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São Tomé and Principe, Ethiopia and Cameroon, among others. Brazil abstainedfrom voting on Cuba’s human rights record in the UN’s new Human RightsCommission. It asserted its leadership of the Community of Portuguese LanguageCountries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, CPLP), whose members aremainly in the developing world.In terms of its rational choices, it sought to maximise its diplomatic exposure,choosing to chart an independent course in foreign policy, all the while maintaininga strong bilateral relationship with the United States. Brazil sought to capitalise onits prime position as a ‘buffer’ state in South America, between the US andVenezuela, and later other radical leftist governments in the region, such as that ofEvo Morales, which came to power in 2006; and that of Rafael Correa, inauguratedin 2007. It was unable to avoid negative outcomes in its relations with the US, inretaliation for some of its positions, however. Brazil indicated, in July 2003, forexample, that it had no intention of signing the bilateral agreement proposed by theUS to grant immunity for American citizens in the ICC. Brazil was subsequentlyone of a number of states to lose US economic military assistance through theeffects of US legislation designed to undermine the ICC. 586 Still in 2003, Lulaaffirmed his commitment to a new compact for South America, by signing the‘Buenos Aires Consensus’ with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner.The US view of Brazil as a buffer was not replicated within the region, however, asBrazil increasingly looked like a leader without followers. This was underlined byMorales’ nationalisation of Bolivia’s natural gas reserves in 2006, instigated byChávez in the view of some. This move had a large impact on Brazilian interests,where Petrobrás, the national petroleum company, was heavily exposed. It alsorevealed a major cleavage between nationalists and internationalists. This was seenby the Western mainstream press and Brazilian right-leaning media as the biggestchallenge in the area of foreign policy for Brazil during the Lula administration.Lula’s first response, however, was tepid, asserting Bolivia’s right to sovereigntyover its national resources. Nonetheless, he pledged to defend Petrobrás’ rights586 Elise Keppler, “The United States and the International Criminal Court: The BushAdministration’s Approach and a Way Forward Under the Obama Administration”, inPublicist, Summer 2009. Accessed at: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/02/unitedstates-and-international-criminal-court-bush-administration-s-approach-and-waon 28September, 2010.230