|
Castro in new US biofuel attack
BBC
News, UK, April
4, 2007.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro has written a
second newspaper article within a week,
again criticising US biofuels policy.
Writing in the Granma newspaper, Mr Castro
said a US drive to back crop use for fuels
would raise prices and cause more hunger
in developing countries.
Mr Castro handed power to his brother Raul
in July after undergoing surgery, and has
not appeared in public since.
Correspondents say his articles in the
Communist Party's official paper may be
a sign of a return to active politics.
The Cuban president's failure to appear
in public - and the silence from the Cuban
authorities - had fuelled regular speculation
about the seriousness of his condition.
Officials have said they expect Mr Castro
to resume activities in government soon.
Earlier in the year, Mr Castro appeared
in a live radio broadcast for the first
time since falling ill.
But the health of the 80-year-old leader
was not mentioned in either of his Granma
articles.
Brazil accord
In Wednesday's column, Reflections of The
Commander-in-Chief, Mr Castro criticised
President Bush's plan to increase the use
of foodstuffs like corn for fuel to run
cars.
He said Mr Bush had "declared his
intention to apply this formula on a world
scale, which means none other than the internationalisation
of genocide".
Mr Bush has set targets for an increased
use of ethanol - which in the US is mainly
made from corn.
The US government, which recently signed
a biofuel agreement with Brazil, hopes this
will reduce the country's dependence on
foreign oil.
But Mr Castro wrote that dozens of nations
do not have oil and cannot produce corn
or other grains to make ethanol because
they lack water.
The surge in demand for corn would push
up grain prices while the threat of a US
invasion of Iran keeps oil prices high,
he wrote.
He asked: "Where are the poor countries
of the Third World going to get the minimum
resources to survive?"
Mr Castro also wrote of the current situation
in Iran, where 15 British navy personnel
are being held accused of entering Iranian
territorial waters.
He described the incident as a provocation
by Britain.
|
