by John Fitzpatrick
When President Barack Obama assumes office on January 20 can we expect to hear him say the magic word “Brazil”? I would not bet on it although he may refer two or three of the other “BRICs” – Russia, India and China. Presumably, he will follow his two predecessors – George W. Bush and Bill Clinton – and visit Brazil some day but it is hard to imagine this occurring during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s last two years in office.
That is unless a regional crisis arises, which could easily happen depending on what occurs in Cuba after Fidel Castro’s death. In this case, we might see Obama and his secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, in Brasília a lot earlier than might be expected.
Although Brazil and the US have differences in a number of areas, such as Cuba, their bilateral relationship is generally good. However, Cuba is key to any improvement in Washington’s relations with its Latin American neighbors. If Obama maintains the American ban on trade with Cuba he is missing a golden opportunity to improve the US’s image in Latin America and offset the anti-American rhetoric of its main ideological opponent in South America, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.
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