WikiLeaks: US spied on Rousseff’s ministers too
July 5, 2015, 4:32 am

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff with her US counterpart Barack Obama at the White House, Washington, US on 30 June 2015 [Image: Itamaraty, Brazil]

Brazil-US relations were badly strained after whistleblower US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed widespread US foreign surveillance on Brazilian companies, including state oil giant Petrobras.

The United States spied on the communications of dozens of senior Brazilian officials other than President Dilma Rousseff, local media reported on Saturday.

Wikileaks published 29 phone numbers monitored by the US National Security Agency (NSA), including some Brazilian ministers, diplomats, and “important figures”. These include Rousseff’s aide, her secretary, her chief of staff, her Palace office and the phone in her presidential jet.

The country’s foreign minister and its ambassadors to US, Germany, France, the EU and Switzerland are also in the updated list.

Wikileaks says the NSA targeted Nelson Henrique Barbosa Filho, Brazilian Minister of Planning, Budget and Management, who earlier was an Executive Secretary at Brazil’s Ministry of Finance and Antonio Palocci, current president’s Chief of Staff, who served as Minister of Finance under former President Lula.

Rousseff canceled her state visit to the US in late 2013 saying she had not received “sufficient explanation” from Obama.

She visited the US last week, however, saying “some things have changed” since the spying revelations due to assurances from Obama and the US government that they would no longer engage in intrusive acts of spying on friendly countries.

Wikileaks has also revealed, during the last two weeks, new information on US spying on some senior German government officials, former and current French presidents and leading financial figures.

“Our publication today shows the US has a long way to go to prove its dragnet surveillance on ‘friendly’ governments is over. The US has not just being targeting President Rousseff but the key figures she talks to every day,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange commented on the new reports on Brazil on Saturday.

TBP and Agencies