DEMOCRACYDIGEST: “Does Brazil’s Rousseff care about Cuban democracy?”

Some Cuban democrats thought that President Dilma Roussef’s experience of detention and torture under Brazil’s military dictatorship might make her feel a moral obligation to raise human rights with the Communist authorities and maybe even meet with some dissidents.
Apparently not.
“Brazil is unlikely to emerge as a public champion of human rights or democracy,” says a contributor to this interesting exchange in the InterAmerican Dialogue‘s Latin America Advisor:
Q: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff last week paid a two-day visit to Cuba (right). Although trade was the main agenda item, the trip also raised questions about the extent to which Brazil wants to see democratic change in the communist nation. Rousseff told reporters that it isn’t Brazil’s place to judge Cuba’s human rights record, adding that while Brazil granted a visa to dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, it was for Cuba to decide whether to let her go. (Sánchez said last Friday that Cuba denied her an exit permit.) How much influence does Brazil wield in the debate over democracy and human rights in Cuba? How important is Brazil’s support to Cuba’s economy? Has Brazil’s stance toward Cuba changed since the administration of Rousseff’s predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva?
A: Peter Hakim, member of the Advisor board and president emeritus of the Inter-American Dialogue: “We learned three things from Brazilian President Rousseff’s visit to Cuba. First, under her leadership, Brazil is unlikely to emerge as a public champion of human rights or democracy. Whatever her personal inclination, any dramatic shift of Brazilian foreign policy is constrained by the country’s economic interests and longstanding political commitments, as well as its particular approach to international affairs. … Second, her government has shown greater flexibility and sensitivity to issues of democracy and human rights than its predecessor. Under President Lula da Silva, Brazil repeatedly voted against U.N. efforts to denounce rights violations or take action to stop them. …. Unlike Lula, she has never belittled dissidents by calling them common criminals or comparing them with avid soccer fans. ….Third, many people, including Sánchez, are convinced that Brazil, by using its growing influence to advance an agenda of democracy and human rights, could make a difference in the behavior of governments in such places as Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. I am not sure I agree, but I would still urge Brazil to make the effort.”