Castro blasts U.S. biofuels goal

HAVANA, March 29 Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in his first editorial since the illness that sidelined him, said the U.S. demand for biofuels directly hurts the world's poor.

In an article, titled "Over three billion people in the world condemned to premature death due to starvation and thirst," in the official Cuban newspaper Granma, Castro said the demand was pushing farmers worldwide to plant more crops that can turn into fuels rather than for food, which is badly needed by the world ' s poorest. "The sinister idea of converting food into combustibles was definitively established as the economic line of foreign policy of the United States," he wrote. The remarks, Castro's first since he became seriously ill last year and ceded power - temporarily -- to his brother, Raul Castro, was sparked, he said, by President Bush's meeting this week with the heads of the big three automakers in Washington.

At that meeting, the heads of GM, Ford and DiamlerChrysler reiterated their commitment to double the production of flex-fuel vehicles by 2010 and have half of their production E85 capable by 2010.

The Bush administration, in its bid to reduce import, wants to cut gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years and raise the production of alternative fuels, including ethanol, to 35 billion gallons a year by 2017. That goal has spiked the demand worldwide for corn, the main source of ethanol in the United States.

In his article, Castro said 1 ton of corn produces 109 gallons of ethanol, so 320 million tons of corn would be needed to produce 35 billion gallons.

"Those lands dedicated to the direct production of alcohol can be much more useful to produce food for the people and to protect the environment," he said. Supporters of biofuels note, however, that the yield of corn seeds has increased dramatically over the last few decades and with time, less corn will be needed to produce fuel. They also note that an overwhelming majority of corn produced in the United States is meant for feedstock not food.

Copyright 2007 by UPI

More Energy (Environment) News click here