Brazil and Mexico angered by allegations that NSA spied on presidents

Documents leaked from Edward Snowden, a former contractor of the National Surveillance Agency’s, suggest that the United States accessed emails from the presidents of Brazil and Mexico.

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist whom Snowden gave confidential documents to, stated this week, “it is clear in several ways that [Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff’s] were intercepted, including the use of DNI presenter, which is a program used by NSA to open and read emails and online chats,” reports Al Jazeera .

Brazilian Justice Minister Eduardo Cardozo responded to the claims, “This is completely outside the standard of confidence expected of a strategic partnership, as the U.S. and Brazil have.”

Reuters reports that the disclosure of the NSA’s surveillance of Brazil may halt the United States’ $4 billion deal to sell 36 F-18 fighter jets to Brazil.

The White House spokesman, Caitlin Hayden, responded vaguely, “While we are not going to comment publicly on every specific alleged intelligence activity, as a matter of policy we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations.”