[Marxism] Cuba and Venezuela turn against ethanol

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In addition to this matter of ethanol, there's also the matter of
the urgent need in many places, including here in Cuba, for there
to be a much more effective public system of rapid transit built.

This can further conserve oil, gasoline and other forms of power
which are needed to drive individual automobiles, which have the
convenience of immediate accessibility - for those who can afford
the car, the gas and the insurance, of course. Individually-owned
automobiles (confession: I have one in Los Angeles) are a highly
expensive, socially harmful and environmentally unsustainable way
for people to get around. Los Angeles for decades has been really
imprisoned in these things. A better form of transport is possible.


Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
"Un paraiso bajo el bloqueo"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

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Here's a nice graphic from Juventud Rebelde to 
be used activists' leaflets around these issues:
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/UserFiles/Image/grafica/imgo/combustible-2007-04-05.jpg
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Cuba and Venezuela turn against ethanol
 Castro and ChÃvez attack US backing for biofuels
 Leaders say diverting crops for fuel starves poor

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent 
Saturday April 7, 2007
The Guardian

Cuba and Venezuela have launched an offensive against biofuels,
warning that the US-backed rush towards ethanol will worsen global
hunger and poverty.

Fidel Castro has written two newspaper articles in a week voicing
alarm at the prospect of countries boosting sugar and corn crops to
make ethanol, a fuel that can be used an additive or a substitute for
petrol.

By diverting crops to feed cars rather than people, the price of food
would rise and the world's poor would go hungry, Mr Castro wrote in
the Communist party's official newspaper, Granma.

The columns marked an unexpected return to international policy
debate after an eight-month convalescence that forced the 80-year-old
president to cede day-to-day control to his brother, Raul.

Mr Castro's ally, the Venezuelan president Hugo ChÃvez, also attacked
biofuels in a sharp U-turn that put the two leaders shoulder to
shoulder against Brazil and the US, the two big ethanol champions.

Until recently, Cuba and Venezuela were enthusiastic about the fuel
and with Brazil's help planned to jointly build sugar mills and
ethanol plants, hitching the Caribbean to the "green" fuel bandwagon.

That changed after the US president, George Bush, touted his support
for ethanol during a tour of Latin America last month that clinched
an ethanol deal with Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The men followed up last week with a meeting at Camp David.

Washington, a foe of Mr ChÃvez and Mr Castro, has promoted home-grown
corn-based ethanol as well as the sugar-based variety produced in
Brazil and tropical countries as a way to reduce US dependency on
oil. Biofuels are also perceived to be less environmentally damaging.

However critics say the fuel, especially the corn-based variety, is
far less green than it appears and that converting swaths of land to
provide fuel for cars would push up prices of food crops and meat,
since animals eat corn. In the wake of Mr Bush's tour, Mr Castro
echoed those arguments. A recent column said 3 billion people would
die prematurely of hunger and thirst. "Where are the poor countries
of the third world going to get the minimum resources to survive?
This isn't an exaggerated number; it is actually cautious." He made a
polite but pointed criticism of Brazil.

Mr ChÃvez also expressed dismay. "When you fill a vehicle's tank with
ethanol, you are filling it with energy for which land and water
enough to feed seven people have been used." It was unclear whether
Venezuela's mooted sugar mills and ethanol plants would go ahead.

Brazil brushed aside the criticism and on Wednesday its state oil
firm, Petrobras, signed a biofuel deal with Ecuador's state oil firm,
Petroecuador. The issue may cloud a meeting scheduled next week
between Mr da Silva and Mr ChÃvez.

Cuba and Venezuela are joining an unlikely alliance including
anti-poverty campaigners, environmentalists, economists and
scientists. The Economist, offended by Washington's ethanol
subsidies, said it seldom found itself agreeing with Mr Castro. "But
when he roused himself from his sickbed last week to write an article
criticising George Bush's unhealthy enthusiasm for ethanol, he had a
point."




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