President Obama visits Brazil for the first time, and leaves the country wanting more.

President Obama starts his first visit to South America last friday (March 18th).

The Brazilian government hoped that the world eyes would be on Brazil during U.S. president’s, Barack Obama’s first visit to South America. One of the expectations was that Obama would confirm his support on having Brazil as a future member of the Security Council of the United Nations. It was also expected that he would announce the end of long processing and strict bureaucracy on the visa applications of brazilians trying to enter into the United States. Those were maybe too high expectations, and his visit turned out being marked by generic appraising, modest agreements and nonetheless by the fact that the entire western world was much more interested in the intervention in Libya, that broke out Saturday (March 19th), while Obama himself was in the brazilian territory.

Barack and his family arriving at Brasília, on last friday March 18th.

President Obama’s agenda in South America still includes visits to Chile and El Salvador. The president who is traveling alongside his wife, Michelle, daughters, Sasha and Malia, and an entourage of more than 1,000 people left America on a very delicate moment. His major concern is how to prevent the dictator Muammar Gaddafi continuing with the massacre of civilians without it seeming an unilateral action of the country that in the past years, with the help of a few other countries, led controversial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This was in fact one of the themes of his first public agenda in Brazil, just few hours after landing in Brazil’s capital city Brasilia. Although the agreements signing with Brazil were a topic on the agenda of Obama and Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff, in the Planalto Palace, Obama used much of his time to talk about the action in Libya, which would be triggered shortly after. And it was after his first speech there that he gave green light to begin the operations in Lybia. 

Brazil’s economy growth and future partnership with the U.S.A.

While most of the world is consumed with debts and unemployment, Brazil is trying to figure out how to manage an economic boom. Brazil was the last country to enter the great recession and the first to leave and it is very close to get to the world’s 5th largest economy, overpassing Britain and France. In 2010 Brazil created about 1.5 million jobs. Brazil has the world’s largest cattle industry, it produces 14% of the world’s fresh water. Brazil has a very green economy, 80% of its  electricity comes from hydropower. The most sophisticated biofuel industry in the world and the world’s largest export of beef, chicken, orange juice, coffee, sugar and tobacco. Brazil’s biggest economic partner in the past years turned to be China, in instead of the U.S. 

Another agenda on this visit by the north american president was to strengthen the commercial and economic relations between Brazil and United States. Obama had a meeting with business men both from America and Brazil, targeting to find solutions on how to reduce departmentalism and decrease the taxes on importation and exportation.

Another reason why Brazil is lately receiving so much attention is because 240 km of the coast lie what is believed to be the largest discovers of oil found anywhere in the world in the past 35 years. It is estimated that it will produce 6 million of oil barrels a day putting Brazil as 4th largest oil producer of the world. So it is no wonder why North America would not be interested on having Brazil as their economic partner.

Hysteria, and first-lady fashion

Obama , his wife and daughters also visited Rio de Janeiro, where they visited a favela, the Christ statue ate Morro do Corcovado and president Obama gave a closed speech to few brazilian politicians and artists at Rio de Janeiro’s Theatro Municipal. 

Children of a public school getting hysterical meeting the presidents.

The security scheme was huge, but well justified. There were people everywhere trying to see the presidential family, including many Obama imitators and activists. Mrs. Obama also visited one of Rio’s samba school with her daughters, and once again the first lady caught a lot of attention with her outfits.

The Obama family and Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's president at the Planalto Palace, Brasília.

All the fashion specialists have praised Michelle’s style and elegance. The general comment is that the history has never seen a first lady that has such a unique style, feminine, modern and in the other hand so right. “It is not only about dressing adequately, but Michelle also shows personality in her style” says fashion editor of UOL Notícias, Carolina Vasone.

Overall the visit of the America’s first black president, to the brazilian first time ever women president Dilma Rousseff, proved to all that the times we live now are different, full of new nuances, and things that 10 years ago would sound impossible, now are more real than ever. It is a good time to be alive.