Rousseff speaks to Biden over spying reports
July 21, 2013, 4:57 am

“Sovereignty of countries cannot be infringed in the name of security”, Rousseff told Biden [Getty Images]

President Rousseff has conveyed deep reservations about the NSA surveillance of emails and telephone records of Brazilian citizens and firms.

“The privacy of citizens and the sovereignty of countries cannot be infringed in the name of security,” Rousseff was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Biden has asserted that the US will provide more “technical and political” details of the case.

“He lamented the negative repercussions in Brazil and reiterated the US government’s willingness to provide more information on the matter,” Rousseff’s communications minister, Helena Chagas, told reporters in Brasilia.

The Brazilian daily O’ Globo’s report on US spying says that the NSA established a base in Brasilia for data intercepting.

The report states that agents have been posing as diplomats in Brasilia since 2002 and spying on official communications.

Brazil has expressed dissatisfaction over US explanations till now on reports of the NSA spying on Brazilian citizens and firms.

“Some explanations were offered, but we consider them insufficient,” Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota told reporters earlier on Monday.

Rousseff is scheduled to leave for a state visit to the US in October.

Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo told a Senate hearing earlier last week that the government was worried that the US had accessed sensitive information on oil reserves and other strategic data.

“We have a major concern about the possibility of leaks of strategic information, such as the pre-salt oil reserves, even though Petrobras [state oil giant] has a very good security structure,” he said.

With inputs from Agencies