Brazil leader postpones trip over spying

Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday postponed a state visit to the U.S. to protest an American spy program that has aggressively targeted the Latin American nation’s government and private citizens alike.

Rousseff was to be honored with a state dinner next month, an event meant to highlight strengthening ties between two nations.

Instead, revelations of the National Security Agency’s spy program and Rousseff’s dissatisfaction with the U.S. response to questions about the espionage made it impossible to continue with that trip for now, her office said in a statement.

“Given the proximity of the scheduled state visit to Washington and in the absence of a timely investigation ... there aren’t conditions for this trip to be made,” the statement read. “The Brazilian government is confident that when the question is settled in an adequate manner, the state visit can quickly occur.”