ABSTRACT
The international realities of the 1980s no longer permit Brazil the luxury of a "special relationship." As Brazil attempts to cope with a rapidly deteriorating international economic and financial situation, the United States is of limited help in resolving short and medium term problems of policy. The Brazilians enthusiastically supported the creation of the Inter-American defense and security system following World War II. In 1954, Brazil joined the United States in calling for a consultative meeting under the terms of the Rio Treaty to deal with the alleged communist subversion in Guatemala. Brazil's weakness in the postwar period precluded any greater assertion of its economic growth goals; prior to 1960, the United States remained uninterested. Brazil's efforts to settle the claim of the American and Foreign Power Company again raised the allegation that the United States was only interested in the welfare of its private investors and not in the welfare of Brazilians.
