US Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who paid a one-day visit to Brazil Tuesday, defended US intelligence agency spying program on Brazilians, arguing that it was essential to thwart terrorism.
Kerry said it was "absolutely understandable" that Brazilians are now angered at the US National Security Agency, which has cast a wide net over personal communications worldwide but he defended the agency’s surveillance program as essential to protect lives around the world.

Kerry’s visit was dominated by protests and warnings about the consequences of the US spying program on Brazilians' emails and phone calls. The US spying scandal began in June when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed massive domestic and international surveillance.

In Brasilia, protesters gathered outside the Foreign Ministry and shouted "Go away, spies" as Kerry's delegation left talks with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota, according to the Associated Press.

Patriota warned that unless the spying issue is resolved, Brasilia and Washington “run the risk of casting a shadow of distrust” on their work. Practices that violate national sovereignty and individual freedoms "must be stopped," Patriota said.

Kerry vowed that his talks with Brazilian officials would lead to "complete understanding and complete agreement with what it is that we think we must do to provide security not just for Americans but for Brazilians and for people in the world."

An editorial published in Folha de S. Paulo, a key Brazilian newspaper, on Tuesday said that "relations between Brasilia and Washington, which were already far from being in a good moment, were hurt even further after the revelation that Brazil was also among the countries spied on by the US."

The relations between the US and several countries have been strained after Snowden, the American whistleblower, leaked that Washington is collecting Internet records and phone call records of both American citizens and other nationals in a systematic way.

By Press TV

 

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