Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff 'cancels US visit' in NSA wiretap row
Obama phone call to Brazilian president said to have been not enough to save October visit, amid fury over Snowden leak of NSA wiretap
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has cancelled a state visit to Washington next month over reports that the United States spied on her personal communications and those of other Brazilians, two government officials told Bloomberg yesterday.
A leading Brazilian newspaper also reported the trip was off. O Globo gave no source for its information.
Rousseff, who was infuriated by the spying reports, decided to cancel despite a 20-minute telephone call from US President Barack Obama on Monday night in a last-minute attempt to salvage the trip, O Globo newspaper said.
If Rousseff confirms she will not go, it would be a big blow to US-Brazilian relations. Ties had been improving steadily since Rousseff took office in 2011 but were upset by reports that the National Security Agency snooped on e-mails, text messages and calls between the president and her aides.
O Globo said Rousseff was not satisfied with US explanations of the espionage, revealed in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. US officials said the NSA surveillance was aimed at tracking suspected terrorist activity and did not pry into personal communications, but Rousseff was not convinced.
Reports of the espionage were based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.