Castro ends 8-month silence to slam US ethanol plans (2nd Roundup)

Havana - Ending eight months of silence, ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro published an article in Cuban state media Thursday criticizing US environmental policies, and in particular plans to boost the use of ethanol. 'The sinister idea of converting food into fuel has definitely been established as an economic lineament in US foreign policy,' the Cuban leader wrote, arguing that US President George W Bush's support for using crops to produce ethanol for automobiles in rich nations could deplete food stocks in developing countries. The article published in the Cuban Communist Party daily Granma was the first attempt by Castro, 80, who is recovering from intestinal surgery, to comment on international issues since he was taken ill in July 2006 and handed over power to his younger brother Raul. Fidel Castro has only been seen in half a dozen videos and several pictures since the surgery, the last ones published in March where he appeared with Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 'More than 3 billion people in the world condemned to premature death by hunger and thirst,' read the headline of Castro's article. Castro's health has been treated as a state secret in Cuba, which has not revealed the exact cause of his illness. Over the past months, rumours of the imminent death of the Cuban leader have been strongly denied by the authorities. However, over the last few weeks the expectation of his return has increased, owing to several hints by Cuban and international officials. A few weeks ago, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced the possibility of that Castro would appear publicly on April 28. This would mark the first anniversary of Bolivia's joining the Alternativa Bolivariana para las Americas (ALBA), the Cuban and Venezuelan alternative to the US-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Cuba has not yet confirmed Castro's appearance. The island is entering its ninth month without its socialist leader of almost half a century. In the article, Castro warned that the plans to convert products like corn, sugar cane or soy into ethanol for use as fuel additives could cause serious ecological damage and would adversely affect the third world population. Castro referred to a meeting Bush had Monday with leading US automotive groups, in which he urged them to double the number of vehicles fuelled by alternative combustibles such as ethanol, in an attempt to combat climate change and US dependence on oil. 'I think that reducing and recycling all the electricity and combustible consuming motors is an elemental and urgent necessity for all humanity. The tragedy does not consist in reducing the costs of energy, but in the idea of converting food into combustibles,' Castro said in the article. Bush strongly promoted the production and use of biofuels in Latin American countries in a regional tour earlier this month, with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as his main ally. The US and Brazil together produce around 72 per cent of the world's ethanol. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said he 'respects' the Cuban leader but defended the position of Lula's leftist government. 'I think everyone is free to express their opinion. But I do not think that was meant against the Brazilian government or Brazil. Our opinion on ethanol is that ethanol's success has been proved in practice,' he said. Amorim pointed out that Brazil produces ethanol from sugar cane, while the United States uses less energy-efficient corn. 'Brazil is today looked at as almost an object of pilgrimage, or a Mecca - to use two different religious examples - by all developed or developing countries, who come to seek in ethanol and (other) biofuels a way out of energy problems, not to remain totally dependent on oil. Everyone knows that oil is going to run out,' the minister said. According to the Cuban leader, even if the US dedicated its entire corn production to the production of ethanol, there still would not be enough ethanol for its fuel needs. 'If you apply this recipe in Third World countries, you'll see how many people of the hungry masses of our planet will stop eating corn. Or even worse: finance poor countries to produce ethanol from corn and there won't even be one tree to defend humanity of the climate change,' Castro wrote. The Cuban president said instead of these policies, countries should concentrate on other ways of saving energy, as Cuba does. 'All the countries in the world, poor and rich, could save millions and millions of dollars just by changing all incandescent light bulbs into fluorescent ones, something Cuba has been doing in all homes. That would give climate change a break without starving the poor masses of the world,' said Castro, who in the past few years has made ecology one of his major interests. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

And Also

Look Back at the Worst Celebrity Breakups

Look Back at the Worst Celebrity Breakups - PopEater
Nokia accuses technology heavyweights of LCD price fixing - The Tech Herald
Sherlock Holmes Has A New Gimmick: Motion Seats - Cinema Blend
Maksim or Karina? One's Out on 'DWTS' - PopEater
A&E series 'Hoarders' and 'Intervention' premiere Monday, Nov. 30th, preview

Your Talkback on this Story

Latest Headlines in Americas

Older Talkback

page: 1 2 3 4

Blue LadyMar 30th, 2007 - 15:33:18

'Yeah, not to mention the US only farms about a 3rd of its usable land to grow crops. What a crock, let farmers get back in the game and support their families and the American economy. Oil companies are reporting record profits in the billions, its time we say good bye forever to supporting the middle east investments.'

Right on, Jason!

'Countries like Cuba and Iran will be begging the US to purchase their over priced oil once we have integrated bio fuels. ha ha suckas maybe lame idiots like Terhan's 'supreme' leaders will finally get the message that they are nothing special and do not deserve to be treated like royalty and start contributing something positive to this world instead of being degenerates.'

Other than the superfluous flag-waving bit, there's some truth in that statement as well.

Castro's concerns about food security and the distribution of global resources are valid. Given that food and fuel resource production are commercial rather than publically-controled processes, there is a definite long term survival issue inherent in the dialogue, and given the economic lobby that will be involved in these decisions, one can certainly be forgiven for questioning the motives of the 'nouveau-Green'trend.
(It wasn't long ago, after all, that this same administration scoffed in the face of the bio-energy lobby, with statements like 'Americans will not apologize for our [resource-intensive and consumer-oriented]way of life.'

On the other hand, also valid are environmental concerns associated with fossil fuels (particularly as they apply to massive industrial and consumer economies like the United States).
Experimental attempts at technological advancement(even the ones that don't work out)are a valid contribution to an eventual solution (albeit greater regulation of personal and industrial consumption levels would be an even better and more direct response, but we can't have that).
At least some lip-service is finally being paid to environmental concerns in government energy policy, and with luck it will help make the issue carry more wait as political currency in future elections.

Report this comment

Dr. Will WongMar 31st, 2007 - 06:10:17

Someone explain something to me: In some 14 years of ruling Chile Augusto Pinochet killed some 5000 people and he is regarded as a dictatorial monster. Castro executes some 5000 to 10,000 people per year over the last 40 (including several thousands prisoners a couple of years ago when he had the the overcrowded jail on the Isle of Pines dynamited and bulldozed with all still inside), and yet he's held up by the left as a darling and a hero of the people! His plans for planting sugar cane across the island turned Cuba into a ecological nightmare, while his plans for cross breading cattle were such a disaster that the cattle population dwindled to near extinction! Haven't you loonies who think he's great been privy to any of this? This man eating despot is the last guy who should be criticizing the ecological plans of anyone else OR their cost to the humans he holds in utter distain.

Report this comment

jspencerApr 1st, 2007 - 00:05:24

Well shucks folks, I'm sorry to see old Fidel upset, but he's got good cause.
If Al Gore is wrong about Global Warming then there wil be a lot of hungry people after we turn all the food into fuel for nothing. With the impending Ice Age to come there will be some mighty hungry folks in this here world.
I think good old Al should reassure Fidel that with all the money he makes on his Carbon Credits Scam, he will be sure to send extra grocerys to Cuba.
For now they better hope the cost of Sun Screen doen't go up to high with all the hot air coming out of Washington these days. Those good ol'boys in the House and Senate, they be blowing some smoke now, and ya'll know where there is smoke there's fire.

Report this comment

Blue LadyApr 1st, 2007 - 01:43:27

I hear ya!

Report this comment

NoharnessApr 1st, 2007 - 03:36:53

Doctor Will Wong,

Old Fidel may not be much better than Satan himself, but he IS right about this one. Ethanol as a fuel will prove to be one of the costliest mistakes we have ever made. It is a pernicious idea because it sounds good and it is an easy notion to sell, but the numbers are unworkable. It will never replace as much as five-percent of US crude oil consumption, even using all the 'cellulosic' ethanol we could possibly muster.

Bio-diesel makes a heck of a lot more sense. It is eighty-nine percent as efficient as diesel distilled from crude and the diesel engine (on any fuel it can burn) is twenty to forty percent more efficient than any gasoline engine burning gasoline. Worse, ethanol burned in a gasoline engine is only about seventy-percent as gasoline.

Bio-diesel in sufficient quantities to make a difference is five to ten years away. But what we could be doing and should be doing is converting over to diesel driven plug-in hybrids. We could start doing that next year if Congress would stiffen its resolve and behave for a week.

No, I'm not holding my breath and waiting on that to happen, either.

Report this comment

LIBORIOApr 9th, 2007 - 04:19:06

IT IS A SIMPLE ALLEGATION TO ACCEPT THAT MR. CASTRO IS NOW WRITING EDITORIALS FOR THE WORLD. GIVEN THE ARMY OF SPEECH WRITERS AND ECONOMIC ANALYSTS WHO REPORT FOR DUTY TO FIDEL VIA RAUL. SUCH SPEECH WRITING IN PLACE OF CASTRO'S 6 HOUR TALKS, IS REALLY DOUBLE EDGED PROPAGANDA. GOOD TO BOTHER THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, AND TO INSINUATE THAT FIDEL IS MUSTERING HIS 47 PAST YEARS BRAIN ENERGY BACK IN VIEW

Report this comment

page: 1 2 3 4

Americas

Americas News

Castro ends 8-month silence to slam US ethanol plans (2nd Roundup)

And Also

Your Talkback on this Story

Similar articles

Latest Headlines in Americas

Older Talkback

From Sites we Like

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print