Brazil-USA Ethanol partnership

"When Nicholas Burns visited Brazil in early February, he gave an interview to the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo that reveals Washington's plans for the region. "We are very dependent on oil. So we have to develop alternative fuels, we have to decrease our gasoline consumption. We produce corn ethanol because we have large cornfields. You (Brazil) produce ethanol from sugarcane. We are both world leaders. We control more than 70% of the world market. We believe that this is a connection with Brazil, it is an area in which we can grow together and we can lead the development of a world market with very positive consequences for the environment and for the economy. Biofuels will become the biggest and most positive point of connection between Brazil and the United States." 1

Burns added that Brazil can play a major role in stimulating ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean, where sugarcane plantations cover vast areas in private sector partnerships. He was very clear in pointing out that the agreement with Brazil on the development of biofuels will contribute to decreasing the dependency of U.S. imports from Venezuela and Iran. "We don't want to be dependent on those countries," Burns concluded."

This news make sad and happy at the same time. Happy, because I want the world to produce other fuel alternatives, more cleaner, cheaper, etc... etc... Sad, for my country, this partnership are terrible news for Venezuela. Because of the negativity and stupidity of someone like Hugo Chavez, Venezuela is loosing a very good client who pays with cash upfront, a big market, and good relationships with America. Why? Who will lost with Chavez's cachifa's quarrel against Bush? With his friendship with a country like Iran? I don't know, honestly. Venezuela has already lost a lot, Chavez's has being very clever into promoting socio-economical class racism and hate among the society, you know the old say, divide and conquer... but, I wanna know the economics part... how Venezuela will be affected by the madness of Hugo Chavez, into not trading with a market like the USA. Maybe it won't be felt today, on Chavez's personal pocket (Venezuela's treasury) but it might be felt later, in our children's and grandchildren's generation... this is not good news for Venezuelans in terms of economics... sooner than later an emerging new, cheaper and cleaner fuel will be a serious competitor for oil, and Chavez might be the man whose this ethanol push up the world have to thank for... Brazilians should put a statue of Chavez as the best president of Brazil, as Argentinians should do as "best president of Argentina" as well. Caramba!!!!!!!

Maybe this won't be that much of a bad news for Venezuelans, after all... since Venezuela will be forced to stop the dependence on oil for easy cash and start thinking like countries with no natural richness to make money... actually working hard for it, like Japanese do...

On another topic to this article, the tone of it was kind of funny. Even though I found it very comprehensive on this topic, it called my attention that it assumes that the Ethanol production would generate "destruction of the Amazon and the ruin of millions of small farmers". Well, I guess for a liberal, now, the problem is not gonna be oil... no! Now, will be Bush destroying the amazons for Ethanol and ruin millions of small farmers... You know, the alliance is not even done, we don't know how's gonna be the Brazilian operations into the Amazons, and yet, for the liberals, the Amazons is already destroyed and we are doomed, all thanks to Bush!

We can do something if we don't want oil economy coming from the middle east or Venezuela, or even in our own backyard: drilling towers in the cost of Santa Barbara, or we don't want wind power towers uglying Europe's landscape, or we want to keep intact the Amazon to the point it cannot be used at all... we should go back to the horse power... but the animal... no more the car of choice of the liberal would be a Mercedes Benz or a BMW. And, I don't know what we can do for lighting since candles and kerosene lamps would brings a lot of fires and pollution, I guess we will have to go to bed and wake up with the chickens...