US Vice-President Joe Biden has called Brazil President Dilma Rousseff to respond to alleged US electronic spying disclosed by rogue intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, Brasilia said.
Biden lamented the negative repercussions the disclosures have had in Brazil during a conversation that lasted for 25 minutes, President Dilma Rousseff’s office said.
The US deputy leader reiterated an invitation given earlier by US Ambassador Thomas Shannon for a Brazilian delegation to visit Washington for more detailed explanations, Communications Minister Helena Chagas said, according to Brazil’s state news agency.
For her part, “Rousseff said that, in the name of security, one can’t infringe on the privacy of Brazilian citizens and even the sovereignty of the country,” the minister said.
The Brazillian President also confirmed her state visit to Washington for October 23, according to the state news agency.
Brazil’s foreign minister said on Monday that Washington had not sufficiently responded to his country’s request to explain the spying allegations.
The daily O Globo newspaper has published a series of reports on US electronic espionage operations in Brazil and Latin America, based on documents leaked by Snowden, a US former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor.
The newspaper said the NSA spied on Brazilian residents and companies, as well as people travelling in Brazil. Washington also maintained a base in Brasilia to intercept foreign satellite communications, it added.
Snowden, whose passport has been revoked by Washington, has been marooned in Moscow airport’s transit zone for the past three weeks, as he seeks asylum in a bid to evade US espionage charges for his leaks.