Lacerda - had all died in succession and in somewhat mysterious circumstances, made Brizola feel increasingly threatened in Uruguay. Faced with impending withdrawal of his asylum, he sought the American Embassy In Uruguay, where he held talks with political counselor John Youle. Youle, over the opposition of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Terence Todman, granted Brizola a transit visa that allowed Brizola, who in mid-1977 was deported from Uruguay for alleged "violations of norms of political asylum", to travel to—and eventually be given immediate asylum in—the United States. Brizola's rescue from Uruguay is acknowledged as one of the successes of Carter's Human Rights rhetoric. It was typical of Brizola's political pragmatism and was shunned, again, by Glauber Rocha as "a demonstration of cultural colonization". After his rescue by Carter, Brizola would not directly oppose American policies towards Brazil, contenting himself with denouncing vague "international losses" incurred by Brazil through unfair terms of exchange imposed by multinational corporations. According to recent declassified Brazilian diplomatic documents, on 20 September 1977, Brizola and his wife went to Buenos Aires, from where they flew to the U.S. Buenos Aires was a dangerous place for Latin American exiles; the Brizolas were followed by American CIA agents and stayed overnight in a CIA safe house and boarded a nonstop flight to New York City on 22 September. Shortly after arriving in New York, Brizola met with U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, who helped gain Brizola permission to stay in the U.S. for six months. From a suite at the Roosevelt Hotel, Brizola profited from his American stay by organizing a network of contacts with Brazilian exiles and American academics interested in ending military rule in Brazil. Later, Brizola moved to Portugal, where, through Mario Soares, he approached the Socialist International leadership and sided with a Social-Democratic, reformist plan for post-dictatorship Brazil. During his time in the U.S., Brizola was contacted by Afro-Brazilian activist Abdias do Nascimento, and became acquainted with identity politics, which would influence his post-dictatorship career. In a political manifesto launched in Lisbon—the Charter of Lisbon that stated his intention of re-founding a Labor Party in Brazil—Brizola adhered to race politics by stating that Blacks and Native Brazilians suffered from more unjust and painful forms of exploitation than regular class exploitation and needed special measures that addressed their plights. Other identity groups were sought for special attention; Northeastern Brazilians, marginalized children and