From: sangu@igc.apc.org (David Sangurima)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS ANTI-
Date: 5 Nov 92 06:45:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1473800370:000:3055
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!sangu    Nov  4 22:45:00 1992


From: David Sangurima <sangu>
Subject: BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS ANTI-

/* Written  1:30 am  Oct 31, 1992 by rcue@ax.apc.org in igc:reg.cuba */
/* ---------- "BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS ANTI-" ---------- */
BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS ANTI-CUBAN LAW


Sao Paulo, BRAZIL, Oct. 30, 1992--(Transmitted by the Greater Sao
Paulo Forum of Solidarity with Cuba; email: rcue@ax.ibase.br; see
also our conference for.brascuba in apc's Alternex node in
Brazil)

Through its newly-appointed Minister of Foreign Relations,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the Brazilian government announced
today (Oct. 30) that it will not comply with recently approved
anti-Cuban legislation in the U. S.

The announcement was made at a press conference shortly after a
meeting with President Itamar Franco.  Minister Cardoso stated
that the Brazilian government considers this legislation an
illegal interference in matters which are regulated exclusively by
Brazilian laws and echoes the position of other governments in
Latin America--Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, etc.--and throughout
the world.

Minister Cardoso, an internationally renowned social scientist and
one of the principal mentors of the "dependence" approach in the
study of peripheral societies, was appointed to the post in the
cabinet shuffle of the new Brazilian government of Itamar Franco,
vice-president of temporarily (and probably permanently) removed
president Fernando Collor who is now undergoing a process of
impeachment under charges of improper conduct related to corrupt
practices.

Diplomatic relations between Cuba and Brazil were re-established
in June 1986, during the first civilian government in Brazil in
more than two decades and twenty-two years after the military
dictatorship broke relations with the island.

Since then, Brazil has been one of Cuba's most important
commercial partners in Latin America.  The other side of the coin
of Cuban exports to Brazil of bio-technological, computer and
related products are Brazilian food, machinery, services and raw
materials  shipped to Cuba.

A highly important, joint-venture agreement for the exploration of
oil in Cuban territorial waters between Petrobras, Brazil's
government-owned petroleum conglomerate, and Cuban oil companies
was announced by both governments several months ago.  However,
shortly before the demise of the Collor government, Brazilian
officials already in Cuba to formalize the agreement were
surprisingly called back by the Brazilian government, without any
explanations, and the deal was suspended.  Brazil's new government
has not yet modified this situation.

Minister Cardoso will be participating in several conferences in
the U. S., including the New York area, in the next few days.  It
seems appropriate for friends of Cuba in the US to try to make
contacts with him in order to explain the views of democratic US
citizens regarding US-Cuban relations and the importance of the
Brazilian government as a potential mediating force in the efforts
to end the US-imposed blockade.

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Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america