Brazilian President calls off US visit over NSA spying allegations

Eurasia News

BRASILIA: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday announced to call off a highly-anticipated meeting with US President Barack Obama in response to the US spying on her communications with top aides, Dispatch News Desk reported.

The talks, which had been scheduled for October 23, were expected to highlight the steadily improving relations between the two trade partners.

However, revelations of spying by the US National Security Agency (NSA) in Brazil prompted Rousseff to call off the visit to Washington.

On Monday, in an attempt to persuade Rousseff into following through with the trip, Obama made a telephone call to her that lasted for about 20 minutes, the Brazilian president’s office said.

During the telephonic conversation, both the leaders discussed revelations that the NSA spied on the Brazilian leader’s phone calls and emails. They then jointly agreed to call off the meeting.