BRAZIL/FILE: Brazil reacts to allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on state-run oil giant Petrobras

Record ID: 862163

  • Title: BRAZIL/FILE: Brazil reacts to allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on state-run oil giant Petrobras
  • Date: 9th September 2013
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE) (REUTERS) PETROBRAS OIL PLATFORM RIGHT OFF COAST OF RIO
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • City:
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA93ZANMKA81FMFITXG66EY72O8
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  • Story Text: The U.S. government tapped into computer networks of companies including Google Inc. and Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, according to leaked U.S. documents aired by Globo, Brazil's biggest television network.
    A week after it broadcast a report that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on the presidents of Brazil and Mexico, Globo said the agency had also spied on major companies.
    At the very least, revelations of U.S. spying on Petrobras are likely to further complicate the tension between the United States and Brazil over allegations that the NSA spied on the private phone calls and e-mails of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
    Brazil has demanded a formal apology and Rousseff aides have said the issue could derail a state visit she is due to make to the United States in October.
    The tensions led to an impromptu meeting between Rousseff and U.S. President Barack Obama last week at the G20 meeting in Russia. Obama said he would investigate the allegations.
    Brazil's Minister of Education, Aloizio Mercadante, said Brazil is waiting for an explanation for the U.S. after both his country's and Petrobras' rights had been breached.
    "Because, like the president said today, there was a violation of propriety, a breach of the fundamental principles of the Brazilian constitution, of sovereignty, of the rights guaranteed to each citizen, and of a Brazilian company that also has the right to protect its confidentiality. The American government will have to explain itself and our government is waiting on this," Mercadante said.
    "Because transparency is always the best way for us to discover the truth and have the power to reinforce the rights and guarantees of the state and the sovereignty of the state, of a strategically important company, and natural wealth strategically important to Brazil," Mercadante added.
    As with its previous report, Globo disclosed the information in coordination with Glenn Greenwald, a U.S. journalist for the Guardian newspaper, who has worked with former NSA analyst Edward Snowden to expose the extent of U.S. spying at home and abroad.
    Any spying on Petrobras is sure to raise hackles in Brazil, which has long been suspicious of foreign designs on its abundant natural resources.
    U.S. officials, including Obama on a 2011 trip to Brazil and Vice President Joe Biden during a visit in June, have cited the importance of Brazil's big new oil finds and flagged intentions to work closely with the country for future energy needs.
    Petrobras, which has made some of the world's biggest oil finds in recent years, did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
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