Rousseff postpones official trip to US

Brasília – President Dilma Rousseff announced that her trip to the United Stated, previously scheduled for October, has been postponed. According to the official release, “the Brazilian government believes that, once the issue has been appropriately settled, the state visit will take place as soon as possible, which should advance our strategic partnership into ever higher levels.”

American president Barack Obama called president Rousseff on Monday (September 16), to discuss her trip.

After the allegations that the US were collecting data belonging to the Brazilian president and subsequently from Brazil’s oil giant Petrobras, Brazil’s government started considering putting off Rousseff’s visit. She met on Monday (September 16) with foreign minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado to discuss the response given by the American government to Brazil’s demands over the spying allegations.

Figueiredo was in Washington last week to address the topic with US national security advisor Susan Rice. Ten days ago, during the G20 summit in Russia, president Barack Obama made a commitment with Rousseff to provide the clarifications demanded by the Brazilian government within a week, a deadline already missed.

Editors: Carolina Pimentel / Lícia Marques
Translators: Fabrício Ferreira