Brazil could help smooth over
Cuba's transition to democracy,
says ambassador to U.S.

The Associated Press
Brasilia
Brazil
International Herald Tribune
José F. Sánchez
Analista
Bureau Chief
Cuba
Research Dept.
La Nueva Cuba
January 11, 2007

Brazil's good relations with the United States and Cuba could help bring a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba if ailing President Fidel Castro dies, Brazil's newly appointed ambassador to the United States told the official government news agency.

In an interview published Monday, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota said he believed the United States could benefit from Brazil's analysis of the situation within the communist country.

"Cuba is geographically close and also an important country in the region, with which we have fairly close relations these days. I consider Brazil could possibly play a role in the search for a transition to democracy that could be more calm and without possible turbulence," Patriota said Monday in his first published interview as ambassador.

Patriota was appointed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as ambassador last November and is expected to head to Washington in the coming weeks.

Cuban officials often take offense at suggestions that the communist-governed island needs a transition to democracy, arguing that their single-party system is more democratic than that of the United States and most other countries.

Patriota said Brazil also would continue to push for a permanent seat on the United Nation's Security Council, a goal that has long been a cornerstone of Silva's foreign policy.

He said other countries in the so-called Group of Four, which includes Germany, India and Japan as well as Brazil, should be seated on the Security Council.

He also suggested an African country be nominated for a permanent seat.

Patriota said it was too soon to say what effect the Democratic Party's majority in Congress will have on Brazil-U.S. relations.