Zee Media Bureau
Rio De Janeiro: In the wake of reports of US spying on Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff has cancelled her trip to the Washington next month.
The revelation was made when the Edward Snowden leaked National Security Agency (NSA) documents stated that Rousseff’s conversations with her top aides and state-run oil company Petrobras.
Brazil reportedly has been the top Latin American target for spying, with data on billions of emails and telephone calls swooped up in NSA programs.
President Barack Obama called Rousseff late Monday and tried to talk her into maintaining her trip, the Brazilian president`s office said.
But Rousseff was demanding a full public apology from Obama for the spying, which she didn`t get.
The US maintains its spying programme aims to thwart terrorism, but Brazil alleges the real motive was industrial espionage, pointing to intercepted emails carrying sensitive data on Brazil`s oil reserves.
(With Agencies Inputs)
