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Castro Blasts President Bush's Bio-Fuel Plans<br>
(CBS4) HAVANA Fidel Castro has lashed out against President Bush and
<br>
his plans for an increased use of U.S. bio-fuels.<br><br>
The article, appearing in the Communist Party daily Granma, claims <br>
that President Bush's support for using crops to produce ethanol for
<br>
cars could deplete food stocks in developing nations. Many see the
op-<br>
ed piece published Thursday as a sign that the 80-year-old Cuban <br>
leader is trying to take a more active role in public affairs after <br>
months sidelined by a still undisclosed illness.<br><br>
Castro quotes extensively from a Washington-datelined story by The <br>
Associated Press reporting on a meeting Monday between Bush and U.S.
<br>
automakers and their comments about using corn to create ethanol as <br>
an alternative to fossil fuels.<br><br>
"The sinister idea of converting food into combustible was <br>
definitively established as the economic line of the foreign policy <br>
of the United States," he writes.<br><br>
The Cuban leader also notes that Cuba has also experimented with <br>
extracting ethanol from sugarcane.<br><br>
"But if rich nations decide to import huge amounts of traditional
<br>
food crops such as corn from developing countries to help meet their
<br>
energy needs, it could have disastrous consequences for the<br>
world's poor," Castro writes...<br><br>
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