The United States has rejected a Brazilian proposal to negotiate guidelines for electronic surveillance, Brazil’s justice minister said Thursday.
Brazil and other Latin American countries reacted angrily after disclosures from US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden that they were targets of US electronic surveillance operations.
“We expressed Brazil’s unhappiness on learning that data was intercepted without the authorization of Brazilian authorities, for the use of US intelligence,” Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo.
“The acts imply a violation of human rights, violation of Brazilian sovereignty and rights enshrined in our constitution,” he said.
During his two-day visit to Washington, Cardozo met Vice President Joe Biden, US Attorney General Eric Holder and White House counter-terrorism adviser Lisa Monaco.
But he told reporters that he had gained no satisfaction of Brazil’s concerns.
“We made a proposal to move toward an agreement to establish the rules on procedures in the interception of data.
“They told us the United States would not sign an agreement under those terms with any country in the world,” he said.
Cardozo said US officials said the intercepts were used for counter-terrorism reasons.
“But for us it was clear that there was collection of data to deal with organized crime and drug-trafficking, but what is worse, also Brazilian diplomatic actions,” he said.
In mid-July, Biden called Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff to offer an explanation for the intercepts. More recently, US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Brazil to discuss the issue.
Kerry defended the US intelligence operations, saying they were not only to protect the United States, but also the rest of the world.
US rebuffs Brazil on electronic surveillance: minister
