Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff denounced US surveillance practices in her country at a United Nations meeting in New York.
As announced before the meeting, Rousseff wanted time for a full report on the NSA surveillance programs at the UN summit held today, calling them a “violation of international law.” She also said that such an act threatens freedom of speech and democracy.
“Like many other Latin Americans, I have fought against authoritarianism and censorship, and I cannot help but defend, in an uncompromising manner, the right to privacy of citizens and the sovereignty of my country. In the absence of the right to privacy, there can be no real freedom of expression and opinion, and therefore there can be no democracy. In the absence of respect for national sovereignty, there is no basis for a relationship between Nations,” Rousseff told world leaders.
He also criticized the fact that Brazil had become a target of the US. “The sovereignty of one country can never be asserted at the expense of the sovereignty of another.”
