Brazil's President to Seek a Change in U.S. Approach

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 13 -- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to bring his own message for change when he meets with President Obama on Saturday at the White House: that the United States work to ease its often hostile relations with Latin America.

"I'm going to ask that the U.S. take a different view of Latin America," Lula told reporters this week.

The meeting is also expected to touch on ways to increase cooperation on alternative energies -- Obama has talked about an "energy partnership for the Americas" -- as well as on the global financial crisis and the upcoming Group of 20 meeting of the world's largest and emerging economies. The leaders may also discuss the case of Sean Goldman, an 8-year-old boy caught up in a custody dispute involving the two countries.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said in an interview that Brazil wants to find ways to improve relations between the United States and Cuba and to change the perception that Washington cares about Latin America only as a terrain for the war on drugs. Lula has also urged the United States to reach a free-trade agreement with Colombia.

"We would hope that the United States and the Obama administration would not look to Latin America and South America under the prism of drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is one problem, it's a serious problem, but the relation is much broader and otherwise it will be contaminated from the beginning," Amorim said. "If there is a message we would like to give, that would be one."

Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said in an interview this week that current major initiatives with Brazil -- such as cooperation on developing biofuels, combating racial discrimination and fighting AIDS and malaria in Africa -- already operate well beyond the realm of drugs.

"There's not a security or counter-drugs component to it," said Shannon, who described Brazil as being "on the verge of greatness" and as "the kind of partner we want."

Washington's policy toward Cuba is also of particular importance in the region, where the U.S. embargo is widely seen as an anachronistic failure. The Obama administration has eased travel restrictions to Cuba, and some observers expect the president to announce larger changes in U.S. policy toward the Caribbean nation around the time of the Summit of the Americas next month in Trinidad and Tobago.

"I think we would certainly encourage dialogue, encourage the end of isolation," Amorim said, adding that ending restrictions on travel and sending money back to Cuba would not be enough. "I think something bigger has to be done," he said.

As Brazil's economy has grown in recent years, the country has attempted to enhance its stature in the world, seeking to host the 2016 Olympics and become a permanent member of an expanded U.N. Security Council. Brazil runs the United Nations' peacekeeping operation in Haiti and has helped other countries improve agricultural practices.

The country has weathered the financial crisis better than many other large economies, despite recent increases in unemployment and a decline in economic growth. It has discovered potentially vast new offshore oil fields and is the world's top exporter of products such as iron ore, beef and sugar. Lula has warned against an upsurge of protectionist policies in the wake of the crisis. "We need to make it clear that protectionism can help momentarily, but in the medium term, protectionism will be a disaster for the world economy," he said Friday.

Among the most important areas in the U.S. relationship with Brazil is energy. The two countries have worked to expand on a 2007 memorandum of understanding to increase collaboration on developing and promoting biofuels. Many see new energy sources in Brazil as offering a way for the United States to lessen its dependence on Venezuelan oil.

Brazilian officials have celebrated Obama's election. Although Amorim characterized Brazil's relationship with the Bush administration as positive, he said there were issues, such as the Iraq war, over which "there was no possibility of a meeting of minds."

"Nowadays we see that the Obama administration is more open-minded in terms of dialogue and with whom they can dialogue, and that's what we are proposing for our region as well," he said. "I think we'll be able to do more things together."