – NSA espionage: Brazil's president vows to change data storage
regulation 13
Global Times (China) – Brazil's Defense Minister admits to vulnerability in cyber defense 14
Bloomberg (EUA) - Brazil May Seek to Speak With Snowden as Spy Charges Spread 15
Associated Press (EUA) – Brazil lawmaker: US spying won't hurt relations 15
Reuters (Reino Unido) - Angry Latin America wants answers on allegations of U.S. spying 17
El País (Espanha) – Los países latinoamericanos reaccionan a su manera ante el espionaje de EE UU
18

EGITO 20
The New York Times (EUA) – Sudden Improvements in Egypt Suggest a Campaign to Undermine Morsi
20
Al Jazeera (Catar) – Egypt's interim PM seeks to form cabinet 23
Financial Times (Reino Unido) - Kuwait pledges $4bn to prop up Egyptian economy 24
Miami Herald (EUA) – Egypt coup sets bad precedent for Latin America (Opinião/Andres Oppenheimer)
25

SÍRIA 27
The New York Times (EUA) – Tightening Siege by Syrian Rebels Stirs Anger 27
The Guardian (Reino Unido) - Al-Qaida in Syria is most serious terrorist threat to UK, says report 28
Reuters (Reino Unido) – Syria opposition denies Russian chemical attack allegation 29
Ria Novosti (Rússia) – UN Fact-Finding Mission Head Agrees to Travel to Syria 31

ORIENTE MÉDIO / IRÃ 32

Financial Times (Reino Unido) – Israel to bolster its forces on Golan Heights 32
The Times (Reino Unido) - Desert missile base is aiming at Iran and Israel, say analysts 33
Financial Times (Reino Unido) - West increases penalties for breaching sanctions against Iran 34

ESTADOS UNIDOS 36
The Guardian (Reino Unido) - US diplomats cry foul as Obama donors take over top embassy jobs 36
Financial Times (Reino Unido) - Obama is laying the foundations of a dystopian future (Opinião) 38

ESTADOS UNIDOS – CHINA 40

The New York Times (EUA) – Differences on Cybertheft Complicate China Talks 40
Reuters (Reino Unido) – U.S.-China talks cover cyber issues, currency, Chinese reform 41

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ÁSIA 43
The New York Times (EUA) – Japanese Nuclear Plant May Have Been Leaking for Two Years 43
The New York Times (EUA) – North Korea Repeats Call for Talks 45

ÁFRICA 45
The New York Times (EUA) – Drones in Niger Reflect New U.S. Tack on Terrorism 45
The Hindu (Índia) – The promise of Africa (Opinião/Ian Shapiro) 47

EUROPA 50
Financial Times (Reino Unido) – Berlin rejects Brussels’ attempt at grabbing power to shut banks 50
El País (Espanha) – El presidente portugués pide un “compromiso de salvación nacional” 51
The New York Times (EUA) – Luxembourg Spy Scandal Forces Exit of Premier 52

MEIO AMBIENTE 53
Financial Times (Reino Unido) - China and US agree non-binding climate plan 53
Reuters (Reino Unido) - Ecological risks may spell trouble for Batista's Brazil port 54

TEMAS ECONÔMICOS, FINANCEIROS E COMERCIAIS 58

Le Monde (França) – Au Brésil, le modèle économique inquiète, sur fond de tensions sociales 58
Financial Times (Reino Unido) - Brazil holds course on inflation fight 59
El País (Espanha) – Brasil sube medio punto los tipos de interés hasta el 8,5 por ciento 60

TEMAS INTERNOS 61
The Economist (Reino Unido) - Brazil’s Congress: Ripe for reform (Blog Americas View) 61
BBC (Reino Unido) - Brazil indigenous protest blocks major iron ore railway 61
Clarín (Argentina) – Paralizaron San Pablo y hoy hay huelga nacional en Brasil 62

OUTROS TEMAS 63
Deutsche Welle (Alemanha) - Planejada pelo Brasil, “importação” de médicos é fenômeno mundial 63

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CÚPULA DO MERCOSUL

El País (Uruguai) – Mercosur, bloque fracturado y espiado

Un Mercosur fracturado y con la mayoría de sus presidentes más preocupados por un
escándalo de espionaje, versión siglo XXI de la guerra fría, tendrá su cumbre mañana
viernes en Montevideo.

Será la cumbre del verborrágico Nicolás Maduro, que desde la presidencia pro témpore por
seis meses hablará en nombre del bloque.

Para el exvicecanciller venezolano Milos Alcalay, el arranque de la presidencia de Venezuela

en el Mercosur puede estar marcado por una cumbre "politizada" por el caso de Edward
Snowden, el informático de los servicios de inteligencia estadounidenses que reveló un
amplio programa de espionaje mundial de Washington y al que Maduro casi a diario ofrece
asilo político.

"La pregunta es hasta qué punto los demás miembros del Mercosur van a permitir que se
les use como una plataforma política", cuestiona de su lado Ariel Armony, director del
Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Miami, Estados Unidos.

En 2012, el ingreso de Venezuela al Mercosur estuvo marcado por el discurso

"antiimperialista" del entonces presidente Hugo Chávez, quien presentó esta adhesión
como una "derrota al imperio" (por Estados Unidos) y a las "burguesías lacayas, incluyendo
la venezolana".

El gobierno de Maduro, que asumió en abril pasado tras la muerte de Chávez el 5 de

marzo, mantiene la misma línea y considera que la presidencia de Venezuela en el
Mercosur marcará un triunfo "de la visión geopolítica" del fallecido mandatario, según su
canciller Elías Jaua. El Mercosur "ya no es sólo un espacio concebido en un principio para el
libre mercado, sino que ha ido generando un espacio para la unión política, para la unión
social", dijo Jaua a la cadena Telesur.

Los analistas coinciden en que el peso político internacional de Maduro no es el mismo que
el de Chávez, pero no dejan de advertir que seguirá impulsando una "ideología socialista"
en los espacios de discusión durante su gestión al frente del Mercosur, lo que podría
generar resistencia de otros países.

Paraguay.

La presidencia de Venezuela arrancará sin solucionar el regreso de Paraguay al bloque, del

que fue suspendido en junio de 2012 luego de la destitución del presidente Fernando Lugo
mediante un juicio político. El presidente electo de Paraguay, Horacio Cartes, dijo que sólo
aceptaría volver si se le asigna la presidencia pro témpore, como corresponde por orden
alfabético, según las reglas del bloque.

El canciller Luis Almagro dijo ayer a El País que se trabaja para aprobar en la cumbre que
Paraguay retorna automáticamente al Mercosur el 15 de agosto, al asumir Cartes y
"retornar a la democracia" a ese país. Añadió que el presidente José Mujica "estudia con
mucha profundidad" el relacionamiento del Mercosur con el BRIC (grupo que integran
Brasil, Rusia, India y China) con "la perspectiva de superar asimetrías en cuanto a
competitividad industrial y mejores oportunidades de comercio para el bloque y esos
países".

"Estancado".

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Las denuncias de espionaje estadounidense en América Latina estarán en la agenda de la
cumbre, dijo el ministro de la secretaría de la Presidencia de Brasil, Gilberto Carvalho.

La presidenta de Brasil, Dilma Rousseff, indicó el lunes que de confirmarse el espionaje,

se trataría de una "violación de la soberanía" nacional, pero evitó acusar a Estados Unidos.

También a Bolivia, en proceso de adhesión al Mercosur, le interesa tratar el tema Snowden

tras el incidente de su presidente Evo Morales, cuyo avión, cuando regresaba de Moscú,
fue bloqueado en Viena al negarle el paso Francia, Italia, España y Portugal, que
sospechaban que Snowden se encontraba en la nave.

"El tema de Evo Morales y del espionaje que ha involucrado a la región generan un gran
enrarecimiento" de cara a la cumbre, dijo a la AFP Gerardo Caetano, historiador y director
académico del Centro de Formación para la Integración Regional de Uruguay.

Caetano destacó que el bloque "tiene una agenda de incumplimientos enorme".

"Es evidente que la situación cambiaria argentina y su política comercial generan

distorsiones" y que "la negociación con la Unión Europea está muy bloqueada. Uno tiene
incertidumbres respecto a lo que Brasil va a hacer. Y esto hace que tengamos una
situación de parálisis" en un contexto internacional también "cargado de incertidumbres",
indicó.

Para Luiz Felipe Lampreia, ex ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Brasil, el bloque está
"totalmente estancado".

"El Mercosur se ha transformado en un frente político, más que un espacio de integración,

por lo que en términos de comercio hay muy poco para esperar" de esta cumbre, dijo.

"Creo que ha dejado de ser un proyecto de integración comercial, quizás no de derecho,

pero sí de facto. Se ha perdido completamente el rumbo", acotó. (Ver página A/4).

QUÉ SE TRAEN LOS PRESIDENTES

Argentina: todo pendiente

Cristina Fernández pisará suelo uruguayo por primera vez desde los últimos cruces de
declaraciones con el gobierno de José Mujica. Argentina y Uruguay tienen una larga lista de
temas pendientes: dragado del canal Martín García en el Río de la Plata, monitoreo
ambiental del río Uruguay, habilitación para las obras en el puerto de Nueva Palmira,
trabas comerciales. Sin embargo, en los últimos meses las noticias sobre las deterioradas
relaciones bilaterales giraron más sobre declaraciones polémicas de un lado y otro del río.
Desde el "tuerto" y la "terca" de Mujica hasta el debate sobre la nacionalidad de Artigas
que inició Fernández.

Brasil: espionaje de EE.UU.

La presidenta Dilma Rousseff buscará un consenso con los países del bloque sobre el
escándalo por el espionaje de Estados Unidos a Brasil. "Posiblemente la presidenta va a
tocar el tema del espionaje, creemos que algunos colaboradores de ella ya han mantenido
consultas informales con otros países en los últimos días", comentó hoy un asesor del
Palacio del Planalto consultado por ANSA. El diario O Globo publicó esta semana extensos
artículos basados en informaciones filtradas por Edward Snowden donde se documenta que
cientos de millones de mails y telefonemas brasileños fueron interceptados por Estados
Unidos.

Uruguay: cómo frenar a China

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El presidente José Mujica propondrá en la cumbre del Mercosur establecer un arancel
externo común especial para los productos chinos. "Probablemente haya que discutir un
arancel especial para productos chinos. Habría que avanzar en una discusión sobre qué
rubros sí y qué rubros no se puedan incluir, y luego en cuáles nos articulamos entre
nosotros", dijo Mujica a Télam. El presidente enmarcó la idea de gravar de una manera
diferencia a los productos del gigante asiático dentro de lo que consideró una cumbre en la
que "va a haber alguna discusión de carácter estratégico, porque tenemos algunos
objetivos de largo plazo que definir".

Venezuela: la hora de Maduro

El presidente Nicolás Maduro asumirá mañana viernes la presidencia pro tempore del
Mercosur, una silla que le hubiera correspondido a Paraguay de no estar suspendido del
bloque. Maduro ofreció esta semana facilitar el regreso de Paraguay al Mercosur, pero sus
palabras fueron recibidas con un dejo de sospecha en Asunción. El canciller paraguayo José
Félix Fernández afirmó que el ofrecimiento del presidente de Venezuela "no llena las
expectativas" del gobierno paraguayo.

"Lo que dice el presidente de Venezuela no es la aspiración que tenemos nosotros para la
solución en el bloque", agregó.

Paraguay la mira de afuera

El presidente electo de Paraguay, Horacio Cartes, dijo que dará a conocer su posición con
relación al retorno de su país al Mercosur cuando finalice la cumbre en Montevideo.

"No vamos a emitir ninguna opinión hasta que no tengamos algo oficial, seamos
prudentes", dijo Cartes en declaraciones a periodistas. Cartes fue interrogado sobre el
anuncio realizado el martes por el canciller Luis Almagro, en Brasilia, donde reveló que el
bloque ungirá al mandatario venezolano Nicolás Maduro como presidente pro tempore. "Si
asume Venezuela, de nada servirá todo lo conversado", remarcó.

Ansa Latina (Itália) – Rousseff impulsa consenso sobre

espionaje en Mercosur
Por Darío Pignotti

La presidenta brasileña, Dilma Rousseff, viajará esta semana a la cumbre del Mercosur,
donde posiblemente criticará el espionaje de Estados Unidos y buscará un consenso con los
países del bloque, según anticiparon fuentes del gobierno consultadas por ANSA.

En el plano interno, Rousseff ordenó investigar empresas sospechadas de complicidad con

la red de inteligencia cibernética.

"Posiblemente la presidenta va a tocar el tema del espionaje, creemos que algunos

colaboradores de ella ya han mantenido consultas informales con otros países en los
últimos días", comentó hoy un asesor del Palacio del Planalto consultado por esta agencia.

"La presidenta estará en Montevideo para la reunión del Mercosur, estimamos que partirá
el jueves, esto es a confirmar, y también estaría viajando el canciller Antonio Patriota",
dijo una portavoz de la Presidencia.

Rousseff estuvo ausente, la semana pasada, de la reunión de emergencia convocada por

Unasur en Cochabamba, donde fue emitido un pronunciamiento en respaldo al presidente

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boliviano, Evo Morales, luego de que se le impidió atravesar el espacio aéreo de algunos
países europeos y estuvo varado 14 horas en Viena.

El diario O Globo publicó esta semana extensos artículos basados en informaciones filtradas
por Edward Snowden donde se documenta que cientos de millones de mails y telefonemas
brasileños fueron interceptados por Estados Unidos.

El periódico informó, asimismo, que una base conjunta de la Agencia de Seguridad

Nacional (NSA) y la CIA operó por lo menos hasta 2002 en Brasilia, que se convirtió en un
punto de referencia dentro de la red global de escuchas clandestinas.

El secretario general de la presidencia, ministro Gilberto Carvalho, declaró que la reunión

del Mercosur en Montevideo es "una buena ocasión" para que Rousseff trate el tema con
sus pares sudamericanos, informó hoy el sitio del diario Folha de Sao Paulo.

"Nosotros consideramos que el episodio fue gravísimo, de la misma forma que fue grave el
evento del presidente Evo Morales… cualquier ataque a la soberanía de un país
tiene que ser respondido con mucha dureza, porque si uno baja la cabeza mañana ellos
nos pasan por arriba", reforzó Caravalho.

La agenda de la reunión semestral del Mercosur también fue tratada por el canciller
Patriota y su par uruguayo, Luis Almagro, durante el encuentro que mantuvieron el
martes en el Palacio del Planalto.

La jefa de Estado mantuvo una reunión con varios ministros en la que se conversó sobre
los futuros pasos frente al escándalo, y se resolvió profundizar las investigaciones sobre la
eventual complicidad de empresas de telecomunicaciones privadas.

Además se acordó, tras la reunión celebrada el martes, estudiar la factibilidad para

construir un satélite y cables submarinos de transmisión de datos, para evitar la
vulnerabilidad que fue puesta en evidencia con las noticias de los últimos días.

Paralelamente la Cámara de Senadores invitó al embajador estadounidense, Thomas

Shannon, y a varios ministros, entre ellos el canciller Patriota y el titular de Defensa,
Celso Amorim, además de recomendar al gobierno que conceda asilo al ex contratista de la
CIA Snowed.

El senador Eduardo Suplicy, del oficialista PT, es uno de los miembros más influyentes de
la Comisión de Exteriores, y opinó que este escándalo, pese a ser el roce más serio con
Washington en dos años y medio del actual gobierno, no afectará diálogo el bilateral.

Sostuvo Suplicy, en entrevista con ANSA, que si bien Rousseff expresó su descontento, lo
hizo de una forma moderada y seguramente no se suspenderá la visita de Estado a la Casa
Blanca que está prevista en octubre.

El congresista Suplicy comentó, finalmente, que queda mucho por investigar dado que,
"todavía no sabemos si la base de espionaje en Brasilia (montada por Estados Unidos)
sigue con sus tareas, esto debe ser respondido por los ministros que tienen competencia
en el tema", apuntó.
DCP-DS/MRZ

Telesur TV (Venezuela) - Brasil confirma que tema de espionaje

de EE.UU. estará en agenda del Mercosur
El ministro de la Presidencia brasileña, Gilberto Carvalho, afirmó este miércoles que el
tema del espionaje aplicado por el Gobierno de Estados Unidos a ciudadanos y funcionarios

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de diferentes países -entre ellos Brasil, Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia y
México-, estará presente en las discusiones de la próxima cumbre del Mercosur, que
arrancará el viernes en la capital uruguaya, Montevideo.

Carvalho indicó que la presidenta de Brasil, Dilma Rousseff, tendrá durante la reunión
del viernes una “buena ocasión para que se tome una decisión de conjunto. Nosotros
consideramos que el hecho es gravísimo, del mismo modo en que fue grave el evento con
el presidente (de Bolivia) Evo Morales”, dijo en alusión al cierre del espacio aéreo de
Francia, Portugal, Italia y España para el avión del mandatario boliviano la semana pasada.

El ministro informó que ya se adelantan las discusiones con otros países en busca de una
respuesta común, y aseveró que tanto el espionaje estadunidense -denunciado por
rotativos internacionales a partir de filtraciones cuya autoría asumió el exanalista de la
Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (NSA, por su sigla en ingés)- como la afrenta a Evo Morales
deben ser respondidos “con mucha dureza”.

“Cualquier agresión, cualquier ataque a la soberanía de un país debe ser respondido con
mucha dureza. Porque si bajamos la cabeza, mañana ellos nos pasan por encima”, declaró
Carvalho a la prensa.

De su parte, el canciller, Antonio Patriota, afirmó que el Gobierno brasileño "fue el

primero en llevar la intención de discutir el asunto en foros internacionales. Cómo se puede
hacer eso es algo que aún estamos analizando", reportó la agencia AFP.

Ya desde el domingo pasado, cuando O Globo denunció el espionaje estadounidense a

millones de comunicaciones telefónicas y correos electrónicos en Brasil, el Gobierno de
Dilma Rousseff anunció la apertura de una investigación, pidió aclaraciones al Gobierno
estadounidense a través de la convocatoria del embajador Thomas Shannon y decidió crear
un grupo técnico interministerial para "analizar el caso y proponer medidas".

Patriota dijo el martes que Brasil está a la espera de una "respuesta formal" sobre las
denuncias de espionaje en el país. Agregó que “el Gobierno brasileño no tenía conocimiento
de las actividades denunciadas. La eventual participación de una persona, institución o
empresa del país en estas actividades es inconstitucional, ilegal y sujeta a penas".

teleSUR-O Tempo-AFP/at-GP

Mercopress (Uruguai) - Summit in Montevideo could further

expose the fragility of a Mercosur turned political
President-elect Horacio Cartes will not make any comments on the ongoing dispute of
Paraguay with Mercosur until after the group’s summit in Uruguay next Friday, when
official decisions on the subject are expected to be made public. However for both sides
any decision will most probably be challenging and ratify that Mercosur has become a
political group far from its original trade and investment purposes.

“We can’t interpret news and make comments on interpretations; no comments until we
have something official”, said Cartes on Wednesday in reference to Paraguay’s strong
objection to have Venezuela occupy Mercosur rotating chair as it has been anticipated by
the current holder and host of the summit, Uruguay.

Cartes added that ‘following the summit, we’ll make a statement”.

Paraguay is currently suspended from Mercosur, a decision taken in June last year by
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay reacting to the impeachment and removal of Fernando Lugo
from office, which the three full members interpreted as a “congressional coup”.

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Following on the suspension, the three members in a special summit admitted the
incorporation of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur which was pending since 2006,
because of objections from the Paraguayan Senate.

The decision was considered illegal by Paraguay since such initiatives according to the
group’s charter must be unanimous and with all members attending, which did not happen.
Paraguay has stated that after complying with free transparent democratic presidential
elections (with Horacio Cartes the winner) the country must be allowed back in and the
Venezuelan decision reversed. If not Paraguay is not interested in returning to Mercosur.
However the current and incoming Paraguayan administrations have also said they don’t
want to abandon Mercosur, but demand respect for Paraguay’s dignity and compliance with
international law, rule of the law and the country’s institutions, which the group has
‘ignored’.

President elect Cartes has proposed the coming summit votes a recess until August 15
when he takes office. At the inauguration ceremony Paraguay is given the group’s chair in
a welcome gesture, and in the concomitant month the new Paraguayan Senate discusses
the incorporation of Venezuela as full member. But Uruguayan Foreign minister Luis
Almagro, with the support from Brazil, considers the situation irreversible and said
Venezuela will be the next holder of Mercosur chair since Paraguay remains ‘suspended’.
The situation nevertheless experienced a further surprise when Venezuelan president
Nicolas Maduro said that despite ‘political differences’ with Cartes, he is determined that all
efforts from Venezuela, “as chair of Mercosur, will be directed to facilitate the institutional
process that enables the active reincorporation of Paraguay”.

In this new scenario the foreign policy advisors of Cartes anticipate three possible options
at the coming summit in Montevideo on Friday: Venezuela effectively is given the
presidency of Mercosur and in a special gesture hands it to Paraguay; that the presidency
is given directly to Paraguay or straight and forward to Maduro which will hold it for the
next six months.

But any of the three options present serious legal problems for Paraguay. In the first case
Paraguay would be obliged to assume the presidency but also accept Venezuela, which
means ignoring a bill voted in July 2012 by the Paraguayan Senate explicitly rejecting such
incorporation. The second option presents the same legal obstacles because of the negative
vote from the Senate. It could also happen that Venezuela says it is willing to step down
from the Mercosur presidency as long as Paraguay accepts the incorporation.

Whatever works out on Friday in Montevideo on the dispute, it is hard to see how the rift
can be reversed particularly for an incoming president or for a Mercosur notoriously
weakened by internal dissent and prevalence of ideology that questions its international
standing and reliability.

El Mundo (Venezuela) - Mercosur amenazado por el aislamiento

La creación de La Alianza del Pacífico ha dejado al Mercosur paralizado.

AFP.- El Mercosur, aquejado de proteccionismo, debe encarar un sinceramiento ante la

amenaza del aislamiento, tras la reciente fundación de la dinámica Alianza del Pacífico y el
acuerdo comercial en ciernes entre Europa y Estados Unidos.

"Hoy el Mercosur está necesitado de un sinceramiento. Ya no hay más espacio para hablar
de las bondades de la integración y luego incumplir en los hechos lo que hay que hacer en
materia de integración", dijo a la AFP Gerardo Caetano, doctor en historia y director
académico del Centro de Formación para la Integración Regional (CEFIR) de Uruguay.

"Está muy bien que haya convergencias políticas pero hay que avanzar en términos de una
agenda concreta. Tenemos 22 años de Mercosur y los productos son nulos", indicó,

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recordando que en este tiempo el bloque ha negociado apenas un acuerdo comercial con
Israel, otro con Palestina y acuerdos parciales con otros países sudamericanos, pero no ha
podido avanzar en un estancado acuerdo de libre comercio con la Unión Europea (UE), en
negociación desde hace más de una década.

El bloque sudamericano creado en 1991 por Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay y Uruguay y al

que se sumó en 2012 Venezuela ya tiene una agenda, enfatizó.

"Hay planes ya consagrados, no hay que inventar una agenda. Se han ido acumulando
decisiones, pronunciamientos, planes, que luego no se llevan a la práctica. Y el factor
argentino es un factor muy importante, en el sentido de que hasta qué punto las políticas
públicas aplicadas en Argentina pueden ser conciliables con una consolidación del proceso
de integración. Creo que no", enfatizó.

"Y en este contexto Argentina no puede participar de una negociación comercial con nadie.
Y esto hace que tengamos una situación de parálisis en el Mercosur", observó.

El estancamiento del Mercosur ocurre mientras otros latinoamericanos -Colombia, Chile,

México y Perú, acordaron en mayo la liberación total de su comercio, aunque sin plazo, en
el marco de la Alianza del Pacífico, bloque que representa el 35% del PIB de la región, el
47% de las exportaciones latinoamericanas y el 38% de la inversión de América Latina.

Uruguay pidió este año ingresar como observador a la Alianza del Pacífico, lo que generó
rispideces con el resto de sus socios del Mercosur, que suma un PIB conjunto de 3,3
billones de dólares. Además, busca incrementar su comercio con Estados Unidos, país con
el que tiene un Acuerdo Marco de Comercio e Inversiones (Tifa).

Aunque el gobierno brasileño no vea en la Alianza del Pacífico a un competidor, la creación

de la alianza preocupa a los industriales brasileños.

En junio, la industria brasileña, que atraviesa un crecimiento negativo, alertó sobre el

impacto en el comercio mundial y en Brasil de la creación de la Alianza del Pacífico en
América Latina, y del anunciado acuerdo entre Estados Unidos y Europa.

Los empresarios cuestionaron el Mercosur, que obliga a sus socios a negociar en conjunto
cualquier acuerdo internacional. "Necesitamos librarnos de esa camisa de fuerza, pues no
vamos a concluir ningún acuerdo teniendo a Argentina y Venezuela como socios", dijo
entonces Roberto Gianetti da Fonseca, de la Federación de Industrias de Sao Paulo
(FIESP).

A su vez, Estados Unidos y la UE lanzaron este mes sus negociaciones para crear la que
podría ser la mayor área de libre comercio del planeta.

"La lógica comercial predominante son otro tipo de negociaciones en las que el Mercosur no
está participando", advirtió el académico Caetano. "Hay movimientos y horizontes
estratégicos, en el Mercosur no veo ni horizonte, ni acción, ni pensamiento estratégico",
añadió.

En la Alianza del Pacífico "obviamente hay un proyecto comercial muy fuerte que lidera
Estados Unidos", indicó Cateano. "Tengo dudas de que la Alianza del Pacífico sea un
proceso de integración como tal, pero tiene un rumbo, está actuando en consecuencia y va
avanzando", advirtió.

En ese contexto, "el statu quo, más de lo mismo, no es una opción para el Mercosur",
sostuvo.

9
Para Caetano, gran parte del debate interno "se resuelve con la flexibilización" pero
además "Brasil tiene que asumir el liderazgo" del bloque.

"Hay que redefinir un Mercosur que pueda ser. Porque si no es un Mercosur que termina
debilitando enormemente la batalla cultural por la integración", advirtió. Y debido a las
diferencias entre sus socios, "la gente ha perdido la fe en la integración".

El Espectador (Uruguai) - "No precisamos Alianza del Pacífico

para estar en Asia"
En declaraciones a En Perspectiva, el exsubsecretario del Ministerio de Relaciones
Exteriores, el senador Roberto Conde, indicó que "Uruguay ya está en Asia, no necesita el
carro de la Alianza del Pacífico para ingresar a ese mercado". Agregó que "la vida
económica de Uruguay sigue estando vinculada al Mercosur".

Respondiendo a los planteos de la oposición en el Senado, durante la sesión de este martes

en la que se discutió el rumbo de la política económica, Conde explicó “las líneas de
argumentación” que maneja la Cancillería sobre este tema.

“Primero que nada hay que tener en cuenta que Uruguay ya es un país abierto al mundo y
que ha usado todos los mecanismos posibles para lograr esto” además “tenemos un alto
grado de libre comercio y la tasa de protección arancelaria más baja del Mercosur”,
sostuvo.

Por otro lado “Uruguay tiene abierto en el mundo más de 115 mercados, lo cual nos
permite mantener un ritmo sostenido de nuestras exportaciones”. “Si a esto le agregamos
que ya tenemos acuerdos de libre comercio vigentes con casi todos los países que integran
la Alianza del Pacífico y que estamos trabajando para modernizar el acuerdo con Colombia
y avanzando en Perú, el panorama es bastante claro”, explicó Conde.

Con el panorama planteado “creemos que lo alcanzado satisface nuestros objetivos y que
hay que ser muy prudentes y negociar con habilidad” porque “estamos obteniendo
resultados resonantes”, indicó el senador.

Conde expresó que la “Alianza del Pacífico no es la plataforma, por ejemplo, para llegar a
China, mercado en el que ya estamos y que es nuestro principal comprador desplazando a
Brasil” pero además destacó que se han hecho gestiones “que nos permitieron alcanzar
relaciones normales con Japón y con Corea”.

“Uruguay ya está presente en Asia, no necesita el carro de la Alianza del Pacifico para decir
presente en esos mercados” pero “no hay que olvidar que Uruguay recibe inversión
extranjera asiática porque es parte de Mercosur, que es donde vende sus productos”,
manifestó el exsubsecretario de Relaciones Exteriores.

“Para que podamos llegar a Europa y Asia, por ejemplo, se necesita al Mercosur” por lo que
“sería un suicidio tomar decisiones unilaterales y quedar afuera del bloque”, dijo Conde,
“para alcanzar un desarrollo en la vida económica, se mire por donde se mire, nuestro país
debe seguir vinculado al Mercosur” dado que “su crecimiento también se explica por estar
donde está”.

“Los dos tercios de la producción de Uruguay van destinados al Mercosur y es lógico pensar
que no se podría vender a otra parte del mundo estas mercaderías por cuestiones de
competencia. Sin el Mercosur la producción se vería resentida”.

Prensa Latina (Cuba) - Guyana and Suriname to Join MERCOSUR

10
By Jorge Luna

Montevideo (Prensa Latina) Guyana and Suriname, members of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) will sign a framework agreement Friday, to join the South Common Market
(Mercosur) as associate members.

Paraguay Yet to Have Official Stand on Mercosur, Says Cartes

Valeria Csukasi, general director for Integration and MERCOSUR Affairs of the Uruguayan
Foreign Affairs Ministry, said that with Guyana and Suriname, an agenda in the areas of
cooperation and commercialization will be established.

Csukasi added that they would also work in the future incorporation of Bolivia as a full
member of MERCOSUR.

She remembered that Bolivia signed a protocol of adhesion as full member in December,
but the protocol is still under study by the MERCOSUR parliaments.

The possible growth of MERCOSUR (now composed by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay,

Venezuela and Paraguay, which is suspended) will be verified Friday.

Csukasi said this is an important signal to have one day all the South American nations
linked with MERCOSUR, being full members or associate members, and talked about the
next pro tempore presidency by Venezuela, a country that should have to face the task to
keep the unique budget inside the regional block.

After mentioning there are also topics of productive integration and cooperation, she said
Venezuela will take the pro tempore presidency for the first time, and this will be a real
challenge.

Los Tiempos (Paraguai) - Mercosur debatirá regreso de Paraguay

Por Efe y Afp

Montevideo y Asunción |

El Mercosur, que sigue sumando acuerdos con nuevos países, debatirá mañana en su
cumbre semestral de Montevideo cómo allanar el camino para el regreso del suspendido
Paraguay, duramente enfrentado a Venezuela, que asumirá por primera vez la presidencia
pro témpore de un bloque estancado y con diferencias internas.

La cumbre reunirá en Montevideo a los presidentes de Argentina, Cristina Kirchner; Brasil,

Dilma Rousseff; Uruguay, José Mujica; y Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. A ellos se sumarán
Evo Morales, mandatario de Bolivia, en proceso de adhesión al bloque, y como invitado
especial el presidente de Honduras, Porfirio Lobo.

Sin perspectivas de avance en los problemas comerciales, fundamentalmente por el

proteccionismo de algunos de sus socios, se espera que los mandatarios envíen un
mensaje político que allane el camino para el regreso al bloque de Paraguay, suspendido
del Mercosur en julio del año pasado en respuesta a la destitución del presidente Fernando
Lugo en juicio político parlamentario.

El Gobierno paraguayo advirtió el lunes que no volvería al bloque si Caracas asumía la

presidencia, ya que considera que el ingreso de Venezuela –adoptado en su ausencia– fue
irregular porque el Parlamento paraguayo no lo había ratificado.

11
El martes, sin embargo, el canciller de Uruguay, Luis Almagro, ratificó que el regreso de
Paraguay está previsto para el 15 de agosto, cuando asuma la presidencia del país Horacio
Cartes, y reiteró que Uruguay traspasará la presidencia a Venezuela.

El encuentro se produce además cuando hay malestar en varios países de la región por la
revelación de una red de espionaje estadounidense que se habría extendido a varios países
latinoamericanos, entre ellos Brasil y Venezuela.

La semana pasada, el Mercosur y la Unasur apoyaron Evo Morales luego de que cuatro
países europeos prohibieran el paso de su avión presidencial por sospechas de que llevaba
a Edward Snowden, exconsultor de inteligencia estadounidense acusado de espionaje por
EEUU, a bordo.

“El tema de Evo Morales y del espionaje que ha involucrado a la región generan un gran
enrarecimiento” de cara a la cumbre, dijo a la AFP Gerardo Caetano, doctor en historia y
director académico del Centro de Formación para la Integración Regional (Cefir) de
Uruguay.

Cartes esperará el final de la cumbre

El presidente electo de Paraguay, Horacio Cartes, abogó ayer por la prudencia y evitó hacer
nuevas declaraciones sobre el Mercosur hasta conocer los resultados de la cumbre de este
viernes en Montevideo.

“Seamos prudentes. Todo lo que hay, para mí, son versiones periodísticas. Vamos a
esperar el viernes que eso sea oficial”, dijo Cartes tras un acto del partido en Asunción,
según un comunicado de su jefe de prensa.

Los cancilleres de Uruguay, Luis Almagro, y de Brasil, Antonio Patriota, ratificaron el

martes que Venezuela asumirá la presidencia semestral del Mercosur en la cumbre de
Montevideo, aunque Cartes había pedido que se le diese a su país para facilitar su
reincorporación al bloque.

Paraguay fue suspendido en junio de 2012, en castigo por la destitución del presidente
Fernando Lugo por el Parlamento, y el Mercosur tiene previsto aprobar su reintegración al
bloque en Montevideo, con efectos el 15 de agosto, cuando Cartes asume la Presidencia.

“No vamos a emitir ninguna opinión hasta que no tengamos algo oficial, seamos prudentes
(...) Después de la cumbre de Montevideo, vamos a dar nuestra opinión”, declaró Cartes.

“No podemos estar interpretando noticias y haciendo comentarios sobre interpretaciones”,

abundó.

Los Tiempos (Bolívia) - Mercosur: turismo gay e integración en la

agenda
Por Efe - Agencia

Montevideo |

El impulso al turismo “gay friendly” y la integración regional de las actividades turísticas

aparecen entre los intereses de los empresarios del Mercosur, que debatirán tales asuntos
en un foro del bloque que arranca hoy en Montevideo, informó ayer una fuente oficial
uruguaya.

En el encuentro empresarial, que contará con un panel temático sobre turismo dirigido a
profesionales de la región, se buscarán estrategias para potenciar el turismo “gay friendly”

12
al ser “uno de los mayores sectores de crecimiento”, explicó a Efe el subsecretario de
Turismo y Deporte de Uruguay, Antonio Carámbula.

El foro se realizará un día antes de la Cumbre de Jefes de Estado del Mercosur, también en
la capital uruguaya, y en él participarán invitados de Argentina, Brasil, Uruguay y
Venezuela, además de Paraguay, que pese a que su participación política en la asociación
está suspendida, no está impedido de participar en el encuentro.

“La región sigue adecuándose a las nuevas exigencias del mercado turístico y continúa
profesionalizando sus servicios para cada objetivo”, destacó Carámbula en relación al
turismo gay.

Precisamente, la legalización del matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo en Argentina y
Uruguay puso a estos dos países en la lista de destinos preferidos por los homosexuales.

Además de este tema, Carámbula destacó que la reunión empresarial intentará dar
respuesta a distintas necesidades regionales, como “una mayor cooperación en
capacitación y concienciación turística, la realización de intercambios de grupos para el
perfeccionamiento de idiomas o una mayor interacción de experiencias entre países”.

Si bien ya existen acciones conjuntas de turismo en el bloque, como una red técnica que se
reúne “frecuentemente” para coordinar políticas y trabajar en acciones conjuntas, el
funcionario señaló que hay temas “que se encuentran permanentemente en la agenda”.
Entre ellos, “la facilitación de pasos de frontera en la región, la integración de circuitos
turísticos y la homogeneización de datos”, relató.

También destacó la existencia desde 2004 de un proyecto conjunto para el mercado

japonés que cuenta con una oficina de promoción en Tokio.

TURISMO EN CIFRAS

El subsecretario de Turismo y Deporte de Uruguay, Antonio Carámbula, dijo que en 2012

los países del Mercosur, excepto Venezuela e incluyendo a Paraguay, recibieron 14,5
millones de turistas y los ingresos globales por esta actividad rondaron los 14.000 millones
de dólares.

El pasado año llegaron a Uruguay cerca de 3 millones de turistas, prácticamente la misma

cantidad de habitantes. El mismo año, Brasil tuvo un crecimiento del 5,5 por ciento en el
ingreso de turistas.

ESPIONAGEM

Business News Americas (Chile) – NSA espionage: Brazil's

president vows to change data storage regulation
By Pedro Ozores

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff plans to investigate the data storage policies of major
technology companies and to request that Brazilian citizens' data be stored within the
country, according to local media reports on Brazil's reaction to NSA espionage.

The government intends to review the terms of the Marco Civil da Internet, or Civil Internet
Bill, to include the data storage requirements. The bill has been pending approval in
congress for months.

13
"We are going to review [the Marco Civil] because one of the issues we want to observe is
where data is stored. We want to make the storage of Brazilians' data within Brazil
mandatory. And the review would also aim to examine how we can improve and ensure
privacy," the president was quoted as saying by federal news agency Agencia Brasil.

INTERMINISTERIAL TASK FORCE

In addition to that, an interministerial task force has been created to investigate the
technical and legal issues surrounding the eavesdropping of electronic and phone
communications by NSA in Brazil.

The group is comprised of the following government ministers: Paulo Bernardo,

(communications), Celso Amorim (defense), Antonio Patriota (foreign relations), José
Eduardo Cardozo (justice) and José Elito, the national security cabinet chief-of-staff.

Justice minister Cardozo said that the Federal Police had already opened an investigation
into the case. Early on Tuesday afternoon (July 9), President Dilma Rousseff met with
ministers to discuss the issue.

AMBASSADOR REJECTS CLAIMS

The US ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon, said the US is collaborating with the
government and giving all explanations required by Brazilian authorities, in a brief talk with
reporters following his meeting on Monday with communications minister Paulo Bernardo.

He did not respond as to whether US electronic espionage had taken place in Brazil,
saying only that O Globo's reports "present an image of our program that is inaccurate."

Later, in an interview with Brazilian TV, Bernardo said that the ambassador had denied the
espionage claims.

ASYLUM REQUEST DENIAL *WILL NOT BE REVIEWED*

Despite the news that Brazil has been a target of mass espionage by the NSA, foreign
minister Patriota emphasized this Tuesday (July 9) that the country has no intention of
reconsidering the denial of Snowden's asylum request.

Global Times (China) – Brazil's Defense Minister admits to

vulnerability in cyber defense
Xinhua

Brazil's Defense Minister Celso Amorim admitted on Wednesday that the country is very
vulnerable when it comes to cyber defense, making foreign espionage easier.

The minister made the statement during a Senate hearing. He was summoned to talk
about the allegations that the US intelligence agencies have spied on millions of Brazilian
citizen calls and e- mails.

"We are in a situation of vulnerability nowadays," the minister said, adding that he met
with Army experts to measure the extent of Brazil's problems in the cyber defense field,
and to determine whether military intel may have been affected by the espionage scheme.

Amorim said that Brazil needs to beef up its cyber security as the Army's cyber defense
program is still new, having started operations only two years ago.

14
Complaining that Brazil does not have a locally-made satellite for cyber defense, he said
that data transmission lines must have Brazilian technology, which are currently operated
by foreign companies.

"The networks do not have a Brazilian system for protection, the tools are all foreign.
Scientific and technological development is one of the most urgent needs in this field," the
minister said.

Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota also spoke during the same Senate hearing, saying the
espionage allegations would be discussed on international fora.

Bloomberg (EUA) - Brazil May Seek to Speak With Snowden as

Spy Charges Spread
By Joshua Goodman and Mario Sergio Lima

Brazil’s government said it may contact fugitive former security contractor Edward
Snowden as it probes allegations the U.S. monitored phone calls and e-mail in Latin
America’s largest economy.

“Mr. Snowden’s participation in an investigation is absolutely relevant and pertinent,”

Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said in Senate testimony to discuss allegations that were
first reported by O Globo newspaper last week. “I don’t rule out the hypothesis of seeking
out contact with Mr. Snowden, something that doesn’t need to be carried out on Brazilian
territory. It can be done another way.”

Patriota’s interest in speaking to Snowden comes as governments across Latin America,

even those with close ties to the U.S. such as Colombia and Mexico, demand explanations
about the extent of American surveillance activities in the region.

In Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff said today the government is awaiting the results of
probes by the police and telecommunications regulator to determine what steps to take
next. U.S. surveillance activities may also be discussed when the presidents of Argentina,
Brazil, Venezuela and other South American nations gather July 12 in Uruguay for a
summit of the Mercosur trade bloc, Patriota told lawmakers.

O Globo reported July 6 that Brazil was a priority target of U.S. monitoring alongside
countries including China, Pakistan and Iran. The article was co-written by American
journalist Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Rio de Janeiro, and based on documents he
obtained from Snowden while breaking the spying story for London’s Guardian newspaper.
Targets

In a follow-up article, Greenwald wrote that Mexico and Colombia were also targets of U.S.
surveillance in recent years, with the latter taking on increased importance when
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez died in March.

Patriota told lawmakers today that he understands from press reports that the former
defense contractor has accepted Venezuela’s asylum offer and that the logistics of his
travel are being worked out with Russia. Snowden has been holed up in the transit zone of
Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow since arriving June 23 from Hong Kong.

Associated Press (EUA) – Brazil lawmaker: US spying won't hurt

relations
BY MARCO SIBAJA
ASSOCIATED PRESS

15
Disclosures alleging that the United States has collected data on billions of telephone and
email conversations in Latin America's biggest country will not affect Brazil-U.S. relations,
the head of Brazil's joint congressional committee on intelligence said Wednesday.

Congressman Nelson Pellegrino told foreign correspondents in Brasilia that despite Brazil's
strong repudiation of the U.S. information gathering activities in Brazil "the good relations
we have with the United States will not be interrupted."

"We have sent Washington a clear message that we are interested in maintaining good
relations, but that we will not accept these kinds of practices," he said. "We cannot accept
that a country spies another, on its citizens, its companies and its authorities."

He said President Dilma Rousseff's state visit to Washington October was still on and that
it would not be affected by the recent disclosures.

Meanwhile Wednesday, Defense Minister Celso Amorim acknowledged that the country
invests little in cyber-security, with just $22 million earmarked in the 2013 budget. Still, he
insisted that no amount of money can create a totally secure system.

"No country has the capacity to establish absolute protection" of its communication
networks, Amorim told the Senate's foreign relations committee. "Even in an ideal
situation, there would not be a shield that could completely protect us."

The O Globo newspaper reported last week that information released by National Security
Agency leaker Edward Snowden showed Brazil is the top target in Latin America for the
NSA's massive intelligence-gathering effort aimed at monitoring communications around
the world.

Snowden's disclosures indicate that the NSA widely collects phone and Internet "metadata"
- logs of message times, addresses and other information rather than the content of the
messages. The documents have indicated that the NSA has been collecting the phone
records of millions of U.S. phone customers, and has gathered data on phone and Internet
usage outside the U.S., including those people who use any of nine U.S.-based internet
providers such as Google.

Earlier, O Globo reported that in Brazil, the NSA collected data through an association
between U.S. and Brazilian telecommunications companies. It said it could not verify which
Brazilian companies were involved or if they were even aware their links were being used
to collect the data.

The Brazilian government is investigating the disclosures and the alleged links with
telecommunications firms with a Brazil presence.

Congress has asked U.S. Ambassador Thomas Shannon for explanations.

Rousseff said any such activity infringed upon the nation's sovereignty, and that Brazil
would take the issue up at the United Nations.

In Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto also discounted that the disclosures would hurt
relations with Washington.

"I believe that at this time there isn't anything altering the relationship of respect and
cordiality we have with the U.S. government, and where we are, as you know, trying to set
goals within the relationship that can generate benefits and development for both
countries," Pena Nieto told reporters.

16
Reuters (Reino Unido) - Angry Latin America wants answers on
allegations of U.S. spying
Anthony Boadle and Helen Murphy

Latin American governments urged the United States on Wednesday to be more

forthcoming in answering allegations of U.S. spying programs there that have set off a
wave of outrage that could damage its standing in the region.

Colombia, Washington's closest military ally in Latin America, joined the chorus of
governments seeking answers following reports the United States used surveillance
programs to monitor Internet traffic in most of the region's countries.

A leading Brazilian newspaper reported on Tuesday that the U.S. National Security Agency
targeted most Latin American countries with the secret spying programs, citing documents
leaked by Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. intelligence contractor.

In Brazil, the United States' largest trading partner in South America, angry senators
questioned a state visit that President Dilma Rousseff plans to make to Washington in
October, and the potential billion-dollar purchase of U.S.-made fighter jets that Brazil has
been considering.

One senator said Brazil should offer Snowden asylum for providing information of vital
importance to the country's national security. Another senator said Snowden should get
Brazilian citizenship.

Facing tough questions in a Senate hearing, Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota
said Rousseff's visit to Washington was not being reconsidered.

Patriota said U.S. Ambassador Thomas Shannon, who was called to the Foreign Ministry
on Tuesday, acknowledged the United States collects metadata on email traffic but does
not access the content of email messages or conduct the monitoring on Brazilian territory

Patriota dismissed any changes in the "broad" relations between Brazil and the United
States. But asked whether U.S. explanations had satisfied the Brazilian government, he
told reporters, "They haven't been satisfactory so far."

APOLOGY DEMANDED

The espionage revelations surfaced one week after South American nations fumed about
the diversion of Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane in Europe because of the suspicion
that Snowden was on board. {ID:nL5N0F937I]

As anger mounts in the region, the Mercosur bloc of South American plans to issue a tough
response at a meeting in Uruguay on Friday.

"We're going to be very firm ... the United States has to show some respect to the
sovereignty of Latin America and when spying is discovered, it should be punished,"
Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said in an interview with Radio del Plata.

"What is striking is just how massive the U.S. spying is and how unskilled they are at
keeping it a secret."

Latin American nations want the United States to tell them what it was up to in the region,
and to apologize, he said.

17
Colombia said it was concerned about the reports of an "unauthorized data collection
program."

Colombia is considered a top U.S. military and diplomatic ally in the region following a
decade of joint operations against Marxist rebels and drug trafficking gangs.

"In rejecting the acts of espionage that violate people's rights to privacy as well as the
international conventions on telecommunication, Colombia requests the corresponding
explanations from the United States government through its ambassador to Colombia," the
Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Other countries across the region have used tougher language in condemning what some
have called a violation of their sovereignty and a trampling of individuals' rights to privacy.

"Chile cannot but firmly and categorically condemn spying practices, whatever their origin,
nature and objectives," the government said in a statement on Wednesday, adding it would
seek to verify the allegations. Chile has long maintained close ties with Washington.

Citing documents leaked by Snowden, O Globo newspaper said the NSA programs went
beyond military affairs in the region to what it termed "commercial secrets," including oil
and energy resources in Venezuela and Mexico.

A Mexican Foreign Ministry official said the government had sought clarification of the
spying allegations.

"Mexico reiterates that relations between the countries are conducted with respect, and in
accordance with the law, and strongly condemns any deviation from this practice," the
official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Brazil's government said it would seek additional explanations from the United States as it
investigates the spying allegations. Rousseff's office said in a statement that any person
or company found to be involved would be prosecuted.

Asked if Snowden could be called on to testify in the Brazilian probe, Patriota said that
could not be ruled out. Snowden is thought to be negotiating his exit from a transit area in
a Moscow airport's international area. He has been offered asylum in Venezuela, Bolivia
and Nicaragua.

El País (Espanha) – Los países latinoamericanos reaccionan a su

manera ante el espionaje de EE UU
ALEJANDRO REBOSSIO

Ante el espionaje llevado a cabo por Estados Unidos, los gobiernos de América Latina
muestran su descontento y piden explicaciones

EE UU, a través de sus agencias Central de Inteligencia (CIA, según sus siglas en inglés) y
Nacional de Seguridad (NSA, según sus siglas en inglés), espiaba las llamadas telefónicas,
los correos electrónicos y las comunicaciones de voz por Internet no solo de Brasil sino
también de otros 13 países latinoamericanos, según publicó este martes el periódico O
Globo. Algunos gobiernos reaccionaron con indignación ante las nuevas revelaciones
filtradas por el excontratista de la inteligencia estadounidense Edward Snowden, que
permanece oculto en el aeropuerto de Moscú mientras espera que algún país le posibilite
su asilo y evite su arresto por parte del Gobierno de Barack Obama. Otros países
guardaron silencio o apenas se manifestaron.

18
O Globo, en colaboración con The Guardian, informó que el espionaje de EE UU en
Latinoamérica había estado centrado este año en Brasil, México y Colombia. Además, no
solo perseguía datos sobre cuestiones de seguridad sino también de política y economía.
Por ejemplo, en México filtraba las comunicaciones que contenían las palabras “energía” y
“narcóticos”; más al sur buscaba información sobre las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias
de Colombia (FARC), la guerrilla que se encuentra en pleno diálogo de paz con el Gobierno
de Juan Manuel Santos; en Venezuela rastreaba el término “petróleo” y datos sobre la
agonía y la muerte del expresidente Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), periodo en el que también
fue sometida a escuchas Argentina. Además fueron espiados Ecuador, Panamá, Costa Rica,
Nicaragua, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, Perú y El Salvador.

La presidenta argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, anticipó este martes en Tucumán,

en un acto por la declaración de la independencia de su país (1816), que en la cumbre de
Mercosur de este viernes en Montevideo el bloque adoptará “un fuerte pronunciamiento y
pedido de explicaciones ante estas revelaciones que, en realidad, más que revelaciones son
confirmaciones que teníamos de lo que estaba pasando”. El presidente de Uruguay, José
Mujica, espera recibir a Fernández, a la brasileña Dilma Rousseff, al venezolano Nicolás
Maduro y al boliviano Evo Morales, cuyo país es candidato a sumarse al bloque. Paraguay
sigue suspendido en la unión aduanera hasta el 12 de agosto, cuando asuma la presidencia
el vencedor de las últimas elecciones, Horacio Cartes, y se normalice la situación
institucional de este país tras la polémica destitución del Gobierno de Fernando Lugo en
2012. “Me corre frío por la espalda cuando nos enteramos de que nos están espiando a
todos a través de sus servicios de informaciones en Brasil", dijo Fernández. O Globo
informó que el espionaje estaba asentado en Brasilia, Caracas, Bogotá y las ciudades de
Panamá y México. “Estas revelaciones son en realidad confirmaciones de lo que está
pasando frente a esta nueva configuración mundial en que las potencias quieren dominar
las materias primas, como las que tiene América Latina”, planteó Fernández ante una
multitud.

México, en cambio, prefirió reaccionar mediante un comunicado de la Secretaría de

Relaciones Exteriores. "Como resultado de la información publicada el día de hoy (en
referencia al martes), el Gobierno mexicano reiteró al Gobierno de EE UU, por los canales
diplomáticos, su exigencia de información amplia sobre el asunto”, dijo la cartera de
Exteriores del Ejecutivo de Enrique Peña Nieto. "Las relaciones entre países se conducen
con respeto y apego al marco legal, y (el Gobierno mexicano) condena enérgicamente
cualquier desviación de esta práctica”, añadió el comunicado, mientras una comisión del
Congreso de este país acordaba pedirle a Peña que exigiera a EE UU "explicaciones
precisas y urgentes".

Colombia siguió los pasos de México. “El Gobierno nacional registra con preocupación la
información de algunos medios de prensa internacionales sobre la existencia de un
programa de recopilación no autorizada de datos y de interceptación de comunicaciones
personales en Colombia”, expresó en un comunicado el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
colombiano. “Al rechazar los actos de espionaje violatorios del derecho a la intimidad de las
personas, y de las convenciones internacionales en materia de telecomunicaciones,
Colombia solicitará al Gobierno de EE UU, por intermedio de su embajador en Colombia, las
explicaciones que correspondan”, añadió el ministerio.

El presidente de Perú, Ollanta Humala, dijo que está “en contra de este tipo de actividades
de espionaje", pero sugirió que fuera el Poder Legislativo el que indagase. "Estaría bien que
el Congreso de Perú investigase estas cuestiones acerca de la información de las personas.
Debe cuidarse nuestra vida personal", agregó Humala.

En Ecuador, donde el presidente Rafael Correa se encuentra de vacaciones, el

vicepresidente Jorge Glas pidió a EE UU que explicara públicamente el espionaje. "Tiene
que haber transparencia. Tienen que respetarse las normas internacionales que protegen el
derecho a la intimidad de las telecomunicaciones que, evidentemente, han sido vulneradas.

19
Son evidentes las interceptaciones de correos electrónicos de autoridades en este gobierno.
Esto es inaceptable y se requieren explicaciones y correctivos al más alto nivel", añadió el
vicepresidente del país que mantiene asilado en su embajada en Londres al australiano
Julian Assange, el periodista que difundió los cables del Departamento de Estado de EE UU
en el sitio WikiLeaks. Pero no ha sido Ecuador sino Venezuela, Nicaragua y Bolivia los
países que han ofrecido refugio a Snowden, en una reacción a la decisión de EE UU y
aliados europeos de obligar a Morales a desviar su vuelo Moscú-La Paz a Viena porque el
Gobierno de Obama sospechaba de la presencia del exespía en el avión.

Los Gobiernos de Maduro y Morales aún no han reaccionado a las revelaciones de espionaje
contra sus países, pero sí lo ha hecho el de Daniel Ortega. En Washington, el embajador
nicaragüense ante la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), Denis Moncada, dijo que
"el sistema de espionaje global de EE UU es delictivo, ofensivo y, por consiguiente, debe
ser rechazado internacionalmente".

La presidenta de Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, solo comentó que la situación la ha

incomodado y hasta se mostró algo comprensiva con EE UU. “A mí, como ciudadana de una
democracia desarmada como es Costa Rica, me incomodan esas cosas: no me gustan. Yo
esperaría que Costa Rica nunca sea objeto de este tipo de actos terroristas en la magnitud
en que lo han tenido algunas naciones. Entendemos el trabajo que eso generó y la
necesidad de levantar medidas de protección de la nación, pero me parece que también
prevalece el derecho de otras naciones de también garantizar la protección a la privacidad
de las comunicaciones de los ciudadanos”, comentó Chinchilla. De todos modos, el ministro
de Comunicación costarricense, Carlos Roverssi, dijo que su gobierno investigará la
información de O Globo: “Si bien no vemos algún elemento que pueda involucrar a Costa
Rica, aunque se haya mencionado".

En El Salvador, el presidente de la Asamblea Legislativa, Sigfrido Reyes, del gubernamental

Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMLN), fustigó a EE UU. "No me cabe
ninguna duda que El Salvador ha sido espiado y que de esa manera se violenta la
soberanía nacional. Yo creo que este tipo de situaciones demanda el pronunciamiento de
los congresos latinoamericanos para que nos den una explicación oficial sobre lo que han
hecho", opinó Reyes. El Gobierno de Mauricio Funes no ha emitido aún una opinión sobre el
espionaje de EE UU, como tampoco lo han hecho los de Panamá, Honduras, Paraguay y
Chile. El de Brasil había sido el primero en protestar ante el embajador de EE UU en
Brasilia, inició una investigación y pedirá que el asunto se debata en Naciones Unidas.

EGITO

The New York Times (EUA) – Sudden Improvements in Egypt

Suggest a Campaign to Undermine Morsi
By BEN HUBBARD and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

The streets seethe with protests and government ministers are on the run or in jail, but
since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi, life has somehow gotten better for
many people across Egypt: Gas lines have disappeared, power cuts have stopped and the
police have returned to the street.

The apparently miraculous end to the crippling energy shortages, and the re-emergence of
the police, seems to show that the legions of personnel left in place after former President
Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011 played a significant role — intentionally or not — in
undermining the overall quality of life under the Islamist administration of Mr. Morsi.

And as the interim government struggles to unite a divided nation, the Muslim Brotherhood
and Mr. Morsi’s supporters say the sudden turnaround proves that their opponents

20
conspired to make Mr. Morsi fail. Not only did police officers seem to disappear, but the
state agencies responsible for providing electricity and ensuring gas supplies failed so
fundamentally that gas lines and rolling blackouts fed widespread anger and frustration.

“This was preparing for the coup,” said Naser el-Farash, who served as the spokesman for
the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade under Mr. Morsi. “Different circles in the state,
from the storage facilities to the cars that transport petrol products to the gas stations, all
participated in creating the crisis.”

Working behind the scenes, members of the old establishment, some of them close to Mr.
Mubarak and the country’s top generals, also helped finance, advise and organize those
determined to topple the Islamist leadership, including Naguib Sawiris, a billionaire and an
outspoken foe of the Brotherhood; Tahani El-Gebali, a former judge on the Supreme
Constitutional Court who is close to the ruling generals; and Shawki al-Sayed, a legal
adviser to Ahmed Shafik, Mr. Mubarak’s last prime minister, who lost the presidential race
to Mr. Morsi.

But it is the police returning to the streets that offers the most blatant sign that the
institutions once loyal to Mr. Mubarak held back while Mr. Morsi was in power. Throughout
his one-year tenure, Mr. Morsi struggled to appease the police, even alienating his own
supporters rather than trying to overhaul the Interior Ministry. But as crime increased and
traffic clogged roads — undermining not only the quality of life, but the economy — the
police refused to deploy fully.

Until now.

White-clad officers have returned to Cairo’s streets, and security forces — widely despised
before and after the revolution — intervened with tear gas and shotguns against Islamists
during widespread street clashes last week, leading anti-Morsi rioters to laud them as
heroes. Posters have gone up around town showing a police officer surrounded by smiling
children over the words “Your security is our mission, your safety our goal.”

“You had officers and individuals who were working under a specific policy that was against
Islamic extremists and Islamists in general,” said Ihab Youssef, a retired police officer who
runs a professional association for the security forces. “Then all of a sudden the regime
flips and there is an Islamic regime ruling. They could never psychologically accept that.”

When Mr. Mubarak was removed after nearly 30 years in office in 2011, the bureaucracy
he built stayed largely in place. Many business leaders, also a pillar of the old government,
retained their wealth and influence.

Despite coming to power through the freest elections in Egyptian history, Mr. Morsi was
unable to extend his authority over the sprawling state apparatus, and his allies
complained that what they called the “deep state” was undermining their efforts at
governing.

While he failed to broaden his appeal and build any kind of national consensus, he also
faced an active campaign by those hostile to his leadership, including some of the
wealthiest and most powerful pillars of the Mubarak era.

Mr. Sawiris, one of Egypt’s richest men and a titan of the old establishment, said
Wednesday that he had supported an upstart group called “tamarrod,” Arabic for
“rebellion,” that led a petition drive seeking Mr. Morsi’s ouster. He donated use of the
nationwide offices and infrastructure of the political party he built, the Free Egyptians. He
provided publicity through his popular television network and his major interest in Egypt’s
largest private newspaper. He even commissioned the production of a popular music video
that played heavily on his network.

21
“Tamarrod did not even know it was me!” he said. “I am not ashamed of it.”

He said he had publicly predicted that ousting Mr. Morsi would bolster Egypt’s sputtering
economy because it would bring in billions of dollars in aid from oil-rich monarchies afraid
that the Islamist movement might spread to their shores. By Wednesday, a total of $12
billion had flowed in from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. “That will
take us for 12 months with no problem,” Mr. Sawiris said.

Ms. Gebali, the former judge, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that she and
other legal experts helped tamarrod create its strategy to appeal directly to the military to
oust Mr. Morsi and pass the interim presidency to the chief of the constitutional court.

“We saw that there was movement and popular creativity, so we wanted to see if it would
have an effect and a constitutional basis,” Ms. Gebali said.

Mr. Farash, the trade ministry spokesman under Mr. Morsi, attributed the fuel shortages to
black marketers linked to Mr. Mubarak, who diverted shipments of state-subsidized fuel to
sell for a profit abroad. Corrupt officials torpedoed Mr. Morsi’s introduction of a smart card
system to track fuel shipments by refusing to use the devices, he said.

But not everyone agreed with that interpretation, as supporters of the interim government
said the improvements in recent days were a reflection of Mr. Morsi’s incompetence, not a
conspiracy. State news media said energy shortages occurred because consumers bought
extra fuel out of fear, which appeared to evaporate after Mr. Morsi’s fall. On Wednesday, Al
Ahram, the flagship newspaper, said the energy grid had had a surplus in the past week for
the first time in months, thanks to “energy-saving measures by the public.”

“I feel like Egypt is back,” Ayman Abdel-Hakam, a criminal court judge from a Cairo
suburb, said after waiting only a few minutes to fill up his car at a downtown gas station.
He accused Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to seize all state power and
accused them of creating the fuel crisis by exporting gasoline to Hamas, the militant
Islamic group in the Gaza Strip.

“We had a disease, and we got rid of it,” Mr. Abdel-Hakam said.

Ahmed Nabawi, a gas station manager, said he had heard several reasons for the gas
crisis: technical glitches at a storage facility, a shipment of low-quality gas from abroad
and unnecessary stockpiling by the public. Still, he was amazed at how quickly the crisis
disappeared.

“We went to sleep one night, woke up the next day, and the crisis was gone,” he said,
casually sipping tea in his office with his colleagues.

Regardless of the reasons behind the crisis, he said, Mr. Morsi’s rule had not helped.

“No one wanted to cooperate with his people because they didn’t accept him,” he said.
“Now that he is gone, they are working like they’re supposed to.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 11, 2013

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article mischaracterized a plan to
name an interim president in Egypt, and it erroneously attributed a distinction to Hazem el-
Beblawi. Mr. Beblawi is Egypt’s interim prime minister, not the chief of the constitutional
court. And the plan, as described by Tahani El-Gebali, a former judge on the Supreme

22
Constitutional Court, was to pass the interim presidency to the chief of the court, not to Mr.
Beblawi.

Al Jazeera (Catar) – Egypt's interim PM seeks to form cabinet

Hazem al-Beblawi says a government, which may include Muslim Brotherhood figures, will
be formed by Sunday.

Egypt's new leadership is facing increased difficulties in forming an interim government

after it issued an arrest warrant for the leader of the Islamist movement backing ousted
president Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt’s interim prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi has said a new government would be
formed by Sunday, a week after the popular military coup toppling Morsi.

Beblawi said on Thursday he would not rule out posts for Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in the
new cabinet.

But the Brotherhood rejected the offer, demanding Morsi's reinstatement and calling for
fresh rallies on Friday against what it called "a bloody military coup".

Beblawi, who was appointed by the military on Tuesday, said: "So far I haven't approached
anyone,” adding that he wanted to decide on the best candidates before asking them to
join the government.

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh, reporting from Cairo, said the new leadership was moving
quickly on announcing a new cabinet because it was under pressure to transfer power from
military to civilian rule.

But the country remained deeply divided, as the military-backed government continued to
crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood, ordering on Wednesday the arrest of its revered
Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and other senior leaders in the movement.

They are wanted on suspicion of inciting clashes near an army building on Monday which
killed at least 51 people, mostly Morsi supporters, judicial sources said. The army said
soldiers came under attack by "terrorists" and armed protesters.

The Brotherhood, for its part, accused the army of "massacring" its supporters.

Morsi's overthrow after nationwide protests demanding his resignation has plunged Egypt
into violent turmoil.

US arms deal

The latest development came as US officials said Washington will go ahead with plans to
deliver four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt in the coming weeks.

The US has neither welcomed the toppling of Morsi nor denounced it as a "coup".

A US decision to brand his overthrow a coup would, by US law, require Washington to halt
aid to the Egyptian military.

The jets, which will likely be delivered in August, are part of the annual aid package, a US
defence official told Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

Another eight F-16s, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, are due to be delivered in December,
the official said on condition of anonymity.

23
"There is no current change in the plan to deliver F-16s to the Egyptian military," a second
US official said.

The Egyptian army receives $1.3bn in annual US assistance. The country has been one of
the world's largest recipients of US aid since it signed a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

It was the first Arab country to buy F-16s, widely viewed as a symbol of political and
security ties with Washington.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has spoken by phone with the head of Egypt's armed
forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, eight times since July 2.

Sisi was the country’s defence minister until he led the coup against Morsi.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Financial Times (Reino Unido) - Kuwait pledges $4bn to prop up

Egyptian economy
Heba Saleh and Michael Peel

Kuwait on Wednesday pledged $4bn to help prop up Egypt's troubled economy, taking Gulf
country commitments to Cairo to $12bn over the past two days.

The announcement came as the Egyptian authorities intensified their crackdown of figures
associated with the former regime, ordering the arrest of Mohamed Badie, the leader of the
Muslim Brotherhood, and eight others for allegedly inciting violence.

Kuwait will deposit $2bn in Egypt's central bank, make a grant of $1bn and send $1bn in
oil and oil products, the Kuwait state news agency reported.

The promise comes a day after Saudi Arabia pledged $5bn in aid and the United Arab
Emirates $3bn, reflecting their support for last week's military coup in Cairo and their
antipathy towards Mohamed Morsi, the ousted Muslim Brotherhood president.

Analysts say Egypt faces a funding gap of up to $23bn over the next two years. The money
from the Gulf will give it some breathing space until it is able to secure a long-delayed loan
from the International Monetary Fund, which is conditional on the implementation of
austerity measures and is still seen as crucial for restoring business confidence in the
country.

Angus Blair, chief executive of the Cairo-based Signet Institution, an economic think-tank,
said the funds were "a huge endorsement of the country's political change".

He said they would give Egypt up to six months of breathing space, allowing it to put in
place "a good economic plan that could turn sentiment and restore domestic and foreign
direct investment.

"This could include tax cuts and fiscal incentives to business and measures to unblock the
hydrocarbons sector and spur it to invest again by tackling energy subsidies and paying
back some of the billions owed in arrears to oil and gas companies," he said.

Meanwhile, in addition to Mr Badie, prosecutors in Cairo ordered the arrest of Essam al-
Erian, the deputy head of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm
and Assem Abdel Maged, a former jihadi in the Islamic Group, an organisation that killed
tourists and policemen in the 1990s.

24
The charges relate to several incidents, including Monday's bloody clashes in front of a
Republican Guard building in Cairo in which 51 people were killed when police and troops
opened fire. It is not yet clear what sparked the violence. The military say they were
attacked.

Amnesty International said evidence it had gathered suggested that the security forces
"used excessive force" against pro-Morsi demonstrators, including intentional lethal force
against people who were posing no risk to the lives of the security forces or others.

Egyptian Islamist and secular groups earlier lambasted a constitutional road map intended
to chart a return to democracy as Hazem El Beblawi, the country's prime minister
designate, began to assemble his government.

The barrage of criticism levelled at the constitutional declaration announced on Monday by

Adli Mansour, the interim president, highlights the hurdles in the path of attempts to forge
a new political consensus after the army deposed Mr Morsi, the elected Islamist president.

The Brotherhood, smarting from his downfall and the arrest of several of its leaders, has
rejected attempts to draw it back into the political process and dismissed the president's
constitutional declaration as "rejected, null and emanating from someone who has no
legitimacy".

Nour, the ultraconservative Salafi party, which distanced itself from the Brotherhood a few
months ago, and whose support is crucial for giving the new arrangements an Islamist
veneer, has also criticised the process. On Monday, the party suspended its participation in
talks over the country's future after the clash at the Republican Guard facility.

The National Salvation Front, an alliance of secular groups, has also expressed misgivings
about the declaration, although it retracted an earlier statement rejecting it completely.

The front said it was not consulted over the declaration and it did not agree with the
inclusion and the omission of some provisions and wanted others amended.

Amid the political turmoil, the cost of insuring against an Egyptian government debt default
tumbled on Wednesday as news of the Gulf aid packages calmed fears that Egypt's already
fragile economy could be hit by a balance-of-payments crisis.

Egyptian credit-default swaps, which investors use as insurance against defaults or to bet
on creditworthiness of countries and companies, fell 141 basis points to 675bp on
Wednesday, down from a record 925bp touched earlier this month.

The EGX 30 benchmark index had gained 0.66 per cent by late Wednesday trading, having
jumped 3.3 per cent on Tuesday on news that Saudi Arabia and the Emirates had pledged
$8bn in aid.

Ziad Bahaa Eldin, a lawyer, who once headed the Egyptian Investment authority and then
the Egyptian Financial Services Authority, the market regulator, was late on Tuesday
appointed deputy prime minister for economic recovery. Mr Bahaa Eldin is also a former
member of parliament for the ESDP.

- Additional reporting by John Aglionby and Robin Wigglesworth in London

Miami Herald (EUA) – Egypt coup sets bad precedent for Latin
America (Opinião/Andres Oppenheimer)

25
The surprising support for Egypt’s military coup in U.S., European and Middle Eastern
political circles may turn into a bad precedent for Latin America — it could help legitimize
the idea that there are “good” military coups.

It’s hard not to reach that conclusion after watching U.S. politicians such as U.S. House
Speaker John Boehner and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal applauding the July
3 coup that toppled Egypt’s democratically elected autocrat Mohammed Morsi, or seeing
how the Obama administration is making all kinds of rhetorical pirouettes in order to avoid
describing what has happened in Egypt as a coup.

And, even more ominously, it’s hard not to fear a legitimization of military coups
everywhere when one reads that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were
quick to congratulate the new Egyptian rulers, and have pledged $12 billion in economic aid
to Egypt.

Shortly after the coup, Boehner, R-Ohio, stated that “one of the most respected institutions
in the country is their military” and that the generals “on behalf of the citizens, did what
they had to do in terms of replacing the elected president.” Fellow Republican House
Majority Leader Eric Cantor noted in a statement that the Egyptian military “is perhaps the
only trusted national institution in Egypt today.”

In a July 4 editorial, The Wall Street Journal went as far as saying that “Egyptians would be
lucky if their new ruling generals turn out to be in the mold of Chile’s Augusto Pinochet,
who took power amid chaos but hired free-market reformers and midwifed a transition to
democracy.”

Granted, many supporters of Egypt’s coup rightly point out that Morsi himself had broken
the democratic rules by imposing the will of his Islamic Brotherhood movement on all
Egyptians, and becoming an elected autocrat — much like the late President Hugo Chávez
became in Venezuela.

After his election by a slim margin in 2012, Morsi turned a blind eye to the persecution of
Coptic Christians and Shiite Muslims, and tried to assume absolute powers. On top of that,
his incompetent management sank Egypt’s economy even further into chaos. And granted,
the Egyptian coup enjoyed widespread popular support, as most coups do in their
beginnings.

Supporters of the Egyptian coup also dismiss the argument that Morsi’s ouster will set a
precedent for a greater tolerance for military coups in Latin America and other parts of the
world. They say, accurately, that the latest wave of glorification of coups was set in motion
in Latin America more than a decade ago by Chávez.

A former military officer who staged a failed coup in 1992, Chávez declared Feb. 4 — the
day of his failed coup attempt — a national holiday after he was elected in 1998. The
holiday is still being celebrated with military parades in Venezuela.

My opinion: Barring the most massive and systematic human rights abuses (I’m thinking of
Germany under Adolf Hitler), there is no such thing as a “good” military coup against an
elected leader. The militaries who take power almost always end up becoming dictators,
violating human rights and helping turn the disastrous leaders they toppled into victims,
and eventually into idols whose supporters sooner or later return to power.

That happened in Chile under Pinochet — who, by the way, spent 17 years in power and
was only ousted under popular pressure — and in Argentina and Brazil under the generals
who ruled in the 1970s. And it will most likely happen in Egypt, especially after this week’s
killings of 51 Islamic militants in clashes with police, which will create new “martyrs” and

26
give Morsi’s Islamic Brotherhood a new cause that will eclipse memories of his disastrous
rule.

So what should be done with democratically elected presidents who become autocrats?
There is no easy answer, but the best one in the long run is likely to be confronting elected
despots with what we might call the rule of the 3 “P’s’’ — protests, pressure and patience.
Egypt’s opposition should have united to win the legislative elections in October, and the
presidential elections in three years.

Eventually, Morsi would have had to retrench from his growing authoritarianism, or become
an even more repressive — and hated — dictator. Either way, he would have had a hard
time clinging to power indefinitely.

I know, that’s a lot to ask of people who live under inept despots. But in the long run,
protests, pressure and patience is a better recipe than military coups to avert an escalation
of violence, and the eventual return of the rascals who had been overthrown.

SÍRIA

The New York Times (EUA) – Tightening Siege by Syrian Rebels

Stirs Anger
By HANIA MOURTADA and HWAIDA SAAD

Syrian rebels have tightened their siege on government-held districts in the divided city of
Aleppo, choking supply lines and depleting staple foods at the onset of the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan, traditionally a time of festive meals to break the daily fast.

The tactic is controversial enough among supporters and opponents of the rebels that
residents of the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood staged a protest on Tuesday at a rebel
checkpoint. Rebels shot in the air to disperse the protests, local activists said.

“This is not a revolution,” a sheik shouted at rebels in a video posted online. “This is
injustice.”

The Aleppo food shortage is just one episode in one of many war-torn cities across Syria.
But it highlights how some elements of the armed opposition — especially in areas they
control — are seen as oppressive even by their friends. Support for the rebels has frayed
across Syria, and their battlefield successes have stalled, as President Bashar al-Assad has
seen his position bolstered with help from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia.

Rebel behavior began to grate on residents of Aleppo soon after militants tried to take the
city, the nation’s largest. The rebel offensive was never well orchestrated, the city was
badly damaged and lives were upended.

But now, complaints about the rebels have only accelerated with their use of blockades —
long a government tactic to disrupt food supplies.

Anas, a fighter with Liwaa al-Tawheed, one of the most well-organized, well-armed and
prominent brigades operating in the northern province of Aleppo, supported the tactic.

“Districts under regime control are considered military areas,” he said Wednesday over
Skype. “We don’t want to force civilians to leave, but at the same time we’re afraid they
might get hurt during the liberation of the city.”

27
Aleppo is divided between government- and rebel-held areas — roughly the western and
eastern halves. Where a person lives does not necessarily determine allegiance, and people
regularly cross the lines for business or to visit family.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog that tracks the
fighting through a network of activists in Syria, reported “intense food shortages” in some
government-held areas, “compounded by the skyrocketing prices of whatever supplies can
be found.”

Rebels say their immediate aim is to cut off supplies from government troops, but it
appears the blockade is also part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening support for the
government and pressuring civilians in government-held areas to leave. If the western part
of Aleppo, now home to two million Syrians, becomes empty of civilians, a ground assault
by rebels would be easier to carry out and more morally defensible, rebels argue.

Abu al-Haytham, a fighter whose unit is among those enforcing the siege, stressed that the
Free Syrian Army’s aim was not to punish residents but to block government supplies and
prompt civilians to seek refuge elsewhere, opening the way for a ground attack.

“Our siege is not just about tomatoes and cucumbers. We want to storm security buildings,
and the presence of civilians is obstructing our movement,” he said in a Skype interview.

But for citizens trying to get by, it is more basic: it is about eating.

Recently, a woman was trying to cross back into the government-controlled part of the city
when she was stopped at a rebel checkpoint. Fighters refused to let her cross with the
prize she had come for: bags of fruits, vegetables and medicine, hard to find near her
home on the other side.

A sheik allied with the rebels tried to mediate, suggesting she come to live on the rebel
side. Incredulous, she replied, “Find me a house!” After fielding more pleas, in scenes
captured on video and posted online, the sheik lost patience and confronted the fighters,
saying the blockade was hurting “the simple people, the common people.”

Eventually, the rebels relented, and opened the crossing to food.

Anne Barnard contributed reporting.

The Guardian (Reino Unido) - Al-Qaida in Syria is most serious

terrorist threat to UK, says report
Richard Norton-Taylor

Al-Qaida elements fighting with rebels in Syria constitute the most serious terrorist threat
to Britain, and if they were to get their hands on Syria's chemical weapons the
consequences could be catastrophic, according to British spymasters.

The warnings, in the latest annual report of the parliamentary intelligence and security
committee (ISC) published on Wednesday, come amid growing reports that Syrian rebels
are trying to acquire chemical weapons.

Russia said on Wednesday it had proof Syrian rebels used the nerve agent sarin in a
missile attack on a government-controlled suburb of Aleppo in March. The British prime
minister, David Cameron, said last month that al-Qaida-linked elements in the rebel
movement had tried to capture chemical weapons for probable use in Syria.

28
Britain's security and intelligence chiefs "assess that al-Qaida elements and individual
jihadists in Syria currently represent the most worrying emerging terrorist threat to the UK
and the west," says the ISC.

It adds: "There is a risk of extremist elements in Syria taking advantage of the permissive
environment to develop external attack plans, including against western targets. Large
numbers of radicalised individuals have been attracted to the country, including significant
numbers from the UK and Europe."

They are likely to acquire "expertise and experience which could significantly increase the
threat posed when they return home," says the ISC report. Intelligence officials believe
about 100 British Muslims have gone to Syria to join rebel groups.

The ISC reports serious concern about the security of what it calls the "vast stockpiles" of
chemical weapons held by the Assad regime.

They are believed to include sarin, a clear liquid which attacks the nervous system, ricin,
mustard gas and VX – described as "the deadliest nerve agent ever created".

The MI6 chief, Sir John Sawers, told the committee there was the risk of "a highly worrying
proliferation around the time of the regime fall".

The committee adds: "There has to be a significant risk that some of the country's
chemical weapons stockpile could fall into the hands of those with links to terrorism, in
Syria or elsewhere in the region. If this happens, the consequences could be catastrophic."

The shape of the terrorist threat is "potentially changing from tightly organised cells under
the control of structured hierarchies to looser networks of small groups and individuals who
operate more independently," says the ISC.

It points to a growing threat of attacks by "lone actors", such as the stabbing of Labour MP
Stephen Timms while holding a surgery in his east London constituency in 2010.

Lone actors are much harder to detect – something al-Qaida appears determined to
exploit. The ISC refers to evidence from an unidentified Home Office official who told the
committee: "There is no doubt that the more sophisticated people in al-Qaida recognise
that groups are, in some ways, a thing of the past; and that encouraging lone acts of terror
is exactly the way forward."

In a passage studded with asterisks marking redactions from the full report, it says the
foreign secretary, William Hague, told the ISC: "We don't believe that while we are
engaged in this process of sanctions and negotiations and a twin-track policy it would be
right to launch a military strike on Iran and we've said that very clearly to the Israelis."

It refers, intriguingly, to how British spies have "become more creative in how they
maintain and develop accesses to supply the government's intelligence requirements"
targeting Iran.

The ISC report does not include the evidence it has been given recently by GCHQ officials
on the massive British and US eavesdropping programmes leaked to the Guardian.

Reuters (Reino Unido) – Syria opposition denies Russian

chemical attack allegation
By Louis Charbonneau

29
The opposition Syrian National Coalition on Wednesday denied a Russian charge that rebel
fighters fired a projectile laden with the nerve agent sarin at a suburb of Aleppo in March,
saying U.N. inspectors should be allowed to investigate the attack.

Separately, Western diplomats said Russia blocked a draft U.N. Security Council resolution
this week calling for a stalled U.N. chemical weapons investigation team to be allowed to
visit Syria and to be permitted to conduct an "objective" inquiry.

The United Nations said in a statement that the head of the U.N. chemical arms team, Ake
Sellstrom of Sweden, and U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane have accepted an invitation
from the Syrian government to discuss their investigation of alleged chemical attacks in
Syria.

Russia, along with Iran, is Syria's closest ally and chief arms supplier. The draft resolution
echoed a recent statement by the Group of Eight (G8) developed nations including Russia.

"The Free Syrian Army strongly condemns all usage of chemical weapons against a civilian
population and denies Russia's allegations about the FSA using chemical weapons in Khan
al-Assal, Aleppo," Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the coalition, said in a statement.

"Only the Assad regime has the know-how, capability and willingness to use these
weapons," Saleh said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"The coalition and supreme military council have asked for the U.N. monitors to come to
Syria to investigate the use of these weapons and the Assad regime refuses to allow them
to do so," he said.

Russia's U.N. envoy, Vitaly Churkin, on Tuesday said Russian scientific analysis strongly
indicated a projectile containing sarin that hit Khan al-Assal on March 19, killing 26 civilians
and military personnel, was fired by rebels.

The government and rebels have blamed each other for that incident, as well numerous
other alleged chemical attacks. Both sides deny using chemical weapons.

"The usage of chemical weapons is inconsistent with the guiding principles and goals of the
Syrian revolution," Saleh said. "Targeting civilians indiscriminately to achieve political gains
is a common characteristic of the Assad regime."

The United States has cast doubt on the Russian analysis of the Khan al-Assal incident and,
along with France, called for full U.N. access to Syrian sites where chemical weapons use
was suspected.

The United Nations says as many as 100,000 have died in the two-year civil war.

CHEMICAL PROJECTILE FELL SHORT?

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Western diplomat also expressed skepticism

about the Russian claim that the rebels were behind the Khan al-Assal attack.

He dismissed the idea that Assad's government was willing to let the U.N. team investigate
Aleppo because it was certain the rebels were responsible for the March 19 chemical
attack. He said available evidence suggested the Syrian army carried out the attack.

"What they hope will be discovered there is lots of soldiers who were poisoned by chemical
weapons, which is true," the envoy said. "But our information suggests that that was
because the projectile ... fell short and landed in an area where there were Syrian troops,
not that the opposition had done it."

30
Churkin said Russian experts visited the location where the projectile struck and took their
own samples of material from the site. Those samples, he said, were then analyzed at a
Russian laboratory certified by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

He also said that the projectile was not a standard military weapon.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, Western diplomats on the 15-nation Security Council

said Russia blocked a draft resolution based on a statement Moscow supported at last
month's G8 summit in Belfast that urged all parties to the conflict to grant access to the
U.N. team "in order to conduct an objective investigation into reports of the use of
chemical weapons."

Diplomats said Russia justified its opposition to the resolution by saying the timing was not
right. Russia's U.N. mission did not respond to a request for comment.

So far, chief U.N. chemical weapons inspector Sellstrom's team has not traveled to Syria
because of diplomatic wrangling over the scope of access he would have there.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants Sellstrom to have unfettered access to

investigate all credible alleged chemical attacks while Assad's government wants the U.N.
experts to confine their investigation to the March 19 incident. That disagreement has
caused a deadlock in talks between the United Nations and Syria on access for the
inspection team.

Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari on Monday said his government has invited
Sellstrom and U.N. disarmament chief Kane to Damascus to discuss allegations of banned
arms use in Syria's two-year civil war but suggested it would not compromise on access.

Ban met with Sellstrom in New York on Wednesday to discuss Sellstrom's work, the U.N.
said in a statement. It added that Sellstrom provided Ban with an "oral update" of his work
outside of Syria, including information he has received from U.N. member states.
Diplomats say that Britain and the United States have provided the U.N. with details of 10
alleged chemical attacks.

Ria Novosti (Rússia) – UN Fact-Finding Mission Head Agrees to

Travel to Syria
The head of the U.N. fact-finding mission on possible chemical weapons use in Syria, has
accepted an invitation from the Syrian government to visit the country, the UN press
service said.

During the visit, Ake Sellstrom, along with UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
Angela Kane, will discuss the possibilities on investigation into mutual claims of chemical
weapons use in Syria. The date of the visit is unknown.

Until recently, the chief UN chemical weapons inspector and his team were unable to travel
to Syria because of disputes over the scope of access they would have. The Syrian
government said it would permit inspectors to travel to Aleppo, the site of the reported
March 19 attack, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon insisted on probing all credible
chemical attack reports.

Earlier reports by foreign experts claimed that the Syrian government used chemical
weapons on several occasions during the two-year conflict.

31
The announcement comes shortly after Russia said it had submitted to the UN its report,
which indicates the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian opposition during the Aleppo
attack. The comprehensive study of soil samples taken from the site of a reported chemical
attack determines that the nerve agent sarin was used and that the projectile that carried
it was not “industrially manufactured,” Russia’s envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin said.

The US already said it was doubtful of Russia’s findings.

"I understand we just received the report this morning. We'll of course need time to review
it," Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “The United States continues to
have no reliable corroborated reporting to indicate that the opposition in Syria has used
chemical weapons.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended the report on Wednesday, saying that the
evidence had been analyzed by Russian experts in line with the criteria of the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

ORIENTE MÉDIO / IRÃ

Financial Times (Reino Unido) – Israel to bolster its forces on

Golan Heights
By John Reed

Israel’s army is to establish a new territorial regional division to “address emerging

threats” in the strategically important Golan Heights region bordering Lebanon and Syria, it
said on Thursday.

The new division will be set up by the end of the year as part of a five-year plan to
restructure the Israel Defence Forces presented on Wednesday by Benny Gantz, its chief of
staff, codenamed Teuza (“Daring”), the IDF said.

The move comes amid growing concern in Israel about the military threat to its north from
Hizbollah, the south Lebanon-based guerrilla group allied with Iran and President Bashar
al-Assad’s embattled government in Syria.

“Our main concern today is Hizbollah and the way it’s building up its weapons arsenal,” an
Israeli official told the Financial Times. “If that’s our concern, we will respond with the
relevant forcebuilding to address that concern.”

Israel says that Hizbollah, some of whose fighters have joined the Syrian civil war on the
Assad government’s side, has tens of thousands of rockets in its arsenal. It is worried
about the potential transfer of further game-changing chemical weapons or anti-aircraft
missiles from Mr Assad’s government to the militant group.

Israel’s military has this year launched air strikes at least three times to avert suspected
weapons transfers in southern Syria.

Last week Syrian rebels fighting government forces said that foreign forces destroyed
Russian Yakhont anti-ship missiles near the Syrian port of Latakia. The news raised
speculation in the media about Israel’s involvement in the raid, but the country has not
confirmed or denied it carried out that or any of this year’s other raids on Syria.

The Golan, which Israel occupied from Syria after the Six-Day War in 1967, was until
recently its quietest frontier region.

32
However, Syria’s war has in recent months spilled into the border region and led to a
fraying of the UN disengagement force patrolling the area. The IDF has returned fire
against artillery fired into its territory and Israel is reinforcing the border fence.

After two Israeli air raids on southern Syria in May, Mr Assad threatened to turn the Golan
Heights into a “resistance front” against Israel. Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader,
promised “to liberate the Syrian Golan”.

At the time, defence analysts dismissed the notion that the Syrian leader would open
another front with Israel, whose military is the most powerful in the region.

Israel last went to war with the militant group in 2006 in a conflict that saw Hizbollah fire
rockets into northern Israel and the IDF invade southern Lebanon.

IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review, in an article published on Wednesday, said: “The next war
between Hizbollah and Israel is likely to lead to Hizbollah operations inside Israel for the
first time in what could be the most destructive war ever waged by the two enemies.”

Israel’s army said on Thursday that the realignment of its forces that will see the creation
of the new Golan division followed “a comprehensive examination of the IDF needs,
together with the challenges and threats of both the present and the future”.

The restructuring exercise, which has sparked controversy in Israel, is expected to see
some military units from the IDF’s ground, air, naval, regular, reserve and logistical units
closed, and thousands of army personnel laid off. The plan comes as Israel seeks to cut
government spending to narrow a fiscal deficit, and still awaits final approval by prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

The Times (Reino Unido) - Desert missile base is aiming at Iran

and Israel, say analysts
Tom Coghlan

Satellite photos have shown the existence of a hitherto undisclosed missile base in the
Saudi Arabian desert from which the country's Government appears to be targeting Iran
and Israel.

The secret Al-Watah base, which analysis by IHS Jane's Intelligence Review suggests is
stocked with intermediate range surface-to-surface missiles, has two launchpads, fuel
depots and other military infrastructure.

One launchpad is aligned on a bearing of approximately 301 degrees, Jane's analysts

reported, suggesting that Israel was its target. The other was oriented with an azimuth of
approximately ten degrees, aligned to Iranian cities. Analysis suggested that the base was
designed to operate with a limited target set.

Al-Watah is the third such Saudi missile base to be identified and is 125 miles (200km)
southwest of Riyadh. It was assessed as having been constructed within the past five
years.

Saudi Arabia's targets are both countries with which it has longstanding enmity. However,
numerous reports have claimed that Saudi Arabia is ready to offer aid to Israel in the event
of Iran, their common foe, acquiring nuclear weapons.

The newly discovered base would be able to launch nuclear tipped weapons, which Prince
Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief, suggested in 2011 the country would seek
to buy off the shelf if Iran reached a nuclear threshold.

33
Saudi Arabia would need infrastructure for launching nuclear missiles in place at short
notice in the event that a Middle Eastern arms race was started by a successful Iranian
nuclear test.

Riyadh already has an arsenal of Chinese-built, unguided truckmounted medium-range DF3

missiles. Alison Puccioni, at Jane's, said that the new base was laid out to allow the truck-
mounted missiles, which were designed in the 1980s, to be correctly aligned using ground
markings on the launchsites with Iranian or Israeli targets.

She said that satellite photos did not reveal any transporter-erector launchers at the site
but there were 12 underground bunkers as well as the two launchsites ready for use.

The base possesses a different layout to the previously documented missile facilities at Al-
Sulayyil and Al-Jufayr.

"Our assessment suggests that this base is either partly or fully operational, with the
launchpads pointing in the directions of Israel and Iran respectively," said Robert Munks,
deputy editor of IHS Jane's Intelligence Review.

"We do not want to make too many inferences about the Saudi strategy, but clearly Saudi
Arabia does not enjoy good relations with either Iran or Israel."

Financial Times (Reino Unido) - West increases penalties for

breaching sanctions against Iran
Simeon Kerr and Camilla Hall

Middle East businesses face new US and EU sanctions targeting Iran's energy and shipping
industries as western states ramp up efforts to isolate its economy.

US sanctions applied this month broaden penalties to non-US entities dealing with these
vital sectors, another strand in the ever more complicated web of sanctions aiming to force
the Islamic republic to abandon its nuclear programme.

Western powers will hope that restricting non-US and EU companies' dealings with Iran will
help force a change in Iranian policy as Hassan Rohani, the new more reformist president,
takes power in August.

European and American companies have for years been restricted in dealing with the oil
and gas industries of Iran. Other sanctions have targeted the global financing of trade with
the Islamic republic and maritime insurance.

All companies will now have to take greater care managing their relationships with Iranian
entities or face new punishments that range from having their assets and properties frozen
in the US to being shut out of the US financial system.

"Asian and Middle Eastern businesses are now liable to be penalised by the US for engaging
in conduct that they were previously carrying out legitimately," says Patrick Murphy, legal
director at law firm Clyde & Co in Dubai.

The Iran Freedom and Counter-proliferation Act (IFCA) targets anyone who deals with
Iran's state-owned oil company, its tanker company, two shipping liners, and a big ports
operator.

Companies or people who "knowingly provide significant support or provide goods and
services for the benefit of" these five companies face asset or property freezes in the US.

34
EU sanctions have placed similar restrictions on EU companies and individuals, raising
question marks over the role of European employees of non-EU companies that do
business with Iran.

Further penalties have been put in place on the provision of services or repairs for Iranian
shipping, as well as the importation of metals, graphite and industrial software into the
Islamic republic.

"Barring metals imports is huge, as Iran is a semi-industrial country, causing it major

harm," says Iran sanctions specialist Farhad Alavi, a Washington-based partner at Akrivis
Law Group. "All these impediments increase prices."

In response to the confusing matrix of restrictions, companies are already seeking legal
advice on how to deal with the wider-ranging sanctions regimes.

"I am aware of businesses in the region recalibrating their activities with Iran after
reassessing them in light of IFCA," says Mr Murphy of Clyde.

For example, United Arab Shipping Company, owned by six Gulf states, in April said it
would halt its 53-strong fleet's operations in Iran because of sanctions "which now include
virtually all terminal and port operators in Iran."

The US, at the same time, has eased restrictions on importing software and computer
technology into the Islamic republic to ease Iranians' access to information.

The sanctions, as with previous regimes, are likely to be used mainly as a deterrent, with
the threat of penalties persuading companies to fall into line.

There have been relatively few cases of existing sanctions being utilised against regional
companies.

The US last year sanctioned United Arab Emirates-based Fal Oil for allegedly dealing with
Iran, while two Dubai-based exchange houses were sanctioned by the US Treasury for
providing financial services to designated Iranian banks.

But Dubai's state-owned refiner, Emirates National Oil Company, which buys supplies from
Iran but says it is seeking other sources of supply, has avoided sanctions.

The introduction of new restrictions will nonetheless place further pressure on businesses
based in Dubai, a conduit for Iran trade.

The emirate may be booming again thanks to trade and tourism, but sharp fall in trade
Dubai has still witnessed a with the Islamic republic's weakening economy. Trade fell by a
third from Dh36bn ($9.8bn) in 2011 to Dh25bn in 2012.

"Naturally the impact is very much in shipping," says Hossein Asrar Haghighi, co-founder
and official spokesman for the Iranian Business Council in Dubai.

"Many suppliers are not directly dealing with Iran even if their products are regular, non-
sanctioned items – they try to avoid any kind of involvement."

Membership of the IBC in Dubai has over the past two years fallen from 400 to 200
companies as traders move operations to Iraq, Turkey, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Turkmenistan.

35
Iraq's trade links with the UAE are booming, with the value of Dubai exports there
quadrupling to Dh42bn in 2012, raising concerns among some diplomats that the increase
could reflect indirect Iranian trade as much as healthy bilateral trade between the UAE and
Iraq.

As well as new trade routes, small operators are moving into markets abandoned by global
companies scared off by the sanctions.

Iranian oil products, for example, are offered in the regional spot market on a daily basis
by low-profile middlemen, traders say.

"These new sanctions further give the image to businesses around the world that they will
get into trouble (if they deal with Iran), making more people stay away," Mr Alavi says.

ESTADOS UNIDOS

The Guardian (Reino Unido) - US diplomats cry foul as Obama

donors take over top embassy jobs
Former ambassador likens practice to 'selling of public office' as figures show average
amount of cash raised is $1.8m per post

Barack Obama has rewarded some of his most active campaign donors with plum jobs in
foreign embassies, with the average amount raised by recent or imminent appointees
soaring to $1.8m per post, according to a Guardian analysis.

The practice is hardly a new feature of US politics, but career diplomats in Washington are
increasingly alarmed at how it has grown. One former ambassador described it as the
selling of public office.

On Tuesday, Obama's chief money-raiser Matthew Barzun became the latest major donor
to be nominated as an ambassador, when the White House put him forward as the next
representative to the Court of St James's, a sought-after posting whose plush residence
comes with a garden second only in size to that of Buckingham Palace.

As campaign finance chairman, Barzun helped raise $700m to fund President Obama's
2012 re-election campaign. More than $2.3m of this was raised personally by Barzun,
pictured, according to party records leaked to the New York Times, even though he had
only just finished a posting as ambassador to Sweden after contributing to Obama's first
campaign.

State Department veterans are increasingly concerned about the size of donations raised
by political supporters who go on to take up top foreign postings. Thomas Pickering, who
recently led the investigation into lethal attacks on the US embassy in Libya and
represented the US at the United Nations, claimed the practice had become nothing more
than "simony" – the selling of public office.

"All these people want to go to places where the lifestyle issues [are pleasant], and to
some extent that produces this notion that life in these western European embassies is like
Perle Mesta," he told the Guardian, referring to the "hostess with the mostest" who was
ambassador to Luxembourg between 1949 and 1953 and who was known for her lavish
parties.

"It has the effect of diminishing perhaps the sense that the US is treating these countries
with the respect they deserve," Pickering said.

36
Susan Johnson, president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), which
represents career US diplomats, added: "The giving of ambassadorships to people who
have raised a lot of money for the campaign has increased and that's a concern to us in
particular.

"There was some thought that with Obama being such a 'change agent' that he might
really do things differently – but it has just been a bigger let down."

Clutch of foreign appointments

Obama has made a clutch of foreign appointments recently. The 16th century Villa Taverna
in Rome has just gone to John Phillips, a Washington lawyer who raised at least $500,000.
John Emerson, a Los Angeles fund manger, will get to meet future contacts as ambassador
to Germany after he raised $1.5m. Jane Stetson, heiress to the IBM fortune, is tipped as
frontrunner for Paris after she raised $2.4m for Obama.

In total, nine sought-after postings in Europe, the Caribbean or Asia have been given to
major donors in recent weeks, with a further three in France, Switzerland and Hungary
earmarked to come soon. Of these 12, the precise bundling data is available for 10.
According to a Guardian analysis, using the figures leaked to the New York Times, the
average amount raised by each donor is $1.79m.

Official campaign finance records give only minimum figures for how much each donor
raised among friends and family (a process known as bundling). Even using the published
'minimum' donations declared for these bundlers, the amount raised by donors rewarded
with foreign postings has soared. The appointees to those same 10 embassies raised at
least $5m in 2013, compared to a minimum of $3.3m in 2009, at least $1.3m under
George W Bush in 2005 and at least $800,000 for Bush donors in 2001.

Many of the capitals have grown resigned to the process. "All that really matters is that the
ambassador is close to the White House – and his top fundraiser usually is," said one
British diplomat, speaking anonymously about Barzun's appointment.

But to State Department veterans, the notion that only fundraisers can get messages
through the West Wing is even more alarming. "To some extent, this question of having
the ear of the president, and who has it, shows the seriousness of the issue," said
Ambassador Pickering.

Johnson, the AFSA president, said many donors have less political influence than their host
countries like to imagine. "Some foreign countries like the idea that they are getting a
friend of the president, but our experience has been that genuine friends are pretty small;
most of these people are friends of friends; and they don't get to call the president right
away," she said.

"In a few exceptional cases they are not detracting from credibility of diplomatic service,
but at the scale it's being done it is undermining the concept of a career diplomatic service
and weakening the strength and capacity of the diplomatic service."

Johnson estimates the percentage of ambassador posts given to political appointees rather
than career diplomats has remained roughly steady under Obama at around 30%, but
most of these are in parts of the world unattractive to wealthy donors. The share taken by
political appointees in western Europe and wealthier Asian capitals has reached between
70% and 85%, the AFSA estimates.

37
One factor cited by defenders of the practice is that private means are needed to fund the
lifestyle led by ambassadors, but the importance of this is disputed by State Department
veterans.

"In the embassies I've been in, normally you have a representation budget," said Johnson.
"Whether we skimp on it in places like London and Paris and these people add to it so they
can serve the best champagne and canapes I don't know, but I don't think it's necessary to
be wildly wealthy any more."

She also said many are disappointed by the reality of embassy life. "If the dog ruins the
furniture, you have to pay for it. It's like being a guest in someone's house."

Dysfunctional leadership

This can cause problems of its own. A report by the State Department inspector general
into a crisis at the embassy in the Bahamas found that Obama campaign finance chair
Nicole Avant presided over "an extended period of dysfunctional leadership and
mismanagement, which has caused problems throughout the embassy". Prior to her
appointment as ambassador, Avant was vice president of Interior Music Publishing and was
absent from the embassy 276 days between September 2009 and November 2011,
according to the report. In response to the report Avant said she "had inherited a
dysfunctional embassy".

Another official report into the Obama campaign donor appointed to Luxembourg, Cynthia
Stroum, found she had been "aggressive, bullying, hostile and intimidating" and left her
embassy in a "state of dysfunction". Stroum resigned after the report.

State Department veterans say motivations vary among political donors. "Some go to
pleasant islands where the climate and residence are delightful, others just want the title,
like British people lust after peerages," said AFSA's Johnson. "People think: gee, I really
want to call myself ambassador, so I can go buy myself one. Others are perceived to want
to just meet people, broaden their contacts of future business contacts people who can
help them in their day job."

The White House insists all its ambassadors are well qualified, regardless of their campaign
history. "I am proud that such experienced and committed individuals have agreed to serve
the American people in these important roles," said Obama in a statement issued with
Barzun's appointment.

The Foreign Service Act of 1980, states that "contributions to political campaigns should
not be a factor in the appointment of an individual as a chief of mission."

At at time when the US is reaching the limits of its "hard power", career foreign service
staff argue it is time for professional diplomacy to mount a comeback.

"We tried a lot of military stuff and have we come to the realisation that not every problem
out there can be solved by troops, no-fly zones and drones," concludes Johnson.

"Diplomacy and managing the inter-relationships between countries is actually important,

and we ought to be taking it more seriously, preparing people for it and seeing it as a long-
term career – not as just something you do for a few years while you are preparing to do
something else."

Financial Times (Reino Unido) - Obama is laying the foundations

of a dystopian future (Opinião)
Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick

38
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama lambasted the policies of George W Bush that had
made the US an international pariah – war and contempt for human rights. For us, part of
the senator's attraction as a candidate was that he promised transparency, opposed the
Iraq war and repudiated militarism. So it is hard not to feel disappointed.

Mr Obama now embraces – and has extended – some of the ideas he attacked. This is not
just the way that critics on the left, like us, see things. Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush's former
press secretary, said: "It's like George Bush is having his fourth term ... [Mr Obama] is a
hypocrite." In truth, this is a little facile. The president has rejected key elements of the
neoconservative programme.

This administration has, more or less, halted torture, removed troops from Iraq, set a
timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan, paid lip service to nuclear abolition and refused
to invade Iran. The president has been more sceptical than most in Washington about
intervening in Syria. He also sought to close Guantánamo, though his efforts thus far have
been feeble.

So, no, he is not Mr Bush. But there is actually a case to be made that Mr Obama is, in
crucial respects, actually worse than his predecessor. We know, from the recent revelations
made by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, what panoptic capabilities the more than 1m
Americans with security clearances have. This army is deployed to monitor domestic and
foreign populations on a scale hitherto unimaginable.

Mr Obama insists there are safeguards in place to ensure the streams of data and
warehouses full of stored records will not be abused; the US Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, for example. But this body appears to be a rubber stamp. It approved
every request made of it last year. It rejected only two of the 8,591 requests submitted
between 2008 and 2012.

Let us take the White House's word that this great power will not be abused, however. Let
us assume the best of Mr Obama. Even if his administration does not wantonly trawl
through the trillions of emails, photos and phone conversations passing through the
National Security Agency, there is someone who will. Once such data are collected, it will
be eventually accessed. It is a temptation too far.

J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1935 to 1972,
demonstrated this truth over a long and ignominious career. He placed Martin Luther King
Jr under surveillance – only one of the civic leaders that he sought to discredit. Future
leaders will not need to resort to water cannon and tear gas to stop protesters. Nor will
they even need to plant bugs. The NSA now has an interception machine that East
Germany's Stasi could only have dreamt about.

Furthermore, if subtle coercion fails and force is required, Mr Obama and his successors
will have the wherewithal to target anyone, anywhere, with the utmost precision and the
deadliest means. The US is establishing absolute mastery over land, sea, air, space and
cyber space – full-spectrum dominance.

We have seen this starting to take form: Mr Obama pores over weekly "kill lists". He
chooses who to target with drones, new, more sophisticated versions of which are being
rapidly developed, and not only by the US. But Mr Obama and his advisers pay little heed
to the fact that these programmes create more terrorists than they eliminate. Nowhere is
the US more hated than in Pakistan, where drones have killed thousands.

Furthermore, American technological superiority will not protect the US. In the 1940s,
President Harry Truman believed the Soviet Union was a long way from producing nuclear
weapons and that the US would have a long nuclear monopoly. It lasted only until 1949.

39
The US will make a similar miscalculation if it deploys drones across the world, sends
weapons to space or normalises cyber warfare.

Mr Obama has become a more amiable and efficient manager of the American empire.
And, in the name of national security, he is laying the foundation for a frighteningly
dystopian future by combining full-spectrum surveillance with full-spectrum military
dominance.

Mr Obama's dogged global pursuit of the courageous Mr Snowden is only the latest
shameful case in point. It was almost exactly 60 years ago that Jean-Paul Sartre warned
Americans: "Your country is sick with fear ... do not be astonished if we cry out from one
end of Europe to the other: Watch out! America has the rabies! Cut all ties which bind us to
her, otherwise we will in turn be bitten and run mad!"

Mr Obama, under whom hunger strikers are force fed and whistleblowers prosecuted with
unparalleled ferocity, needs to recalibrate before he drives the final nails into the coffin of a
once-proud American republic.

- Oliver Stone is an Academy Award-winning writer and director. Peter Kuznick is a

professor of history at American University. They have co-authored the documentary series
and book ‘The Untold History of the United States'

ESTADOS UNIDOS – CHINA

The New York Times (EUA) – Differences on Cybertheft

Complicate China Talks
By DAVID E. SANGER

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. opened annual strategic talks with senior Chinese
leaders here on Wednesday by repeating the United States’ accusation that the electronic
theft of American intellectual property could undermine the relationship between the
world’s two largest economies.

And to no one’s surprise, the Chinese had an answer ready: that the publication of secret
documents showing the extent of American surveillance of Chinese universities and other
institutions undercuts the Obama administration’s case.

That friction, American officials conceded in private, underscores how difficult it will be for
the United States to make progress on what President Obama and his top aides have said
is now a central issue between two countries whose economies are intertwined and whose
militaries are in competition.

And at a time when the Chinese economy is showing signs that it is headed into a period of
slower growth, the administration’s hopes of persuading Chinese leaders to crack down on
the daily barrage of theft and espionage over the Internet — considered crucial to keep
China competitive — is likely to be even more difficult.

“We both will benefit from an open, secure, reliable Internet,” Mr. Biden said at the
opening of the talks, the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, an annual effort to bring
together top Chinese and American cabinet and subcabinet officials on a range of
problems. “Outright cyber-enabling theft that U.S. companies are experiencing now must
be viewed as out of bounds and needs to stop.”

Mr. Biden was making the same point that Mr. Obama repeated in recent weeks, including
during a meeting with China’s new president, Xi Jingping, in California. To the Americans,

40
China’s cybertheft — often directed by units of the People’s Liberation Army — is different,
and far more corrosive, than standard government espionage.

An American official who was sent out to brief reporters after the first day of talks said that
when it came to the theft of intellectual property — including the designs of commercial
products and military aircraft — “we don’t do it, and we don’t think any country should do
it.”

China has always viewed the issue differently, seeing far less of a distinction involving what
it regards as issues of economic and military security.

“For many Chinese, it is bizarre that how Washington can continue to pose as the biggest
cyberespionage victim and demand others behave well,” China Daily, a government-
influenced publication, wrote before the meeting, “after former U.S. intelligence contractor
Edward Snowden revealed that U.S. spy agencies hacked deep into China and other
countries’ computer networks, including those of government, military, research,
educational and business organizations.”

It concluded that “by dividing cyberespionage into ‘bad’ and ‘good’ activities, Washington is
trying to dictate the rules for global cyberdomain, which is a public space.”

American and Chinese cyberexperts met Monday for the first time in a working group
intended to address the issue. That alone was progress: when the United States asked
Chinese officials to discuss cybertheft, cyberespionage and cybersecurity at a meeting
several years ago, there was almost no give and take. But new attention focused on the
activities of the Chinese military, notably Unit 61398 of the People’s Liberation Army, has
made it harder for Mr. Xi’s government to ignore the United States’ protests.

Mr. Snowden’s revelations may be a gift to the Chinese, because they shift the focus from
China’s covert activities to Washington’s. And even American scholars say the Chinese
have a good argument. “It is not true that ‘unwritten rules’ prohibit economic espionage,”
said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and cyberexpert who served in the Bush
administration. “Economic espionage is expressly prohibited by U.S. domestic law but is
not prohibited by international law, written or unwritten, and it is widely practiced.”

The most fruitful part of the conversations, American officials indicated in a briefing late on
Wednesday, dealt with North Korea and climate change, two areas where the governments
have been moving into alignment.

Reuters (Reino Unido) – U.S.-China talks cover cyber issues,

currency, Chinese reform
By Paul Eckert and Anna Yukhananov

U.S. officials appealed to China's self-interest on Wednesday with calls for deeper economic
reforms including changes to the exchange rate policy and a halt to cyber theft of trade
secrets - actions they said would benefit both nations.

Vice President Joe Biden launched the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue
by stressing the shared stakes and responsibility to support the global economy.

"The next steps that China needs to take for its own economy happen to be in the interests
of the United States as well," he said as the two-day talks opened in Washington.

"Your own plans call for the kinds of changes that have to take place, that are difficult, like
here, but if they do, they will benefit us both, including free exchange rate, shifting to a

41
consumption-led economy, enforcing intellectual property rights and renewing innovation,"
said Biden.

But Biden did not mince words when he raised the hot-button issue of theft of intellectual
property through hacking of computer networks, a conversation complicated by the fugitive
spy agency contractor Edward Snowden's revelations of U.S. electronic surveillance around
the world.

"Outright cyber-enabling theft that U.S. companies are experiencing now must be viewed
as out of bounds and needs to stop," said Biden. U.S. officials say all countries spy on each
other, but China is unique in its theft of foreign technology.

Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew are hosting a
Chinese delegation led by State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vice Premier Wang Yang for
annual talks that cover both economics and wider geopolitical issues.

Burns filled in for Secretary of State John Kerry, who left the meetings Wednesday to care
for his ailing wife.

The talks were launched in 2008 with aim of managing an increasingly complex U.S.-China
relationship and avoiding competition between the world's two largest economies from
turning into destabilizing conflict.

U.S. SEEKS LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Wang's remarks to open the forum highlighted China's desire - voiced by Chinese President
Xi Jinping last month in a summit with President Barack Obama - to forge a new
relationship.

"Our job in this round ... is to turn the important agreements between the two presidents
into tangible outcomes, and add substance to this new model of major country
relationship," he said.

Lew welcomed reform plans circulating in China under the new administration of Xi, who
took office in March.

However, Lew also aired a list of American complaints about Chinese policies that a
watchful U.S. Congress has pressed the Obama administration to tackle.

The United States seeks "an economic relationship where our firms and workers operate on
a level playing field and where the rights of those who participate in the global economy -
including innovators and the holders of intellectual property - are preserved and protected
from government-sponsored cyber intrusion," said Lew.

China denies being behind the hacking and insists it is a major victim of cyber attacks,
including from the United States - an argument that Beijing sees as strengthened by
Snowden's revelations. The two countries held talks focused on cyber issues on Monday
and discussed the issue again on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"We were exceptionally clear ... that there is a vast distinction between intelligence-
gathering activities that all countries do and the theft of intellectual property for the benefit
of businesses," said a senior U.S. official.

"We were very frank with them that you cannot mix apples and oranges in this case,"
added a second official.

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U.S. businesses also complain about policies that require foreigners to transfer technology
to China to gain access to the market, barriers to farm goods, and financial and regulatory
favouritism to China's state-owned companies.

When the meeting split into separate strategic and economic talks, Lew again stressed the
importance of reforms - including to the exchange rate - to shift China's economy from
reliance on investment and exports to growth driven by consumption.

"Exchange rate reform is an essential part of this process because it will boost the
purchasing power of Chinese households," he told senior U.S. and Chinese officials.

"The transition will not be easy. But as long as it is delayed, risks in the system continue to
build," added Lew.

In response, Wang said, "I think it will take us at least 5 years to resolve those issues and
reach consensus."

Wang said China had learned much from listening to other views as it modernized its
economy since the 1970s. But there were limits to China's tolerance of criticism, he said.

"Like the United States, we will never accept views, however presented, that undermine
our basic system or national interests," Wang said.

China was expected to air concerns of its own about U.S. policy, including Beijing's demand
that Washington ease Cold War-era controls on high technology exports and clarify the
approval process for Chinese acquisitions of American companies.

Across the U.S. capital lawmakers showed their ambivalence about Chinese investment,
questioning the head of Smithfield Foods over the proposed sale of the Virginia ham maker
to China's largest pork producer.

ÁSIA

The New York Times (EUA) – Japanese Nuclear Plant May Have
Been Leaking for Two Years
By HIROKO TABUCHI

The stricken nuclear power plant at Fukushima has probably been leaking contaminated
water into the ocean for two years, ever since an earthquake and tsunami badly damaged
the plant, Japan’s chief nuclear regulator said on Wednesday.

In unusually candid comments, Shunichi Tanaka, the head of the Nuclear Regulation
Authority, also said that neither his staff nor the plant’s operator knew exactly where the
leaks were coming from, or how to stop them.

The operator, Tokyo Electric Power, has reported spikes in the amounts of radioactive
cesium, tritium and strontium detected in groundwater at the plant, adding urgency to the
task of sealing any leaks. Radioactive cesium and strontium, especially, are known to raise
risks of cancer in humans.

Mr. Tanaka’s comments bring into sharp relief the precariousness of the cleanup at the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, where core meltdowns occurred at three of the six
reactors. A critical problem has been the groundwater that has been pouring into the
basements of the damaged reactor buildings and becoming contaminated. Workers have

43
been pumping the water out to be stored in dozens of tanks at the plant, but have not
stopped the inflow.

Until recently, Tokyo Electric, known as Tepco, flatly denied that any of that water was
leaking into the ocean, even though various independent studies of radiation levels in the
nearby ocean have suggested otherwise. In recent days, Tepco has retreated to saying
that it was not sure whether there was a leak into the ocean.

Mr. Tanaka said that the evidence was overwhelming.

“We’ve seen for a fact that levels of radioactivity in the seawater remain high, and
contamination continues — I don’t think anyone can deny that,” he said Wednesday at a
briefing after a meeting of the authority’s top regulators. “We must take action as soon as
possible.

“That said, considering the state of the plant, it’s difficult to find a solution today or
tomorrow,” he added. “That’s probably not satisfactory to many of you. But that’s the
reality we face after an accident like this.”

By acknowledging that the Fukushima Daiichi plant is not watertight, Mr. Tanaka confirmed
suspicions held by experts that the plant has continued to leak radiation into the ocean
long after the huge initial releases seen in the disaster’s early days.

A study released earlier this year by Jota Kanda, an oceanographer at the Tokyo University
of Marine Science and Technology, examined Tepco’s own readings of radiation levels in
the waters near the plant’s oceanfront site. The study concluded that it was highly likely
the plant was leaking.

“If there was no leak, we would see far lower levels of radioactive cesium in waters off the
plant,” Professor Kanda said last month. He said that natural tidal flushing of the water in
the plant’s harbor should have dispersed the initially released radioactivity by now, with a
far more rapid drop in radiation levels than had been detected.

“This suggests that water might be leaking out from the plant through damaged pipes or
drains, or other routes Tepco doesn’t know about,” he said. “We need to find out where
exactly these leaks are, and plug them.”

Unexplained spikes since May in cesium levels detected in groundwater, coupled with
higher strontium and tritium readings off shore, have added to the urgency.

Tepco said Wednesday that it was not sure that any contaminated water was reaching the
ocean. It has said in the past that the stricken plant was now having “no significant
impact” on the marine environment.

“We can’t say anything for sure,” Noriyuki Imaizumi, a Tepco spokesman, said Wednesday
at a news conference in Tokyo. “But we aren’t just sitting back. We are first analyzing why
there have been high radiation measurements in recent weeks.”

The struggle to seal the plant has raised questions about the government’s push to restart
Japan’s other nuclear power stations, which were shut down in the wake of the Fukushima
disaster. Some critics have said that the work of certifying and reopening other plants will
distract from the cleanup at Fukushima. To allay public fears, the government has
promised that restarts will be authorized only for reactors that pass rigid new standards
that took effect this month.

Four utilities across Japan have applied to restart a total of 10 reactors, applications that
must now be assessed by the nuclear regulator with a staff of just 80 people. Tokyo

44
Electric has said that it intends to apply to restart two of the seven reactors at a power
plant on the coast of the Sea of Japan. That workload may leave the agency with few
resources to devote to monitoring the messy cleanup at Fukushima.

Tepco has taken some measures in the hope of keeping contaminated groundwater away
from the sea, including fortifying an underwater wall that runs along much of the shoreline
at the plant site. Mr. Tanaka said it was doubtful whether those measures would be
effective.

“We don’t truly know whether that will work,” Mr. Tanaka said. “Of course, we’d hope to
eliminate all leaks, but in this situation, all we can hope for is to minimize the impact on
the environment. If you have any better ideas, we’d like to know.”

The New York Times (EUA) – North Korea Repeats Call for Talks
By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE

A senior North Korean diplomat said Wednesday that his country was willing to have “any
kind of talks” to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, while at the same time repeating
its call for the United States to dismantle its military command in South Korea. In the
second news conference on the subject staged by the North’s senior diplomats in less than
three weeks, So Se-pyong, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva,
called for the dissolution of the United Nations military command led by the United States
as a prerequisite for calming the situation on the peninsula. The alliance is called the
United Nations Command, although the United Nations plays no role. If the United States
made a “bold decision” on the issue, the North would also be in favor of taking confidence-
building measures, Mr. So said, setting out the same case presented by North Korea’s
ambassador to the United Nations in New York last month.

ÁFRICA

The New York Times (EUA) – Drones in Niger Reflect New U.S.
Tack on Terrorism
By ERIC SCHMITT

Nearly every day, and sometimes twice daily, an unarmed American drone soars skyward
from a secluded military airfield here, starting a surveillance mission of 10 hours or more
to track fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda and other militants in neighboring Mali.

The two MQ-9 Reapers that are based here stream live video and data from other sensors
to American analysts working with French commanders, who say the aerial intelligence has
been critical to their success over the past four months in driving jihadists from a vast
desert refuge in northern Mali.

The drone base, established in February and staffed by about 120 members of the Air
Force, is the latest indication of the priority Africa has become for the United States at a
time when it is winding down its presence in Afghanistan and President Obama has set a
goal of moving from a global war on terrorism toward a more targeted effort. It is part of a
new model for counterterrorism, a strategy designed to help local forces — and in this case
a European ally — fight militants so American troops do not have to.

But the approach has limitations on a continent as large as Africa, where a shortage of
resources is chronic and regional partners are weak. And the introduction of drones, even
unarmed ones, runs the risk of creating the kind of backlash that has undermined
American efforts in Pakistan and provoked anger in many parts of the world.

45
The increase in the number of potential threats in the region was made clear to Mr. Obama
during his visit to Africa last week.

“We need in Africa — not just in Senegal but the whole of Africa — to have the military
capacity to solve this problem, but we need training, we need materials, we need
intelligence,” President Macky Sall of Senegal said after meeting with Mr. Obama in Dakar
to discuss fears of a growing violent Islamist threat in the Sahara, according to Reuters.

The United States military, however, has only one permanent base in Africa, in Djibouti,
more than 3,000 miles from Mali, as well as a constellation of small airstrips in places that
include Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, for surveillance missions flown by drones or turboprop
planes designed to look like civilian aircraft. The challenge for the United States, with little
experience in Africa, is a difficult one.

“The U.S. is facing a security environment in Africa that is increasingly more complex and
therefore more dangerous,” said Michael R. Shurkin, a former Central Intelligence Agency
analyst who is now at the RAND Corporation. “Effective responses, moreover, require
excellent knowledge about local populations and their politics, the sort of understanding
that too often eludes the U.S. government and military.”

And the threats facing Niger are typical of the ones that worry Mr. Sall. The government of
President Mahamadou Issoufou is struggling to stem a flow of insurgents across Niger’s
lightly guarded borders with Mali, Nigeria and Libya. On May 23, terrorists using suicide car
bombs attacked a Nigerien military compound in Agadez and a French-operated uranium
company in Arlit, both in the country’s north.

Two groups claimed credit for the bombings, which the authorities in Niger say killed at
least 24 soldiers and one civilian, as well as 11 militants. One is led by the Algerian militant
Mokhtar Belmokhtar and attacked a large gas field in Algeria in January, and the other is a
regional offshoot of Al Qaeda called the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or
Mujao.

The terrorist attacks in May, combined with an escape from Niamey’s biggest jail last
month by 32 detainees, including many suspected militants, have left Mr. Issoufou’s
government vulnerable to criticism that it cannot provide security, despite allowing
American drones on Nigerien soil.

The government in Niger has defended that decision, and it is concerned enough about the
threat it perceives from extremist fighters pushed out of Mali that it initially wanted the
drones to be armed, a former senior American official said. But Obama administration
officials thought that was unnecessary and politically unwise.

To experts on Africa, the possibility that the drones will yet cause a backlash remains real,
especially if Islamic radicals make it an issue.

“The concern would be that a lot of the blowback would be through channels we can’t
easily perceive, such as Salafist mosques,” said Alexis Arieff, an Africa analyst with the
Congressional Research Service in Washington.

The United States acknowledged the drone deployment here in February — initially sending
a single Predator aircraft and later faster, more capable Reapers — but since then it has
released virtually no information about their missions, presumably to avoid raising their
public profile. The Pentagon denied a request to interview the Air Force flight crews,
logistics and maintenance specialists, and security personnel assigned here at a military
airfield on the opposite side of the commercial airport in Niger’s capital.

46
French, American and Nigerien officials all have a say in the daily missions of the drones, a
Pentagon official said, but clearly the priority has been supporting the French campaign in
Mali. The United States has flown more than 200 missions in support of the French, with
the possibility that it could expand its operations to support a United Nations force largely
composed of African troops that assumed control of the peacekeeping mission in Mali on
July 1.

In some of the fiercest fighting between French-led forces and the Islamist fighters in early
March, the drones hovered over a rugged mountainous region in Mali, giving allied forces
targeting information for airstrikes. French and African officials say that perhaps 700
fighters, out of about 2,000 insurgents in all, were killed in the fighting.

As surviving fighters have melted back into the desert and mountains in recent weeks, the
Reapers have been surveilling vast reaches of the north for signs of militant infiltration or
secret new redoubts — a daunting task that one American official described as “looking
through a soda straw” across the Sahara. At Niger’s request, American officials said, the
drones may also conduct surveillance along the border before entering Mali.

Despite the gains, J. Peter Pham, the director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center in
Washington, said the French were not fully using the information from the drones. The
French forces, fearing attack from surface-to-air missiles looted from Libyan stockpiles,
have curtailed helicopter gunship missions in Mali, and they instead rely on higher-flying
but less precise fighter-bombers for any airstrikes, Mr. Pham said. But a French official said
France had not carried out airstrikes in weeks and played down the missile threat. The
official said that the intelligence was still being used to support ground operations.

The American missions have not been without incident. On April 9, one of the drones
crashed in a remote part of northern Mali, presumably because of a mechanical failure. “It
was a total loss,” one Air Force officer said of the wreckage.

Pentagon officials say the drone missions will continue even as France reduces its force in
Mali to about 1,000 troops by year’s end, from 3,500 now, “because we see a continued
need for intelligence collection in that region,” said Amanda Dory, deputy assistant
secretary of defense for Africa.

France has been impressed enough with the Reapers that it intends to buy at least two of
the aircraft from the United States. “They’ve been absolutely necessary for us because we
don’t have enough drones to protect our troops and to get permanent visibility about
what’s happening on the ground,” said a French defense official in Paris.

The Hindu (Índia) – The promise of Africa (Opinião/Ian Shapiro)

A new generation of leaders in the continent is waiting to give voice to the aspirations of its
people

Is Africa rising? Judging by the buzz and optimism of the young business leaders and
political trailblazers from across the continent who gathered in Cape Town for the World
Economic Forum on Africa recently, the answer is a qualified “yes.” The African Leadership
Network — co-founded by Stanford graduates Fred Swaniker, now the CEO of the African
Leadership Academy, and Achankeng Leke, director of McKinsey’s Nigerian operations — is
emblematic of a new generation of leaders who brim with sophisticated confidence about
Africa’s emergence. They are part of the coming elite whose ideas shaped the discussion in
Cape Town.

There is a new discourse on African development. Echoing last June’s U.N.-sponsored Rio
Plus 20 summit on sustainable development, many young leaders want to replace the 2015
Millennium Development Goals (MDG), defined in the global North, with Sustainable

47
Development Goals defined in the global South. Their call is to follow an era of loans and
aid with one of investment and trade by “Unlocking Africa’s Talent” — the WEF theme for
the Cape Town meeting.

Thriving economies

Optimism about Africa’s prospects is not new. Fifteen years ago, then South African Deputy
President Thabo Mbeki heralded a coming African renaissance. He turned out to be
prescient. Helped along by a sustained boom in world commodity prices and insulated from
the worst of the global financial crisis by low levels of debt, at least when compared with
the U.S. and much of Europe, many African economies are thriving. Recently, Africa
Monitor singled out South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and Ethiopia as high-growth
economies to watch for. Of the world’s fastest growing economies, five of the top 12 and
11 of the top 20 are now in Africa.

Rwanda, best known for the genocidal murder of a million people less than two decades
ago, is now peaceful and flourishing, with a 7.8 per cent projected GDP growth rate for
2013 and an announced goal of eliminating dependence on foreign aid.

According to the World Bank’s 2013 Doing Business report, Rwanda is the world’s second
most improved nation since 2005 and the most improved in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent
discoveries of vast quantities of natural gas in Mozambique promise to grow that country’s
GDP by a factor of 10 in the coming decade. Hedge funds have been investing even in
Zimbabwe — to the point where investment director David Stevenson was wondering in
Moneyweek in 2010 whether it might be “the next emerging market dynamo.”

In an era of financial upheavals and bursting bubbles, we are bound to ask how much of
this Africa enthusiasm is hype. Global GDP, trade or investment figures do not show the
continent having that much impact yet, and 18 of the world’s 20 poorest countries are still
in Africa — the other two being war-torn Afghanistan and earthquake-devastated Haiti.

Poverty and inequality

The African situation might be even worse than the statistics suggest. As noted by WEF co-
chair and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim, born in South Sudan and who went on to study in
Britain before and founding the telecommunications firm Celtel, there are no reliable data
on poverty for many of Africa’s poor countries. This is to say nothing of the effects of civil
strife roiling North and West Africa. At least 50,000 have now died in Libya’s post-Qadhafi
continuing catastrophe. Egypt, with its decimated tourist industry, exploding population
and collapsing infrastructure may be heading for the ranks of failed states. Somalia and
Mali stagger along.

There was much talk at the WEF of reducing poverty-and-inequality, often uttered almost
as a single word. It is far from obvious that the two go so easily together.

China has pulled millions out of poverty over the past few decades, but inequality there has
increased dramatically. South Africa has also made inroads into its high poverty rates since
the 1994 transition, but its Gini coefficient, a standard measure of inequality, remains
unchanged and one of the highest among countries for which data are available. There are
contrarian examples, Lula’s Brazil being a country in which poverty and inequality were
reduced together. But people in Cape Town were not talking about Lula.

Demography

There are also demographic worries. The median age on the continent is 20. Countries like
Nigeria are even younger: 30 per cent of its 180 million citizens are under the age of 10.
These people must be educated and employed. In South Africa, unemployment has come

48
down to a (still staggeringly high) 25 per cent, but its youth unemployment rate, at over
48 per cent, is the third highest in the world. Because of the AIDS tragedy, the country’s
ratio of working age to dependent population is the highest it has ever been, or will be in
the coming decades, but that does not help much if the working-age population does not
work.

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown noted at one WEF session that currently 61
million school-aged children in Africa are not being educated. The demands on educational
infrastructures suggested by these numbers are almost beyond comprehension — not least
because of the dearth of qualified, or in many cases even literate, teachers.

Then there are concerns about the shape of economic growth. Unless economic resurgence
steers Africa’s economies in more diversified directions, the dangers of cronyism and
misgovernment long associated with the oil curse will remain. Winner-take-all economics
begets loser-lose-all politics. Mozambique’s natural gas bounty could do for it what North
Sea oil did for Britain and Norway, but there are also the Libyan, Venezuelan and Russian
possibilities. Ditto for Nigerian oil.

Employment

Economic diversification is easier said than done. Mo Ibrahim noted that there are now 650
million cellphones in Africa, a remarkable fact for which he and the telecommunications
firm he founded deserve a good part of the credit. This reality makes instant
communication, retail banking, and other forms of commerce possible overnight — all of
which would have required decades of infrastructure building a generation ago. But
Ibrahim also pointed out that not one of those cellphones is manufactured anywhere in
Africa.

By itself this is not such a devastating fact. Economists tell us that everything need not be
built everywhere; people must play to their comparative advantages. The failure to grasp
that led to plenty of wasted effort on import-substitution industrialisation in Latin America
in the 1970s and 1980s. But Africa’s emerging-market economies are in desperate need of
diversification and employment in an era of deskilling. The Chinese do not have any
particular skill or resource endowment for manufacturing cellphones. Africans should be
competing with the Chinese rather than just selling them raw materials, the extraction of
which often does not even create local employment when Chinese companies bring in their
own nationals to do the work.

Africa faces daunting challenges, but no one should write-off the entrepreneurial dynamism
that pulsed through Cape Town’s International Convention Center — a venue that
consistently calls to mind the amazement at what has been achieved every year since
South Africa’s transition began in the early 1990s. But one could also have looked forward
in any of those years at challenges so forbidding that it would have been hard to imagine
the country meeting them. In South Africa, as elsewhere on the continent, this gap
between what has been done and what now awaits will partly be filled by the new
generation of African leaders who shaped the conversation at the WEF. They represent
hope for a better African future.

(Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he serves
also as Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.)

49
EUROPA

Financial Times (Reino Unido) – Berlin rejects Brussels’ attempt

at grabbing power to shut banks
By Quentin Peel and Alex Barker

Germany has attacked the European Commission for overstepping its legal powers with a
proposal to make itself the top authority for winding up eurozone banks, setting the stage
for a bruising political fight over the next leg of Europe’s banking union

All the main elements of the Brussels blueprint unveiled on Wednesday – from the
centralisation of sweeping powers to creation of a €60bn resolution fund – were flatly
rejected by senior German officials for going beyond the law and leaving taxpayers
exposed.

“We must find a legally safe solution,” said Steffen Seibert, German government
spokesman. “In our view, this proposal gives the commission powers it does not possess
according to current [EU] treaties.”

Such fundamental objections from the eurozone’s main paymaster – including to the
single-market legal base underpinning the entire proposal – bodes ill for Brussels’ hopes of
a strong deal before the European parliament shuts for elections in March.

Mr Seibert insisted Germany wanted a swift agreement on banking union but warned that
the commission’s plan would slow down the negotiating process rather than accelerate it.

EU lawyers are adamant that the reforms, to give the commission resolution powers, are
sound. Their position is broadly backed by France, Italy, Spain and the European Central
Bank.

Michel Barnier, the EU commissioner responsible for the reforms, said he had “listened
carefully” to the legal concerns but was convinced action was necessary and possible,
without delay.

“We can’t wait for a treaty change to solve our problems,” he said. “We know what our
problems are and we have to tackle them – we found a way to do that in the current
treaty.”

Berlin’s reaction to the proposal laid bare its palpable exasperation with the commission
approach to the issue in recent months.

Germany and France put forward an alternative compromise plan for a resolution board
effectively controlled by the eurozone member states rather than the European
Commission. They say that would be legal without any treaty change.

“We would be willing to speed up the process, but then the proposal has to be realistic,” a
senior German official said. “The commission is behaving like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up
everything into its proposal. It may be effective but it is not legally safe.”

EU officials see the German manoeuvres as the tactics of a forceful negotiator, rather than
a blocking position, and are optimistic about progress after the German elections.

Those involved in the talks think the conflicting policy goals in Berlin could help clear the
path. Berlin is supportive of tougher resolution rules, so that creditors – rather than
Germans – shoulder the burden of paying for bank failure.

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At the same time, it is protective of its own freedom to manoeuvre and is wary of anything
that smacks of mutualisation. “They will realise that a strong system for all the eurozone
will serve their interests and save them money,” said one EU official.

But unlike the difficult talks on a single supervisor, this time Angela Merkel, German
chancellor, is herself on record stating that a powerful resolution authority needs treaty
change – a laborious process that could take years.

At the heart of the legal concerns is the use of an internal market legal base to justify
expansive commission powers that apply to the eurozone and not all 28 member states.
German officials argue such a role is not explicitly envisaged in the treaty.

Another worry is the use of internal market law, rather than tax provisions which require
unanimity, to mandate a levy on all banks in the eurozone to stock up the resolution fund.
Officials see a risk that banks could challenge the legal basis of the levy and leave national
taxpayers even more exposed.

Given the potential fiscal implications of a bank failure, Berlin wants a bigger say for
member states – among whom Germany is the largest – especially when joint funds are
deployed.

The commission has already made some limited concessions to Berlin, including a higher
voting bar to use central resolution funds and a provision precluding the resolution
authority from imposing losses on taxpayers.

The proposals:

● The European Commission is to be granted sweeping powers to decide if and when a

bank should be shut down, based on advice from an arms-length resolution agency. It is to
be responsible for resolution of all 6,400 eurozone banks.

● A Single Resolution Board is to be created to advise on when and how to trigger a

resolution and execute the decision via member states. This includes setting the level of
losses for creditors and sanctioning the use of resolution funds.

● A resolution executive board, a powerful subgroup, will be created to handle specific bank
failures. Voting rules will ensure no member state can veto a resolution. The board is to be
made up of the agency’s director and deputy director, a representative of the commission
and European Central Bank, and national authorities of relevant member states.

● A Resolution Fund: the board will eventually control a fund of some €60bn financed by
bank contributions. While funds are raised over a 10-year period, the board will be able to
borrow money from markets, using bank assets and the levy as a guarantee.

● Member states are to be responsible for executing the resolution decision adopted by the
commission, under the watch of the resolution board. The commission is prevented from
forcing member states to provide state support to banks.

El País (Espanha) – El presidente portugués pide un “compromiso

de salvación nacional”
ANTONIO JIMÉNEZ BARCA

Cavaco Silva rechaza el Gobierno salido de la crisis, alargando así aún más la crisis que
vive el país

51
El presidente de la República portuguesa, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, hasta ahora un agente
activo aunque silencioso en la crisis política que ha vivido el país y en su solución, se ha
dirigido a la nación en una alocución televisada a fin de hacer partícipes a los portugueses
de su opinión. En su discurso, de veinte minutos, hecho después de haber recibido en su
residencia, a lo largo de los últimos días, a los principales líderes políticos del país, Cavaco
Silva ha asegurado que no considera oportuno convocar elecciones anticipadas ahora, tal y
como piden los partidos de la oposición, en especial el Partido Socialista portugués (PS).
“Con unas elecciones ahora, los sacrificios que han hecho los ciudadanos serían en vano”,
asegura Cavaco Silva. Ahora bien, el presidente de la República, que tiene la capacidad de
disolver el Parlamento, ha añadido que la única manera de generar la estabilidad que
necesita el país es “alcanzar un compromiso de salvación nacional” de medio plazo entre
los partidos con capacidad para Gobernar, esto es, los conservadores PSP y CDS,
participantes de la coalición actualmente en el Gobierno (y cuyas divergencias causaron la
crisis política que sacudió el país) y el Partido Socialista portugués PS, actualmente en la
oposición. Cavaco Silva añadió que es partidario de que las elecciones legislativas,
agendadas en principio para 2015, se adelanten a junio de 2014, esto es, justo cuando la
troika haya terminado su labor en Portugal y el país vuelva a financiarse en los mercados
por sí mismo.

Cavaco Silva rechaza el Gobierno salido de la crisis y propuesto por el primer minsitro
Passos Coelho, que incluye en el cargo de vicepresidente a Paolo portas, alargando así aún
más la crisis que vive el país. El presidente pide a cambio una fórmula que incluya un
acuerdo de "salvación nacional".

Este acuerdo que reclama Cavaco Silva será difícil de alcanzar. El PS ya ha manifestado
que no participará en ningún Gobierno sin que haya elecciones previamente en el país y ha
asegurado que no acepta más recetas de austeridad y de recortes, política que el Gobierno
de Passos Coelho, en principio, va a seguir ejecutando. Aparentemente, los puentes se
encuentran cortados, pues.

Cavaco Silva pide que estos tres partidos, los cuales firmaron en 2011 los compromisos
con la troika a cambio de un préstamo de 78.000 millones de euros, se pongan de acuerdo
en varias cuestiones fundamentales desde el punto de vista económico antes de convocar
las elecciones a 2014. A su juicio, será la manera de evitar convulsiones políticas como la
atravesada la semana pasada, que ha hecho retroceder la bolsa portuguesa y dispararse
los intereses de la deuda, haciendo perder bastante de lo conseguido a base de ajustes
sufridos por todos los portugueses. El detonante de esta crisis fue la dimisión del ministro
de Asuntos Exteriores, Paulo Portas, líder del democristiano CDS. Al final, tras una semana
vertiginosa, Portas aceptó no salir del Gobierno y quedarse como vice primer ministro y
coordinador del área económica. Pero el Gobierno resultante ha quedado fragilizado y bajo
sospecha permanente de albergar una bomba de relojería dentro.

Cavaco Silva, que pertenece al PSP, advirtió de que él no puede imponer un acuerdo a tres
bandas pero que serán los portugueses los que “saquen las consecuencias” si estas tres
formaciones “no lo consiguen”.

The New York Times (EUA) – Luxembourg Spy Scandal Forces

Exit of Premier
By ANDREW HIGGINS

The longest-serving government leader in the European Union, Jean-Claude Juncker of

Luxembourg, bowed Wednesday to outrage over revelations of a litany of abuses by his
tiny country’s wayward intelligence service and declared that he would step down as prime
minister.

52
Although he is from a country with only 539,000 residents, Mr. Juncker, 58, has become
one of Europe’s most high-profile political figures in recent years because of his previous
role as president of the so-called Eurogroup of finance ministers as they struggled to
contain a rolling debt crisis and hold the common currency together. His tenure in that
position ended in January.

Mr. Juncker, who became prime minister in 1995, has not been accused of any criminal
wrongdoing but has come under attack for not keeping the security service in check. Mr.
Juncker’s demise was an unlikely one — a tumultuous political drama set off by intelligence
service skulduggery in a deeply conservative country known for its secretive banks and
deep-rooted traditions of settling disputes behind closed doors.

Mr. Juncker, whose Christian Social Party has governed Luxembourg almost continuously
since the end of World War II, pledged to step down during a hearing in Parliament on a
report commissioned by the assembly on the activities of Luxembourg’s intelligence
service, known as SREL, after its French acronym.

The report, released this month, detailed a host of abuse accusations, including that the
service retained large archives of “political espionage” information collected during the cold
war on individual citizens. Mr. Juncker was himself said to have been secretly recorded by
the former head of SREL, who wore a special watch fitted with a recording device.

“The list of dysfunctionalities, even of illegalities is long,” the report said.

Mounting a robust defense of his actions on Wednesday, Mr. Juncker told Parliament that
“the intelligence service was not my top priority.” He added, “I hope Luxembourg will never
have a prime minister who sees SREL” as his or her priority.

Still, after initially refusing to resign, Mr. Juncker announced that he would step down
Thursday morning after Alex Bodry, the president of the Socialist coalition partner in Mr.
Juncker’s government, demanded that he take full responsibility for the scandal and call an
election.

“There was no other choice than to hand in the government’s resignation,” Mr. Juncker
said.

MEIO AMBIENTE

Financial Times (Reino Unido) - China and US agree non-binding

climate plan
Anna Fifield

China and the US, the world's largest polluters, have drafted a five-part plan to cut their
carbon emissions, pledging to make heavy-duty vehicles more efficient and do more to
limit the output from coal-fired plants.

Although the plan, which is set to be implemented from October, is not binding, it could
bolster efforts for new co-ordinated international action to tackle climate change.

"Every time the US and China co-operate . . . it has a very positive impact on the tenor
and the mood of international interactions and discussions and negotiations," said Todd
Stern, the Obama's administration's top climate change envoy, after a meeting between
American and Chinese officials ended on Wednesday.

53
The meeting was convened after John Kerry, US secretary of state and a committed
environmentalist, went to China in April to boost co-ordinated efforts to address the
warming planet.

At a bilateral meeting in California last month, President Barack Obama and his Chinese
counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to work towards reducing the consumption and production
of hydrofluorocarbons, a potent greenhouse gas found in refrigerators and air conditioning.
Environmentalists lauded the agreement as a breakthrough.

At this week's meeting, part of a broader strategic and economic dialogue between the two
countries, China and the US laid out a plan to reduce emissions from heavy-duty vehicles,
which are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions from transportation in
the US and are responsible for more than half of transportation fuel consumed in China.
They agreed to work towards tougher fuel efficiency standards and to develop cleaner fuels
and vehicle emission control technologies.

The two countries, which together account for more than 40 per cent of global coal
consumption, also said they would set up large-scale, integrated projects to capture the
carbon emissions from coal combustion.

They also said they would promote energy efficiency in buildings, improve greenhouse gas
data collection and management, and promote smart grids.

They will come up with implementation plans by October, and while voluntary, Mr Stern
said they could still have a noticeable impact.

"We're not trying to say that this is binding or that we are agreeing to an X-percentage
reduction," he told reporters. "It's more to try to drive significant improvements, which will
in turn drive significant reductions."

If the two sides make tangible progress, it could raise hopes that a new international
climate change agreement can be forged.

Mr Stern said the US and China "working shoulder to shoulder" would create a positive
atmosphere for broader international efforts.

After the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, UN negotiators have been
working on a new, legally binding global deal to tackle greenhouse gas emissions that will
cover all countries, not just the richest ones. The deal, already being billed as Copenhagen
II, is supposed to be finalised at a meeting in Paris in 2015 and take effect by 2020.

But Mr Obama is limited in what he can do at home. His efforts to pass legislation to tackle
climate change have fallen by the wayside, leading his administration to use regulation to
try to make good on its pledge to cut emissions by about 17 per cent from 2005 levels by
2020.

However, many of the rules introduced to try to curb carbon emissions have faced lengthy
legal challenges, and lawyers are preparing to pounce on pending regulations governing
emissions from new and existing coal-fired power plants.

Reuters (Reino Unido) - Ecological risks may spell trouble for

Batista's Brazil port
Jeb Blount

54
SÃO JOÃO DA BARRA, Brazil (Reuters) - As Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista breaks up his
crumbling EBX Group industrial empire to pay off debt, one of the few assets he's expected
to keep is port-development company LLX Logística SA.

But raising the more than $600 million needed to finish LLX's only project, the massive $2
billion Port of Açu north of Rio de Janeiro, may be a struggle. One-and-a-half times the size
of Manhattan, Açu is designed to ease delays caused by Brazil's overcrowded ports and
serve a booming offshore oil industry. It's also being dogged by scientists' claims that its
construction is polluting the surrounding lowlands ecosystem with salt.

Raising money for anything associated with Batista, a serial entrepreneur who once
boasted he would become the world's richest man, won't be easy. Since 2010, he has
presided over the loss of $50 billion of shareholder value in EBX Group stock. EBX controls
LLX and five other traded companies, all branded by Batista with an "X" to signify "the
multiplication of wealth."

And while there are strong business reasons to invest in a giant port that eases some of
the transportation bottlenecks holding back Brazil's commodities-led exports, some
investors may not want exposure to a company facing possible ecological liabilities and
potentially costly lawsuits.

Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, an aggressive federal prosecutor, has already launched a case
against the port to determine civil liability for alleged environmental damage. Oliveira, the
prosecutor in Campos de Goytacazes, the largest city near the port, has previously drawn
global attention for launching Brazil's largest-ever environmental lawsuit.

That case sought nearly $20 billion from Chevron Corp and rig contractor Transocean Ltd
over an 2011 oil spill. And while criminal charges were eventually dropped in February, and
actual civil damages are expected to be a tiny fraction of Oliveira's request, the case sent a
chill through the entire Brazilian oil industry.

"I am by no means an environmental specialist," said Will Landers, who manages $6.5
billion of Latin American investments for Blackrock Inc, the world's largest asset manager.
"But the fact that you need to be one to invest in this type of project should limit
significantly the pool of investors that may one day be willing to entertain giving fresh
capital to any company from the EBX group" the São Paulo-born Landers said.

How much environmental damage has occurred is a matter of fierce debate. Officials for
LLX and OSX Brasil SA - the EBX company building a shipyard at the port - deny that a
"temporary" leak of salt-water into surrounding marshes in late 2012 caused lasting
ecological harm to the delta of the Paraíba do Sul River, one of the last large, undeveloped
coastal lowlands on Brazil's southeast coast.

Yet scientists at Northern Rio de Janeiro-State University (UENF) in Campos de Goytacazes,

a 40-minute drive from Açu, say there is growing evidence that the port's construction
threatens a sensitive ecosystem.

While the UENF researchers are careful to say they don't have conclusive proof of long-
term damage, they say Açu's surrounding marshes, pastures, lagoons and fields, along
with crops and cattle, face a serious threat.

"Preliminary data show salinity could lead to the permanent contamination of the soil," said
Carlos Rezende, professor of bio-geochemistry and ecology at UENF. "We also have
anecdotal evidence that the ecosystem around Açu is being harmed."

LLX and OSX declined to make Batista or other senior executives available for interviews
about the port or the salinity issue.

55
UENF, LLX, OSX and INEA, Rio de Janeiro's state environmental protection agency agree on
at least one point: that water in the Quitingute Channel, which gets run-off from the port,
became brackish, or partly salty, in late 2012, documents in the court case show. The
salination began after the world's largest dredging ship began digging up beach, dunes and
marsh to build 13 kilometers (8 miles) of docks and ship channels.

The salt came from dredging waste saturated with sea water. Deposited in dumps to dry,
the sandy soil was then spread on the surrounding lowlands, raising the land as much as 5
meters (16 feet) above the floodplain, Ivo Dworschack, the manager of the OSX shipyard
said during a March visit.

"Based on statements presented by INEA, LLX and OSX is it incontrovertible that there was
an increase in the salinity of the Quitingute Channel as a result of that (dredging) work,"
Federal Judge Vinícius Vieira Indarte wrote in a February 15 ruling.

The ruling on prosecutor Oliveira's initial filing accepted that the court had grounds to rule
on the case and that the prosecutor had grounds to investigate potential civil liability for
salination. The judge, though, denied Oliveira's request to stop work at the port.

The port's iron ore terminal, part owned by global miner Anglo American Plc. and the OSX
shipyard were supposed to be open by now. Most things at LLX are months or years behind
schedule. Some companies who had planned to build facilities within the complex, such as
China's Wuhan Iron and Steel Co, have pulled out.

OSX, once expected to be LLX's biggest tenant, will likely be restructured as part of
Batista's efforts to slim down the EBX group and pay down debt, selling the vessels owned
by its ship leasing business and shuttering the yard before it has built a single ship, a
source with knowledge of Batista's plans told Reuters. EBX declined to comment on the
restructuring plans.

SALT IS 'FOREVER'

The leak was serious enough for INEA on February 1 to levy more than 3.3 million reais
($1.45 million) of fines on OSX. INEA said levels in the Quitingute Channel were four times
higher than those in fresh water. They've since returned to normal, INEA said in an e-mail.

INEA ordered compensation for farmers, credited UENF with alerting it to the problem and
promised a joint INEA-UENF study. It did not explain why it fined OSX and not LLX. OSX is
appealing the fine.

The study, though, was never done, and farmers have not been compensated, and salt
levels are not normal in the Channel, Rezende's group at UENF said.

On January 29, Rezende's colleague Marina Satika Suzuki, a professor of inland-water-

studies, measured salt levels at nearly 16 times the level Brazil's agricultural research
agency, Embrapa, considers safe for irrigation. Levels above the limit can permanently
damage farmland.

On May 14, those levels were still nearly 6 times higher.

"What does permanent salt build-up mean?" Suzuki asked. "Have you heard of Carthage?
The Romans salted the land and destroyed the agriculture. If salt levels are high enough
you can basically ruin it forever."

While salinity appears to be falling in surface water - which may be partly explained by a
tapering off of dredging in recent months - soil and plants are still being exposed to

56
dangerous salt levels, she said. She has no data for subterranean water and some of the
pollution may have migrated into the earth only to be spread further afield, Suzuki said.

UENF's work is not without critics. State-owned water company Cedae challenged UENF's
finding of unhealthy salt levels in artesian wells used for drinking water, saying they were
too deep to be contaminated by work at Açu.

And Rio de Janeiro's State Agricultural University said its tests found water around Açu to
be safe for irrigation after the initial spikes, but those tests are not as recent as UENF's.

SICK CATTLE, DEAD PINEAPPLES

The Quitingute Channel runs through the land of Durval Ribeiro Alvarengo, 59, a tall, wiry
and leather-skinned farmer and cattle rancher.

Late last year, Alvarengo told Reuters, he noticed his dairy cattle had diarrhea and their
grassy fodder was dying. As milk production plummeted, he had to slaughter most of his
herd.

The loss of 150,000 pineapple plants cost him 300,000 reais ($137,743), he said. Many
fish, birds and other small wildlife also disappeared from the area, he added.

His story is repeated on nearby farms.

"You can see how my crops have been ruined with your own eyes," said Alvarengo's
neighbor, Jose Roberto de Almeida, 51, as he ripped up crackly, dried-out plants from the
ground.

Ricardo Hirota, director of the Subterranean Water Center at the University of São Paulo, is
conducting two studies for LLX on the impact of dredging.

One examines ways to control the impact of future dredging. The second is assessing the
impact of the original waste dumps to prevent a repeat of the salt pollution problem in late
2012.

Hirota suggests that the company has learned from its experience at Açu. "The area is very
sensitive and there are many links between surface and underground water," he said.
"We're learning a lot. The good thing is they're better prepared than in the past."

He declined to share any data, citing an LLX confidentiality agreement.

"I think you can appreciate how sensitive this is," he said. "The company has been under a
lot of pressure."

Much may depend on the case launched by Oliveira. Even if he loses - and courts have
often rejected his claims - a Brazilian prosecutors' near-complete independence, coupled
with a legal system that encourages multiple appeals, can stretch even flimsy prosecutions
into decade-long ordeals.

A senior official in the prosecutor's office said it expects public hearings by the end of
August. The official declined to be identified.

"Eike needs to be very careful; Brazilians like to kick you when you're down," said Wilen
Manteli, president of Brazil's private port association. "An environmental problem, even if
unfounded, can be a lightning rod for a range of attacks. It would be a pity if this port does
not get built."

57
TEMAS ECONÔMICOS, FINANCEIROS E COMERCIAIS

Le Monde (França) – Au Brésil, le modèle économique inquiète,

sur fond de tensions sociales
LE MONDE
Par Paulo A. Paranagua

Sao Paulo, envoyé spécial

Après la fronde sociale de juin, l'ambiance du quartier d'affaires de Sao Paulo, "la city
brésilienne", est morose. "Le rêve est fini", confie un analyste. "L'économie a la gueule de
bois, comme un mercredi de cendres après l'euphorie du carnaval", renchérit un
consultant. Les milieux d'affaires s'interrogent sur l'impact de la contestation sociale, qui
devait une nouvelle fois s'exprimer, jeudi 11 juillet, journée de grève générale.

"Les manifestations ont ébranlé la confiance des marchés et des investisseurs", affirme
Sergio Amaral, ancien ministre du développement, de l'industrie et du commerce extérieur.
Certes, le ralentissement de l'industrie ne date pas d'aujourd'hui. "L'ex-président Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva était un charmeur de serpents, il parvenait à faire partager sa vision
optimiste d'un Brésil émergent, précise M. Amaral. Aujourd'hui, tout le monde comprend
que sans réformes, le développement n'est pas soutenable."

La présidente Dilma Rousseff fait face à un dilemme, estime Mario Marconini, consultant
d'entreprises : "L'économie exige une maîtrise des comptes publics, la rue demande
davantage de dépenses. Où va-t-on trouver les 50 milliards de reais promis pour améliorer
les transports urbains ?"

"COALITION GOUVERNEMENTALE ÉBRANLÉE"

Les marges de manoeuvre sont étroites, d'autant que la coalition gouvernementale est
ébranlée par la perspective incertaine de l'élection présidentielle d'octobre 2014, alors que
Mme Rousseff s'enfonce dans les sondages.

La première victime de la fronde sociale est le TGV qui doit relier Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro
et Campinas (au nord de Sao Paulo), et que l'opinion ne juge pas prioritaire. Sans parler de
l'achat d'avions de chasse, attendu depuis des années par les fabricants du Rafale.

"Les protestations contre la hausse des tarifs des transports ont réduit la rentabilité des
concessions et donc la disposition à investir dans les infrastructures et la logistique, les
goulots d'étranglement des exportations", souligne Gesner Oliveira, économiste à la
fondation Getulio Vargas (FGV), centre de recherche et d'enseignement situé au coeur de
la city.

"GESTION DE L'ÉCONOMIE PAS VRAIMENT DÉMOCRATIQUE"

"La Banque nationale de développement soutient les grands groupes, avec

l'interventionnisme du gouvernement Rousseff", ajoute-t-il. "La gestion de l'économie
n'est pas vraiment démocratique, insiste M. Marconini. Les chefs d'entreprise s'estiment
lésés au profit de certains favoris, tels qu'Eike Batista , dont les difficultés ont fait chuter la
Place de Sao Paulo. Seules les multinationales tirent leur épingle du jeu."

Si le marché intérieur s'est élaril s'est réalisé au prix d'un endettement des ménages et au
détriment de l'épargne. "C'est une bulle, déplore M. Marconini. Pour atteindre une
croissance de 5 % du produit intérieur brut, nécessaire pour un développement soutenu, le
taux d'investissement devrait être de 25 % au lieu des 18 % actuels."

58
La place du Brésil dans le commerce international suscite la controverse. "L'échange entre
matières premières brésiliennes contre produits manufacturés chinois mine notre
industrie", admet M. Amaral, qui préside le conseil entrepreneurial Brésil-Chine.

LE MERCOSUR EN PANNE

"L'isolement du Brésil est une tragédie, fustige Vera Thorstensen, chercheuse à la FGV. Si
l'Union européenne et les Etats-Unis parviennent à négocier un traité transatlantique, les
Brésiliens perdront leurs marchés agricoles."

Le Brésil reste lié au Mercosur, l'union douanière sud-américaine actuellement en panne,

avec ses deux lanternes rouges, l'Argentine et le Venezuela, réticents à un accord avec
l'UE. En même temps, Brasilia ignore l'Alliance du Pacifique, lancée par le Mexique, le Chili,
le Pérou et la Colombie, en plein essor.

La solution pour le Brésil consisterait à engager des négociations séparées avec l'UE en
vue d'un accord de libre-échange. Pour une fois, les producteurs agricoles et les industriels
de Sao Paulo sont en phase là-dessus avec Bruxelles. "Mais le ministère brésilien des
relations extérieures est divisé à ce propos", regrette Vera Thorstensen, qui ne voit pas
d'autre issue.

Le choix entre nationalisme et pragmatisme, voilà un sujet de réflexion pour la présidente

Dilma Rousseff, qui prépare une visite d'Etat à Washington, en octobre.

Financial Times (Reino Unido) - Brazil holds course on inflation

fight
Joe Leahy
Brazil's central bank held the line against inflation on Wednesday night in spite of signs of
a concerning slowdown in economic growth and mass political protests that swept the
country last month.

The central bank's monetary policy committee, Copom, increased the benchmark Selic rate
by 50 basis points to 8.5 per cent, its third consecutive increase bringing the total rise
since it started tightening in April to 125 basis points.

"Copom evaluates that this decision will put inflation in decline and ensure this trend
persists into next year," the committee said in a brief statement.

The central bank's more hawkish stance comes amid an increasingly complicated political
and economic backdrop, with President Dilma Rousseff under intense pressure to
improve public services following protests in Brazil last month that were the biggest in
nearly a generation.

While efforts to lower inflation will be welcomed by ordinary Brazilians, higher interest
rates will cause them near-term hardship and slow an already anaemic economy at a time
when job creation is falling.

Although slightly lower than expected in June, inflation has remained stubbornly high,
clocking 6.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, above the central bank's target range
of 4.5 per cent plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Ms Rousseff's government now has the unenviable task of trying to improve public
services while having to maintain fiscal discipline or risk pushing inflation even higher.

59
Analysts had originally expected the central bank to opt for an even higher 75-basis point
increase.

But the bank may have been swayed by weak industrial production, which contracted 2 per
cent seasonally adjusted month-on-month in May and the fact that June inflation showed
some signs of easing.

"We expect the Copom to hike the Selic by 50bp at both the July and August meetings and
to deliver a final 25bp hike at the October meeting, leaving the Selic at 9.25 per cent at
the end of the tightening cycle," Goldman Sachs said in an analyst note.

The interest rate rises come as economists are continually downgrading their forecasts for
growth in Brazil this year.

Nomura economist Tony Volpon said he was downgrading growth for 2013 to 1.6 per cent
from 2.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent from 2.3 per cent in 2014.

"In part this is due to the negative effects of lower growth in China, which we expect to
drive commodity prices lower by around 20 per cent from current levels, something that
negatively affects net exports and investments," he said in a report.

He warned that if there was another round of liquidation of emerging markets with the
beginning of the tapering of liquidity by the US Federal Reserve, the economy could slip
into "outright recession".

El País (Espanha) – Brasil sube medio punto los tipos de interés

hasta el 8,5 por ciento
EFE ECONOMÍA

El Banco Central de Brasil subió hoy medio punto la tasa que regula los tipos de interés y
la fijó en un 8,5 % al año, en un movimiento que pretende frenar la escalada de la
inflación, informó hoy el organismo.

"El Comité (de Política Monetaria del Banco Central) evalúa que esta decisión contribuirá
para colocar la inflación en descenso y asegurar que esa tendencia persista el próximo
año", indicó en su declaración.

La decisión del ente emisor era ampliamente esperada por el mercado, debido a que la
inflación ha escalado al 3,15 % entre enero y junio y acumula una subida del 6,70 % en los
últimos doce meses.

Las autoridades brasileñas se pusieron como meta para este año un alza de los precios del
4,5 %, con dos puntos porcentuales de tolerancia en ambos sentidos.

El alza de los tipos, la tercera consecutiva que aplica el Banco Central, no indica una
tendencia en sus futuras reuniones periódicas para analizar la política monetaria, que se
realizan cada 45 días, según el comunicado.

La subida de los tipos supondrá un encarecimiento del crédito, por lo que puede frenar el
consumo interno, que supone el principal motor de la economía del país suramericano.

La economía brasileña creció un 0,6 % en el primer trimestre, por debajo de las

expectativas oficiales y del mercado, lo que ha forzado a rebajar las previsiones oficiales y
privadas.

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Las proyecciones de analistas privados para el crecimiento del Producto Interior Bruto (PIB)
de este año oscilan entre el 2 % y 2,7 %, cifra ligeramente inferior al cálculo más reciente
del Gobierno, que se sitúa en torno al 3 %.

TEMAS INTERNOS

The Economist (Reino Unido) - Brazil’s Congress: Ripe for

reform (Blog Americas View)
by A.D. | SÃO PAULO

BRAZILIANS have taken to the streets for many reasons over the past few weeks, but it’s
safe to say that few things ranked higher on their long list of grievances than a loathing of
their politicians and political parties. Yet Brazil’s political class is nothing if not canny. In
the days following the protests, politicians rushed to show contrition, offering not only to
postpone their recess, but also passing a series of high-profile bills they had previously
rejected or ignored.

“They know exactly what is happening on the streets,” says Sylvio Costa, Director of
Congresso Em Foco (Congress in Focus), an independent website that monitors parliament.
“When there is popular pressure they go with the flow because they are petrified. They
want the public off their backs and they want to get re-elected.”

But there’s a reason only 12% of Brazilians have any confidence in Congress, and it didn’t
take long before the right honourable men and women in Brasilia reminded them why.
Even as thousands of their countrymen were dodging tear gas and police cordons to
protest against corruption and graft, senior politicians were using official aircraft to fly to
across the country to football matches and weddings, sometimes even taking family
members with them. Caught red-handed, the speaker of the Senate, the speaker of the
Chamber of Deputies and the minister of social security all admitted wrongdoing and said
they will reimburse taxpayers.

That abuse is not only badly timed, it is also the thin end of the wedge. According to Mr
Costa, 191 of Brazil’s 594 senators and deputies are currently under investigation, most
for minor administrative offences but some for serious crimes including drug trafficking and
murder. The arrest last week of Natan Donadon, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, on
corruption charges was the first time since the 1988 constitution was introduced that a
sitting member has been jailed. The four who were found guilty of corruption in the
mensalão cash-for-votes scandal are still free pending an appeal.

Voters share some of the blame for repeatedly re-electing misbehaving politicians.
Nonetheless, President Dilma Rousseff has proposed a package of political reforms which
she says would reduce corruption and make politicians more accountable. Whether the
package is passed, irony of ironies, depends on Congress. It’s hard not to think of turkeys
and Christmas.

BBC (Reino Unido) - Brazil indigenous protest blocks major iron

ore railway
Brazilian indigenous people in the Amazon region have blocked one of the country's most
important railways in a protest for better public services.

The railway is owned by mining giant Vale and connects the world's largest iron ore mine,
Carajas, to a port on the northern coast near Sao Luis.

The track transports more than 100m tonnes of the mineral each year.

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It is the second time this week that the trains have been halted by protesters of
neighbouring villages.

Protesters from several tribes burned wood on the railway in the Amazonian region of Alto
Alegre do Pindare, demanding better transport, education, health and security.

Last week, they blocked the railway for two days.

Earlier this week, residents of another village near Sao Luis, in the state of Maranhao, also
stopped the trains in a protest.

No passenger service

They want Vale to act on their behalf in negotiations with the authorities.

Because of the protests, the passenger train that transports about 1,500 passengers a day
between the city of Parauapebas, in Para, and Sao Luis has not resumed its regular service
since last week.

Despite having a court authorisation to evict the protesters at any time, Vale chose not to
enforce it, the world's second largest mining company said in a statement.

The demonstrations came about a month after several thousand Brazilians took to the
streets of the country's major cities in a wave of protests against poor public services,
corruption and the cost of staging the 2014 World Cup.

Vale has faced several protests from indigenous peoples of the region in the past, more
recently because of its expansion plans for the 892km-long railway.

Despite court challenges and fierce criticism, work on a second line along its railway to the
coast is under way.

Elsewhere in the Amazon, land grabbing, illegal logging and mining conflicts are common
grievances.

But the giant Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project has been the focus of most protests
and clashes.

The Brazilian government says it is needed to guarantee Brazil's energy provision,

especially in the Amazon region, which still relies heavily on fossil fuels.

Critics say the controversial project will cause irreversible social, cultural and
environmental damage.

So far, however, demonstrations and court challenges have failed to prevent it from going
ahead.

Clarín (Argentina) – Paralizaron San Pablo y hoy hay huelga

nacional en Brasil
POR ELEONORA GOSMAN

Un paro de transportes afectó ayer a 400 líneas de buses. Hoy lo harán todos los gremios.

En víspera de una huelga general prevista para hoy, la situación política ya ayer amaneció
complicada para la presidenta Dilma Rousseff. Más de 750.000 trabajadores y

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estudiantes de la capital paulista quedaron de a pie por un paro de los ómnibus. Y una
reunión de la jefa de Estado en Brasilia con los intendentes de los 4.700 municipios del
país terminó en una silbatina.

Un total de 16 terminales de autobuses servidas por 400 líneas dejaron de funcionar en el

horario pico, con un perjuicio para 750.000 usuarios de transporte público. Protestas
ruidosas convocaron ayer a 15.000 manifestantes del gremio de choferes, lo que creó un
caos en el centro paulista. Para hoy, el paro de servicios de transporte promete ser masivo.

A esto se suman las dificultades políticas de Dilma para avanzar en lo que fue una de sus
propuestas centrales: el plebiscito para reformar el sistema político.

El lunes pasado, los líderes partidarios de la Cámara de Diputados habían decidido rechazar
el proyecto presidencial. Y la oposición, enancada en ese proceso desgastante del
oficialismo, apuesta ahora a exigir una enmienda de la Constitución que elimine la
reelección y deje apenas un mandato único de 5 años.

Para superar la sucesión de crisis que ha deteriorado su imagen, Dilma decidió apostar en
un anuncio fuerte: la transferencia de 7.500 millones de dólares a las alcaldías brasileñas.
Pero un sector de la Confederación Nacional de Municipios se mostró insatisfecho, lo que
explicaría el abucheo. Los intendentes reclaman un aumento de 2% en la participación de
los impuestos a las ganancias y sobre productos industrializados (IPI). “Nuestra marcha
(hacia Brasilia) es por el desquilibrio financiero que viene desde hace décadas” declaró el
titular de la confederación, Paulo Ziulkoski. La presidenta replicó: “Brasil sólo puede
avanzar si estamos juntos. Y para estar juntos es preciso una federación fuerte”.

Dilma deberá enfrentar hoy nuevos paros y manifestaciones, convocados esta vez por
todas confederaciones laborales, incluida la Central Unica de Trabajadores que es
oficialista. Ayer, el Sindicato de Petroleros, uno de los más fuertes del país, anunció para
hoy un paro de 24 horas, en adhesión a la convocatoria gremial nacional. Para hoy están
marcadas múltiples marchas en todo el país. En San Pablo, las principales vías de acceso a
la ciudad serán bloqueadas. El acto más importante debe ocurrir en la Paulista, que fue
escenario de varias de las más importantes movilizaciones.

Para evitar problemas, los gremios entregaron a la secretaría de seguridad pública del
gobierno estadual un esquema con los itinerarios de las movilizaciones.

OUTROS TEMAS

Deutsche Welle (Alemanha) - Planejada pelo Brasil,

“importação” de médicos é fenômeno mundial
Falta de profissionais de saúde atinge países de todos os continentes, e melhores salários e
condições de trabalho são fatores que influenciam a imigração. Fornecedoras, nações mais
pobres são as que mais sofrem.

Em uma década, o Reino Unido conseguiu aumentar consideravelmente o número de

médicos que atuam no país. O índice de dois profissionais por mil habitantes saltou para os
atuais 2,8. No Brasil, a proporção é de 1,95. Mas o feito inglês inclui uma receita que
atualmente levanta polêmica entre brasileiros: a importação de médicos.

Atualmente, quase 40% dos quase 235 mil médicos registrados no Reino Unido são
estrangeiros. Grande parte deles vem das 20 nações mais pobres do mundo, incluindo a
Libéria – que possuiu 0,014 médico por mil moradores – e o Haiti. A Índia é o principal
fornecedor para os ingleses, com 25 mil profissionais.

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A “importação” de médicos é um fenômeno mundial que se acentuou nos últimos anos,
estimulado por programas nacionais para suprir a falta desses profissionais. "O êxodo de
médicos dos países pobres para os mais ricos é uma catástrofe para os países mais pobres
e também um problema global", afirma à DW-Brasil Otmar Kloiber, diretor da Associação
Médica Mundial (WMA, sigla em inglês). Kloiber aponta melhores condições de trabalho e
de vida, além de melhores salários, como fatores que levam médicos a imigrar.

Esse déficit atinge diversos países – inclusive os desenvolvidos –, mas são os mais pobres
que sofrem com a carência. Além de formarem pouca mão de obra, as regiões mais
carentes ainda perdem médicos para as nações mais ricas. A África é o continente mais
atingido: nessa região estão concentradas mais de 24% da carga global de doenças. Em
contrapartida, o continente possuiu apenas 3% dos profissionais de saúde do mundo e
menos de 1% dos recursos financeiros mundiais destinados ao setor.

Mercados atraentes

Os Estados Unidos também são um grande importador. Em 2006, a cota de profissionais

estrangeiros era de 25,9%. Uma grande parte deles vem de países como a Índia, que
oferece apenas 0,6 médico por mil habitantes, do Canadá e do México.

Ainda assim, a previsão é que em 2015 os EUA terão um déficit de mais de 62 mil médicos.
A importação desses profissionais deve continuar sendo uma das soluções para o
problema. Um estudo da Fundação Nacional para Políticas Americanas apontou as leis
imigratórias como a principal barreira para a vinda de médicos estrangeiros para o país.

O governo americano possui um programa especial para médicos, o Conrad 30, pelo qual
esses profissionais recebem um visto de estudante se concordarem trabalhar três anos em
uma região mais carente desse tipo de serviço. Por ano, cada estado pode receber apenas
30 profissionais por meio do programa, quantidade que especialistas consideram pequena.

A Noruega é outro exemplo de país que atrai mão de obra do mundo menos desenvolvido.
Seu programa de importação de médicos é considerado um exemplo."Países escandinavos,
especialmente a Noruega, têm excelentes programas para atrair médicos estrangeiros. Eles
investiram muito no ensino da língua e na integração da família", cita Kloiber.

A parcela de médicos estrangeiros no país é de 16,3%. Com 4,2 médicos por mil
habitantes, a Noruega também importa de países com um déficit maior que o seu. A
maioria dos profissionais são da Alemanha (3,7), da Suécia (3,8), mas também da Polônia
e do Iraque – com índices de 2,2 e 0,6 respectivamente.

Modelo exportação

Para evitar a saída de médicos de países onde o déficit é muito grande, a Organização
Mundial da Saúde (OMS) recomenda que seja evitada a contratação de profissionais de
regiões com um índice de médicos por habitantes menor que o do país de destino.
Segundo o plano do governo Dilma Rousseff, o Brasil seguiria a recomendação.

E se a ideia da OMS fosse seguida globalmente, um país com grande potencial para
exportar médicos seria Cuba. A ilha caribenha possui um dos maiores índice do mundo –
são 6,7 médicos por mil habitantes. Somente neste ano, afirma o Ministério de Relações
Exteriores, 10 mil estudantes de medicina estão concluindo o curso no país.

"A exportação de médicos era parte da política de internacionalização de Fidel Castro para
incrementar o prestígio internacional do país. A experiência foi bem sucedida e acabou se
tornando uma importante fonte de divisas para o país", afirma Bert Hoffmann, do Instituto
Alemão de Estudos Globais e Regionais (Giga), em Hamburgo.

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O governo cubano já enviou médicos para 108 países. Atualmente possuiu convênios com
Uruguai, Bolívia, Paraguai, África do Sul e Arábia Saudita, entre outros. Com a Venezuela,
o acordo inclui médicos em troca de barris de petróleo.

Além disso, o pagamento de médicos cubanos enviados ao exterior é realizado por

intermédio do governo cubano, afirma Hoffmann. "Eles recebem, a princípio, um salário
equivalente ao cubano com um adicional. Dessa maneira, o valor pago é maior do que eles
ganhariam em Cuba, mas bem menor do que os governos locais pagam". Otmar Kloiber,
da WMA, cita ainda casos semelhantes em acordo feito entre os governos de Cuba e da
África do Sul.

Mecanismo global de controle

Um ponto bastante contraditório na questão da “importação” de médicos é a qualidade da

formação desses profissionais em determinados países. Segundo Kloiber, não existe um
mecanismo global de controle dos conhecimentos profissionais de saúde.

"Existem acordos internacionais para controlar a qualidade dos médicos, acordos bilaterais,
como é o caso da União Europeia, que facilitam internamente o reconhecimento de
diploma", diz o diretor. Ele acrescenta que o mais comum é que médicos estrangeiros
passem por uma prova no país onde desejam trabalhar.

No Reino Unido, os médicos precisam tirar um registro próprio do país. Nesse ano, o
governo resolveu reforçar essas regras. Após uma série de erros cometidos por
profissionais, médicos provenientes da Europa também precisam fazer um teste de
proficiência de inglês – uma nova exigência.

Em 2008, um paciente morreu após receber uma dose letal de um medicamento receitada
por um médico alemão que não compreendia perfeitamente o idioma. Ele admitiu ter se
confundido com as diferenças de medicamentos entre os países. No Reino Unido, 63% dos
médicos que perdem o registro estudaram em outros países.

Segundo Kloiber, o modelo de importação de médicos pode funcionar bem, mas somente
se houver certeza da qualificação desse profissionais. Mas ele se mostra cético quanto ao
modelo cubano. "Se considerarmos só os números, a quantidade de médico exportada por
Cuba, vê-se que não é possível para um país tão pequeno formar profissionais com
qualidade, com contato suficiente com paciente."

Com anos de experiência em observação internacional, Kloiber acredita que, em muitos

casos, a importação de médicos não é apenas uma ferramenta para cobrir a demanda.

"É uma questão política, para pressionar a classe médica." Questionado, ele não soube
avaliar se esse é o caso do Brasil. "Na verdade, é claro que existe um déficit de
profissionais. Mas a importação de médicos de Cuba como solução é duvidosa."

Autoria Clarissa Neher/Nádia Pontes

Edição Rafael Plaisant

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