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Latinamericans are ever more suspicious of President George Bush intentions in the region, said Republican Senator Norm Coleman head of the Latinamerican Affairs Committee following a recent visit to several South American countries.
Mr. Coleman who represents Minnesota visited Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay together with Republican Senator Mel Martinez and Jeff Miller and said that the recent call by television evangelist preacher Pat Robertson to kill Venezuela President Hugo Chavez really pulled a trigger on suspicions.
"We were in Brazil at the time and several officials told us that many Brazilians believed the United States was intent in invading the Amazon for its resources," indicated Senator Coleman in a report from the Interamerican Dialogue magazine.
"They are convinced we went into Iraq for oil and if we went to Iraq for oil, what stop us from going after the richest region in natural resources in Latinamerica?," he added.
The Republican Senator insisted this point of view is even shared by academics "and people who think".
"We're already facing some challenges regarding the perception of the US and what are our intentions in the region, and this type of remarks only add to the paranoia which unfortunately exits," he said.
Preacher Robertson's remarks, who later apologized, nevertheless generated further diplomatic irritation to the already difficult relations between Washington and Caracas.
President Chavez demanded a strong condemnation from Washington to Mr. Robertson words and requested legal actions against the preacher.
However the State Department said the ultra conservative former Republican presidential candidate was a "private citizen," but admitted his statements were "inadequate".
Mercopress - www.mercopress.com
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The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
Are they interested in the oil in Iraq? Of course they are, but only as much as any other country on the planet. We burn oil from Iraq in our cars here in Brazil. America is paying the price for world stability that we never think about paying. I think that all of us in the developing world would suffer enourmously if that supply were held up by terror people.
Would the EUA invade Amazon region for resources? That's nonsense. Not only would their people never allow it, we are one of thier best trading partners. Thats like killing the goose that laid the egg of gold just so you could have soup for one meal. It is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of.
Information like this only serves to cause distrust in both countries. Where before there was only peace between neighbors there is a growing suspicion of our friends. It escalates and for what purpose? To sell newspapers? I for one cannot afford to lose trade in the EUA. There are definitely worse friends in the world we could make and keep than americans. Consider exactly what the chinese would love to do to the Amazon let alone our country - and they definitly have motives for wanting resources.
How many of our resources were signed away with the golden pen this last trip that the Chinese made here to look over thier investments.
Big mouth people make comments all of the time - especially people wanting into political office. Pat Robertson is an extremeist - how can you call yourself a christian and call for the death of someone. A christian calling for the death of Chavez is just as stupid as Brazilian capitalist going around screaming that the americans are comming to get the Amazon. Its just not very good business. Every country has its fill of foolish big mouths and now this propaganda and suspicion is spreading. Brazil is becoming a great nation, lets not stop the progress by turning on our friends. We are strong here in the west because of the goodwill that exists between us as a people. I hope that never stops - so God bless America, God bless them. God Bless Brazil!