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Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim expressed concern over the possibility Paraguay and United States sign a free trade agreement and called for transparency in the military cooperation agreement between both countries.
In an interview with Buenos Aires daily Clarin, Mr. Amorim said he was well aware that Paraguay is a sovereign country, but he pointed out the country also has responsibilities in the framework of the Mercosur agreement that also includes as full members, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
When economic agreements are signed there are options and in this case Paraguay must understand that it will have to choose between Mercosur and other partners. An agreement limited to trade "is not compatible with the rest of the block's members," said Mr. Amorim.
The Brazilian top official statements follow the recent visit to Asuncion of United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who met with Paraguayan president Nicanor Duarte Frutos, which gave a significant thrust to bilateral relations.
Last August Paraguay and United States signed several agreements involving defense, terrorism, drugs and also advanced in a controversial program of military assistance and training in which US special forces are involved since last April and will extend to the end of next year.
The Paraguayan Congress, following on a request from the US government, voted to grant immunity from prosecution for the US forces and personnel. Apparently an FBI regional office is to be opened in the Asunción US Embassy.
"That's why we are requesting more transparency about the content of the agreements signed between Paraguay, a Mercosur member and the United States", emphasized Mr. Amorim who added that there was "no need for a US base in the region".
The Paraguayan government has denied point blank that the United States is in the process of setting up a military base of a regional surveillance center, although social organizations and left wing groups fear that the presence of US troops in the country could represent the first steps towards that end.
Brazil's official line on the issue is that "South American security and defense matters the more it is ensured by South America, the better for the whole region".
"We see no reasons for having a US base in the region", added Mr. Amorim.
The special immunity from prosecution has been extended by Paraguay to 400 US servicemen who in the coming 18 months will be involved in military exercises and social assistance programs.
Some political and strategy analysts both in United States and Brazil believe the US presence in Paraguay will not be limited in time or resources and that there's actually a "hidden agenda", given the fact that US engineers have in the past built several landing strips in strategic areas of the country bordering with Bolivia and Brazil.
This article appeared originally in 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.
Perhaps for the first time, many Americans are discovering the bold separation between the US Federal Government, known as the USA, and the Country known as America, with its people and resources.
As an American, I am frightened by the rapidly growing demonstration of blockade being erected between the American people and the ruling elite of the DC Beltway.
Although the people of the world may have been aware of the activities perpetrated on their nations by the US, many Americans have for two centuries, been blissfully blind to the crimes being committed by their government, in their names.
As the US military-defense and spy industries move into Brazil, under the cover of social aid and interest, as well as perpetrating the continuing fraud of 'War on Terror', I join many others in America who are discovering, that our voices and protests are no longer heard by our Republic's representatives.
The Americans, whether once true or not, are no longer able to produce coalitions or groups which can politicize issues or desires, such that our representatives are responsivie.
Americans have lost their voice, and thus their freedom.
Anti war protests go unoticed. Communications and national petitions find their way to the leaders' trash bins, without even an obligatory or formatted response to the constituency.
While it is true that many nations' peoples have endured torture, poverty and other social ills due to the greed and or alliances with the US government, in the past, many of us in America who oppose these actions by our government, have not been able to find a voice, funds or associations with the power structures that can effect change.
FTAA, World market economies based on fundamentalism will not be the answer to the global ills. Open societies and global justice and fairness and enforcement of global rules, will correct the wrongs for us all.
The growing economic class divide, and the multinational corporations who now control the rulers and leaders of the world, must be stopped, and to do that the paradigm must change. I, along with others, have the answer, we believe, at least to giving the Americans their power back, and thus controlling the US federal representatives. Only then, when America is able to demonstrate the power of true constitutional representation, fairness and equalities, can the USA be a moral and commanding leader, vs. an immoral bully of command.
Please help us so that we may help you.
We must be able to speak to your leaders.
justabridge@aol.com