Venezuela’s President Aims to ‘Knock Down’ U.S.-Brazil Ethanol Deal

The U.S. and Brazil are planning to cooperate to promote ethanol as a cleaner burning alternative to gasoline, but Venezuelan Hugo Chavez sees things a little differently.

“Substituting the consumption of gasoline with ethanol, produced from corn – it’s true madness,” the Venezuelan president said in a speech on Tuesday. Chavez and Fidel Castro have expressed concern that ethanol production will drive up food prices and cause hunger and poverty, with Chavez calling the Bush administration’s renewable fuels plan “genocidal.”

TheFarmer