SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - With the war on terrorism in full swing and the prospect of a military conflict in Iraq looming large, Latin America is low on the list of priorities in Washington these days.
But in Brazil, the region's biggest country, concerns about the United States and its plans for the hemisphere run deep, so much so that the nation's relationship with Uncle Sam has become a factor in next month's presidential election.
From trade disputes to fears that Americans covet the Amazon's bountiful resources, a growing number of Brazilians say they have plenty of reasons to view the United States with caution and are demanding that their leaders be more assertive when dealing with the world's lone superpower.
"The United States is a campaign issue because a lot of people sincerely believe that the Bush administration, with all its unilateralism and protectionism, is a threat to Brazilian interests," said Fernando Abrucio, a professor of political science at Sao Paulo's Catholic University.
After eight years of slow but steady growth under outgoing President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazil is becoming a player in the global economy, competing neck-and-neck for world markets in sectors such as agriculture, steel and small aircraft manufacturing with industrial giants like the United States.
Last year, Brazil posted a small trade surplus of $2.6 billion with the United States for the first time since 1994. But Brazilians say that number would be a lot larger if Washington didn't slap punitive import tariffs on some of its most competitive exports, such as orange juice and steel.
When the Bush administration approved billions of dollars in new subsidies for U.S. farmers and hiked tariffs on foreign steel earlier this year, Brazilians were outraged at what they saw as unfair trade practices.
Brazil is already one of the world's leading producers of farm goods and steel, but desperately needs to boost exports to bring in hard currency and reduce its dependence on foreign financing.
FREE TRADE OR ANNEXATION?
Trade restrictions, coupled with Washington's past record of supporting military dictatorships in Latin America, have many Brazilians, including the country's four presidential hopefuls, suspicious of a U.S.-sponsored plan to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005.
The front-runner in the race, four-time candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the left-wing Workers' Party, has said he supports free trade in theory.
But Lula, as the former metalworker is known here, has lashed out at the current FTAA proposal as a threat to Brazil's sovereignty, suggesting it would mean turning over Latin America's biggest economy to policymakers in Washington.
"The FTAA as it stands right now is a policy of annexation, not integration," he said in a radio interview last week.
Jose Serra, the candidate backed by Cardoso's ruling coalition and the Wall Street favorite, has also expressed reservations about the FTAA, saying that Washington doesn't "practice what it preaches" when it comes to free trade.
The other two candidates are even more skeptical of the U.S. proposal. Ciro Gomes, a left-leaning former finance minister, has said his government might instead seek bilateral trade deals with the likes of China and the European Union ( news - web sites).
Meanwhile, Anthony Garotinho, a media savvy former state governor who got his start in talk radio, recently posed for the cameras signing an anti-FTAA plebiscite sponsored by Brazil's Catholic bishops.
In all, the nonbinding plebiscite was endorsed by 10 million Brazilians, many of whom celebrated the event earlier this month by marching outside the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, chanting "Yes to sovereignty, no to FTAA."
DIPLOMATIC HEAVYWEIGHT
Plebiscites aside, the future of an Americas-wide trade bloc could well hinge on the outcome of Brazil's election.
"Whoever is elected in Brazil, it will not be, I think, business as usual," said Kenneth Maxwell, director of the Latin America Program at New York's Council on Foreign Relations.
"If Brazil chooses to reject FTAA head on in January, the U.S. will obviously need to rethink its agenda in the region on trade questions," added Maxwell, a longtime Brazil specialist.
That is a possibility U.S. officials are well aware of.
"We're waiting for the electoral process to take its course because we know it's going to have an impact on the (FTAA) negotiations process," Peter Allgeier, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative recently told local daily Valor Economico.
Indeed, whoever is elected next month will certainly have a say in the matter. In November, Brazil will join the United States as co-president of the FTAA coordinating committee, leaving the hemisphere's two heavyweights to face off in the final stretch of the negotiations process.
Brazil is already sending signals that it intends to play hardball in the upcoming talks. Seeking to offset U.S. power in regional affairs, Brazilian diplomats are scrambling to form a South American free trade bloc before the end of the year.
THE AMAZON
But for many here, the most worrisome part of Brazil's relations with Washington isn't trade; it's the Amazon.
Brazilians at both ends of the political spectrum have long feared that outsiders, especially the United States, are out to steal the world's largest tropical forest for themselves.
Adding fuel to the fire is a spurious map circulating on local Internet sites showing the Amazon as an "international reserve" falling under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. Though clearly a fabrication, many here quickly accepted the map as proof of U.S. plans to snatch the Amazon from Brazil.
Garotinho, the presidential candidate, appears to lend credence to the theory that the United States is plotting to snatch the rain forest. His campaign platform devotes an entire chapter to the Amazon, warning of the need to combat the "project to internationalize the Amazon."
For others, more disturbing is a bilateral treaty allowing the United States to launch satellites from a tropical base near the Equator in Brazilian territory.
Echoing a congressional committee that recently said the treaty showed "contempt" for Brazil's sovereignty, Lula has said he would revise the agreement to give Brazilian officials unfettered access to the base, known as Alcantara.
But for all the apparent hostility, most Brazilians are far from anti-American, said Mario Marconini, a former diplomat who recently headed a task force of local intellectuals on U.S.-Brazil relations.
"Unlike in Europe, there's a special fascination with American culture in Brazil, and that's apparent just about everywhere here," said Marconini, who spent eight years living in the United States. "The animosity stems from politics, not from Americans themselves."
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