Obama Exalts Brazil as Economic and Democratic Model

The United States President Barack Obama ended his two day visit to Brazil yesterday. He landed Saturday in Brasilia, where he was received with pomp by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and left yesterday after giving a speech in the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, during which he exalted Brazil as an example of transition between dictatorship and a prosperous democracy.

In the Brazilian capital, Obama met with Rousseff, with whom he analyzed political and economic affairs of bilateral and global interest, and later made a joint press statement.

At that appearance, Obama affirmed that he “enthusiastically” supports Brazil’s economic growth, while Rousseff signaled that to have “more fairness and balanced trade relations” it is necessary to “eliminate barriers that have arisen against our products” like ethanol, beef, cotton, orange juice and steel.

Obama does not commit. Rousseff insisted on a U.N. Security Council reform that would include Brazil as a permanent member, an aspiration that was only recorded generally in the joint communiqué of the meeting in which Obama expressed his “appreciation”.

Later, the head of the White House addressed the participants at a business forum, whom he told that the “future has arrived” for Brazil and that the country “has stepped onto the world stage as a major financial and economic power.”

The president stressed the oil wealth that Brazil has discovered in the deep waters of the Atlantic, known as pre-salt reservoirs. Pretobras estimates the reserves to be close to 80 million barrels.

“We want to help with technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely, and when you’re ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers,” he said.

“Like India or China”. The importance that Obama places upon the South American giant remained corroborated when he affirmed that “it’s time for the United States to treat our engagement with Brazil on economic issues as seriously as we do with nations like China and India.”

The president then traveled to Rio de Janeiro, where he had a more informal agenda.

First he went to the City of God, which up until two years ago was under the control of drug traffickers, and where he attended a display of samba, maracatu, funk and capoeira by young people of the neighborhood with his wife, Michelle, and two daughters.