US, Brazil Negotiating Use of Alcântara Launch Center

The United States and Brazil have agreed to a preliminary agreement to for the U.S. to use the South American country's Alcântara Launch Center in the state of Maranhao.

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Brazil's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aloysio Nunes,  confirmed the development after meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, according to Agencia Brasil. Nunes, who has been in office since 2017, explained that Brazil's Ambassador to the United States, Sergio Amaral, had been tasked with convening further talks with U.S. authorities to initiate negotiations this week.

The formal negotiations, which have no deadline to end, will be conducted by the U.S. Department of State, which also needs the authorization of other U.S. agencies to finalize the deal.

Other countries may be interested in the commercial use of the Alcantara Launch Center due to its proximity to the equator, which saves on fuel consumption when launching satellites.

During the Brazilian presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazil tried to seal a deal so that the United States could use the Alcantara Launch Center. The Congress barred the measure, claiming that it would harm the country's sovereignty by guaranteeing U.S. technological secrets.

This time, however, Nunes said the agreement being negotiated doesn't harm Brazil's sovereignty. “If you don't have an agreement that guarantees the intellectual property of the rockets and satellites that will be launched, no satellite or rocket can be launched, because the vast majority of the launches bear U.S. technology,” he said. He concluded that the U.S. government wants to “defend their commercial secrets, which is legitimate.”

In 2011, Wikileaks released a series of U.S. diplomatic cables related to the Alcantara Launch Center. The documents, according to Pragmatismo Politico, revealed that U.S. authorities took concrete actions to impede and sabotage the development of Brazilian technology in two strategic areas: space technology and nuclear energy.