MST Informa
August 16, 2002
MST

In 1982, the Brazilian government created the Launch Center in the municipality of Alcântara in the state of Maranhão. In 2002, the Brazilian government signed a treaty with the U.S. government for the transfer of the base to U.S. control. At this moment, the treaty for the "rental" of the base is being analyzed by the Commission of Constitution and Justice of the Chamber of Deputies. Afterwards, the case will be taken to court for definitive deliberation. See the following, what will happen if the treaty is approved.

Technological Safeguards

Restricted areas will be created in Brazilian territory with access controlled by the U.S. Government. The United States will fund the base without prior notification of the Brazilian government. The U.S. government will permit itself to install electronic surveillance equipment.

An entrance badge will be supplied by the US. The treaty presupposes that the badges to enter the base will be given out only by the U.S. government. Brazil will not have control over what enters the base. Brazilian customs officials will be prohibited from reviewing and inspecting any U.S. shipment that enters national territory; therefore there will be no effective control over the material that the U.S. uses in missile launches from Alcântara.

The U.S. can launch espionage missiles against countries with which Brazil maintains good diplomatic relations.

Brazil will not be able to fund the rest of the missiles in its territory, it should create an area of recuperation of the debris, controlled by the U.S., for the storage of identified components or debris without such components being studied and photographed in any way.

Brazil will not be able to develop space technology. Technological assistance and cooperation is explicitly prohibited (Article IV). Brazil will not have access to U.S. technology and is impeded from developing its own, by itself or in partnership with other countries. Nor can rent money be used in this.

The Brazilian space program will be over, along with our pretensions about entering into the closed space club. We will become totally dependent on the United States.

Political safeguards

While the treaty deals with technology, laid out within it is a series of political order requirements. They are orders that attack national sovereignty and establish a humiliating position for Brazil in relation to the United States.

Only Brazil is forced to make compromises. The clauses of the treaty create obligations almost exclusively for Brazil. The United States imposes the rules. It creates a U.S. military base, which will be a reference point for U.S. military power.

The base can be used by the United States for the shipment of missiles. The U.S. government argues that technological control is necessary to avoid the proliferation of missiles. The U.S. refusal to sign the Convention of Ottawa over terrestrial mines and the recent decision of the Bush administration to proceed with the construction of an anti-missile shield demonstrates the fragility of the commitment of the U.S. with respect to the cause of global disarmament.

It does not permit missile launching toward countries considered 'terrorist.' The U.S. will be able to prohibit Brazil from, utilizing the base installed in Brazilian territory and launch vehicles of its own (or of third countries), launching satellites to nations earmarked by the U.S. According to its latest report, the countries that support terrorism are: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and Sudan. It is evident that this is an entirely arbitrary classification, made to the tune of the political and strategic interests of the U.S. It is our opinion that no foreign nation should have power of decision over the use of the Alcântara Launch Center. It should be clear that, in the case that this treaty is approved, Brazil will lose the autonomy to use the base, as is well understood.

The treaty prohibits Brazil from establishing cooperation with those who are not in the MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime). Being that, as of today, 32 countries make up the MTCR, that requirement would exclude the great majority of the Earth's nations from the use of the Alcântara Center, which would bring about potential prejudices toward Brazil. Again, The US, a foreign country, would be granted the power to limit the discretion of the Brazilian Federal Republic at the same time it uses its national base. Resources from the rental of the base will not be able to be used in the development of the Brazilian space program. A launching vehicle for satellites would permit Brazil to enter, autonomously, into the lucrative and technically relevant market of missile launchings. With all certainty, we would have the resources to compete successfully in this market, being that the geographically privileged position of the base at Alcântara permits launchings with an economy of up to 30%, in the use of combustibles.

The treaty trades in the Brazilian space program for participation in the U.S. orbital station. Pledging to put an end to the Brazilian space program, the United States offered, as a token gift, an invitation for the presence of Brazil in an orbital station. Brazil's participation in this station will be expensive. It is estimated that Brazil will spend US$300 million per year on this program. With these resources, the Brazilian space program would be able to start up and enter into the market with certainty.

This treaty should carry equal weight with every other treaty made by Brazil with other countries. This is excluding the possibility of Brazil having access to some type of space technology. In reality, this clause has a specific purpose: the treaties of cooperation in the peaceful use of outerspace made by Brazil with Russia, the Ukraine, China, and Italy, among others. The fear of the U.S. government is that these countries, as a consequence of the cooperation provided through the treaties, will pass their satellite launching technology on to Brazil.

For the time being, the U.S. government does not want to pass on its space technology to Brazil, therefore we cannot agree that the U.S. wants, by way of the same judicial instruments, a merely bilateral agreement, to prohibit Brazil from seeking access to such technology in third countries and that these nations have the same requirements of their contractors that the U.S. has of its own.

U.S. laws will be able to prevail over Brazilian laws with respect to exports. The U.S. government assured that, with respect to its basic commitment to license exports, that its laws, norms, and domestic policies will be able to prevail over the text of the treaty.

*Summary of an article by Dioclécio Luz, based on the research of Marcelo Zero, adviser to the board of the Workers Party (PT)

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