Assange: Coup in Brazil was planned "a long time ago," with US support.
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, said there is evidence of US government involvement in what he called a "constitutional coup" or "political coup" against elected President Dilma Rousseff in August 2016. "The current situation has been building for a long time," Assange said in an interview with journalist Fernando Morais. "50% of the NSA's budget is dedicated to understanding the direction a country, cabinet, or president is taking politically and financially, so that the US can react and steer it in a specific direction, including targeting important energy companies," Assange stated, referring to the pre-salt oil reserves.
Do Freedom Diary - According to Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, there is some evidence of the United States government's involvement in what he called a "constitutional coup" or "political coup" against former President Dilma Rousseff in August 2016. He believes "the current situation has been building for a long time."
In an interview with journalist and writer Fernando Morais for the blog Nocaute, the Australian cyberactivist revealed that the espionage carried out by US government agencies, such as the NSA (National Security Agency), against members of the Brazilian government, including the president herself, involved the political, economic, and financial interests of the United States.
"Fifty percent of the NSA's budget is dedicated to understanding the direction a country, cabinet, or president is taking politically and financially, so that the U.S. can react and steer it in a specific direction, including targeting major energy companies," Assange stated.
The interception of phone conversations adds to the information provided by Brazilian politicians, including the current president, Michel Temer, to the United States embassy regarding the political situation in Brazil.
Wikileaks published documents revealing that, in 2006, Temer personally went to the US embassy to provide information and opinions about Brazil. "This shows a degree of comfort with the American embassy that is somewhat worrying. What will he get in return? He is clearly giving inside information to the US embassy for some reason, probably to ask for some favor from the US, perhaps to receive information in exchange," opined Assange.
He also revealed that the US embassy consulted politicians from various parties, from Temer's cabinet and even from the PT itself, the party of then-President Dilma and former President Lula.
Brazilian oil resources have always been targeted by major US companies. Documents published by WikiLeaks describe contacts between Brazilian politicians and US representatives in the sector regarding the handover of the then newly discovered pre-salt reserves, which would have Petrobras as the main beneficiary to the detriment of foreign companies. The politicians advocated for Petrobras not to have exclusive rights to the profits from oil exploration, favoring access for companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil.
"Considering the intention of the US State Department to maximize the interests of Chevron and ExxonMobil, [Brazil] is providing the United States with internal political intelligence about what is happening politically in the country, and with this information it can maneuver in the interest of large American oil companies that is not necessarily aligned with the interests of Brazil," stated the cyberactivist.
The guarantee of 30% of pre-salt exploration in the hands of Petrobras – a law approved in 2010, which the current government is trying to overturn – would not favor American multinationals, but rather competitors, such as the state-owned China Oil or the Russian Gazprom, which could "contribute more resources to Brazil," according to Assange. "This Petrobras issue is really a question about what kind of state Brazil wants to be. A strong state or a very weak state with large foreign and multinational companies taking control of its natural resources?" he questioned.
According to him, Petrobras is considered an ally of the PT (Workers' Party) by its opponents, which leads them to want to reduce the company's power, favoring US companies. "Therefore, one way to exchange favors with the United States is to facilitate access to parts of the oil reserves for Chevron and ExxonMobil."
This whole process could become even clearer by observing that Exxon was the second most frequent visitor to the White House throughout Barack Obama's presidency, visiting him, on average, once a week, according to Assange. Its CEO, Rex Tillerson, was appointed the new Secretary of State by Donald Trump. Furthermore, when she was Secretary of State, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had as one of her main functions "to lobby in favor of the interests of oil companies."
"What we can see in the messages [leaked by Wikileaks] is that the State Department is constantly focused on trying to secure good deals and attempting to manipulate on behalf of Chevron and Exxon," the digital activist highlighted.
To successfully implement these plans, crucial media campaigns using "bots" on social networks were essential to massively spread rumors and call on the population to take to the streets in favor of impeachment. Assange believes this was financed by US capital.
"These things don't happen in Latin America without US support, financially and logistically, through intelligence," he said.
"Brazil is a country that attracts a lot of interest. If you look at the amount of espionage in different Latin American countries, it is the most spied-upon country by the US," he revealed. He further explained that the reason is simply that Brazil is "more economically important."