Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff may cancel US visit over spying

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is considering canceling her next month’s visit to the United States and downgrading bilateral commercial ties unless Washington offers a public apology for spying on her.

A senior Brazilian official told Reuters on Wednesday: “She is completely furious.”

The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, said: “This is a major, major crisis…. There needs to be an apology. It needs to be public. Without that, it’s basically impossible for her to go to Washington in October.”

On Sunday, Brazil’s Globo TV reported that the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on private communications of Rousseff and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The report was based on documents released by US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Rousseff is scheduled to visit the White House in October to meet her US counterpart Barack Obama and discuss a possible 4-billion-dollar jet fighter deal, cooperation on oil and biofuels technology between the two biggest economies in the Americas, as well as other commercial projects.
The Brazilian official said that Rousseff is ready to cancel the visit and take other punitive measures against Washington, including the termination of the potential purchase of F-18 Super Hornet fighters from Chicago-based Boeing Co.