Russia Blames ‘Foreign Interference’ for Brazil Coup

The Russian Foreign Ministry spoke out Wednesday against the efforts to oust Rousseff, pinning the move on “foreign interference.”

“For Russia, Brazil is an important foreign partner in Latin America and the world,” added Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

Russia and Brazil have an important relationship and are members of the influential BRICS group.

A 2015 document, reported in various Russian news agencies, addressed the possibility of U.S. intelligence agency involvement in the parliamentary coup against President Dilma Rousseff. “It is quite possible that the CIA is involved in the plan to stage riots in Brazil nationwide,” the Russian news outlets said in a 2015 report.

One article by Pravda explains that over the past few years, BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have become a significant geopolitical threat to the interests of the United States.

The report added that one of Washington’s biggest worries is Rousseff’s support for creating a new world reserve currency, as well as the threat BRICS poses to the U.S. dollar.

“The reasons, for which Washington wants to get rid of Dilma Rousseff, are easy to understand,” Sputnik wrote. “She signed the agreement about the establishment of the (BRICS) New Development Bank with the initial registered capital worth US$100 billion reserve fund, as well as additional US$100 billion.”

The United States government was also concerned by the construction of a 5,600 kilometer-long (about 3,200 miles) fiber-optic telecommunications system across the Atlantic to Europe initiated by Rousseff in October 2014. The new communication system would guarantee protection against foreign espionage, and would undermine the U.S.-backed communications monopolies. Telebras president told the local media that the project would be developed and implemented without the participation of any U.S. company.

Rousseff has also angered Washington by blocking major U.S. oil and mining companies from returning to Brazil and instead looking to China for investment. The United States has been looking to shore up its stakes in natural resources in Latin America, as indicated by the WikiLeaks revelation that Hillary Clinton pressured Mexico to privatize its oil industry when she was U.S. Secretary of State.

Sputnik noted that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Brazil in May 2013 to try to persuade Rousseff to allow U.S. companies to access the country’s oil fields—a proposal denied by the Brazilian president. In the period after Biden’s visit, protests erupted across the South American country and her rating dropped from 70 percent to 30 percent.

“During this period, the Americans were consistently destroying Rousseff’s regime through other protests. They included large-scale protests against the excessive costs of the World Cup and insufficient funding of social welfare programs and health care,” Sputnik noted.

Also immediately after Biden’s visit, reports attempted to link Rousseff in the so-called “Car Wash” scandal involving the state-run oil company, Petrobras.

“All of a sudden, the Brazilians forgot that the Workers’ Party had taken around 30 percent of the population out of poverty with the help of public support programs. Hunger and illiteracy became history. Was it because of short-term memory? No, as the CIA knows very well how to brainwash people through subordinate media,” Sputnik stated.

In an interview with teleSUR however, Rousseff denied U.S. involvement in her country’s political crisis. “The U.S. has stayed away from the Brazilian process,” maintained the Brazilian leader, despite reports that opposition figures recently met in Washington.

Recently, Venezuelan journalist Jose Vicente Rangel alleged U.S. intelligence agencies had sent about 500 agents to Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Cuba, with the sole purpose of destabilizing their governments.


Articles by: Telesur

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