WASHINGTON - Just eight months ago, President Obama was calling Brazilian President Lula Ignacio Da Silva "my man" and suggesting that the South American giant could become a leading U.S. partner in the region.

Since then, Brazil has criticized the U.S. approach to the coup in Honduras and warned the United States over plans to expand its military presence in Colombia. U.S. officials, for their part, have complained about Lula's increasing efforts to form economic and political ties with a leading American adversary, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Stop punishing him," Lula shot back.

The U.S-Brazilian differences underscore how the Obama administration's relationship with Latin America, a giddy romance at the beginning of 2009, has evolved into a more sober relationship with tensions and suspicions.

While polls indicate that Obama remains highly popular with ordinary Latin Americans, his team's relationship with their governments has been tested by a series of developments, including the Honduran coup, plans to expand the U.S. military presence in Colombia, stalled free trade deals, and the region's flirtations with Iran.

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