The Chickasaw Plum

Home Short Stories Poetry Articles Humor Links

Perspectives on Cuba

From Workers’ World, with permission

Fidel Castro on ethanol and Bush

Cuban President Fidel Castro has written an article on ethanol and U.S. President George W. Bush, published in Granma newspaper on March 28. The following are excerpts; the full article can be found at www.granma.cu/ingles/.

More than three billion people in the world [are] condemned to premature death from hunger and thirst.

That is not an exaggerated figure, but rather a cautious one. I have meditated a lot on that in the wake of President Bush’s meeting with U.S. automobile manufacturers.

The sinister idea of converting food into fuel was definitively established as an economic line in U.S. foreign policy last March 26.

The AP states: “President Bush touted the benefits of ‘flexible fuel’ vehicles running on ethanol and biodiesel on Monday, meeting with automakers to boost support for his energy plans.

“Bush said a commitment by the leaders of the domestic auto industry to double their production of flex-fuel vehicles could help motorists shift away from gasoline and reduce the nation’s reliance on imported oil.

“ ‘That’s a major technological breakthrough for the country,’ Bush said after inspecting three alternative vehicles. If the nation wants to reduce gasoline use, he said, ‘the consumer has got to be in a position to make a rational choice.’

“They discussed support for flex-fuel vehicles, attempts to develop ethanol from alternative sources like switchgrass and wood chips and the administration’s proposal to reduce gas consumption by 20 percent in 10 years.”

I believe that reducing and moreover recycling all motors that run on electricity and fuel is an elemental and urgent need for all humanity. The tragedy does not lie in reducing those energy costs but in the idea of converting food into fuel.

It is known very precisely today that one ton of corn can only produce 413 liters of ethanol on average, according to densities. That is equivalent to 109 gallons.

The average price of corn in U.S. ports has risen to $167 per ton. Thus, 320 million tons of corn would be required to produce 35 billion gallons of ethanol.

According to FAO figures, the U.S. corn harvest rose to 280.2 million tons in the year 2005.

Although the president is talking of producing fuel derived from grass or wood shavings, anyone can understand that these are phrases totally lacking in realism. Let’s be clear: 35 billion gallons translates into 35 followed by nine zeros!

Afterwards will come beautiful examples of what experienced and well-organized U.S. farmers can achieve in terms of human productivity by hectare: corn converted into ethanol; the chaff from that corn converted into animal feed containing 26 percent protein; cattle dung used as raw material for gas production. Of course, this is after voluminous investments only within the reach of the most powerful enterprises, in which everything has to be moved on the basis of electricity and fuel consumption. Apply that recipe to the countries of the Third World and you will see that people among the hungry masses of the Earth will no longer eat corn. Or something worse: lend funding to poor countries to produce corn ethanol based on corn or any other food and not a single tree will be left to defend humanity from climate change.

Other countries in the rich world are planning to use not only corn but also wheat, sunflower seeds, rapeseed and other foods for fuel production. For the Europeans, for example, it would become a business to import all of the world’s soybeans with the aim of reducing the fuel costs for their automobiles and feeding their animals with the chaff from that legume, particularly rich in all types of essential amino acids.

In Cuba, alcohol used to be produced as a byproduct of the sugar industry after having made three extractions of sugar from cane juice. Climate change is already affecting our sugar production. Lengthy periods of drought alternating with record rainfall, that barely make it possible to produce sugar with an adequate yield during the 100 days of our very moderate winter; hence, there is less sugar per ton of cane or less cane per hectare due to prolonged drought in the months of planting and cultivation.

I understand that in Venezuela they would be using alcohol to improve the environmental quality of their own fuel. In Cuba the use of such a technology for the direct production of alcohol from sugar cane juice is no more than a dream. In our country, land handed over to the direct production of alcohol could be much useful for food production for the people and for environmental protection.

All the countries of the world, rich and poor, without any exception, could save millions and millions of dollars in investment and fuel simply by changing all the incandescent light bulbs for fluorescent ones, an exercise that Cuba has carried out in all homes throughout the country. That would provide a breathing space to resist climate change without killing the poor masses through hunger.

Today, we are seeing for the first time a really globalized economy and a dominant power in the economic, political and military terrain.

There are other issues that could be addressed, but with these lines I am just trying to comment on President Bush’s meeting with the principal executives of U.S. automakers.

Elderly women exercise at the "Circle of Grandmothers 2000" in Havana, March 21, 2007. Cuba enjoys one of the hemisphere's highest national life expectancies, with free medical care, mild climate, good genes and a laid-back island lifestyle helping some people live very long lives.(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Despite Hardships, Cubans Live Longer
Sunday, April 22, 2007 1:34 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By WILL WEISSERT

HAVANA (AP) — "Fidel: 80 More Years," proclaim the good wishes still hanging on storefront and balcony banners months after Cubans celebrated their leader's 80th birthday. Fidel Castro may be ailing, but he's a living example of something Cubans take pride in — an average life expectancy roughly similar to that of the United States.

They ascribe it to free medical care, mild climate, and a low-stress Caribbean lifestyle, which they believe make up for the hardships and shortages they suffer.

"Sometimes you have all you want to eat and sometimes you don't," said Raquel Naring, a 70-year-old retired gas station attendant. "But there aren't elderly people sleeping on the street like other places."

Cuba's average life expectancy is 77.08 years — second in Latin America after Puerto Rico and more than 11 years above the world average, according to the 2007 CIA World Fact Book.

It says Cuban life expectancy averages 74.85 years for men and 79.43 years for women, compared with 75.15 and 80.97 respectively for Americans.

Most Cubans live rent-free, and food, electricity and transportation are heavily subsidized. But the island can still be a tough place to grow old.

Homes that were luxurious before Castro's 1959 revolution are now falling apart and many cramped apartments contain three generations of family members. Food, water and medicine shortages are chronic.

But most prescription drugs and visits to the doctor are free and physicians encourage preventive care.

"There's a family doctor on almost every block," said Luis Tache, 90 and blind from glaucoma but still chatty and up on the news.

Tache lived in New York for six straight summers starting in 1945, paying $8 a month for a furnished apartment at 116th Street and Broadway. An English teacher, he retired 30 years ago.

Sitting in a rocking chair in his breezy living room in Havana's Playa district, Tache said Cuban communism "is both good and bad," while the high cost of living in capitalist societies "must be very stressful."

A relaxed lifestyle, which prizes time spent with family over careers, helps keep Cubans healthy, Tache said.

"It's bad for production, bad for the nation," he said. "But it's good for the people."

The government runs residence halls for seniors with no family to care for them, though space is severely limited. Community groups make sure older people look after one another.

"It's a very happy society. There aren't so many worries and problems and that helps," said Alida Gil, 57, leader of a community group in Old Havana known as "Circle of Grandmothers 2000."

Shortly after 8 a.m. every weekday, Gil leads two dozen elderly women through 40 minutes of calisthenics on the windowless, water-damaged ground floor of a state-owned building adorned with photos of Castro and his brother, Raul.

Raul Castro, 75, took over in July after the president underwent intestinal surgery. Officials offer increasingly upbeat reports about his progress, but his condition and ailment remain state secrets.

One of Fidel Castro's personal physicians, Dr. Eugenio Selman, in 2003 helped launch the "120 Years Club," an organization of more than 5,000 seniors — many 100 or older — from several countries including the United States. They hope to reach the 120-year mark through healthy diet, exercise and a positive outlook.

Selman has not spoken publicly since Castro fell ill, but had previously suggested the president could live to 120. Whether Castro is a member of the club is unclear.

Gerardo de la Llera, who still practices medicine at 77, is the club's vice president. He said the oldest member was a 122-year-old woman who lives in the eastern Cuban province of Granma, but he did not know her name or exact birthrate. Cuba has a history of claiming very old citizens whose ages have not been authenticated.

The government says it wants Cuba to become the world leader in life expectancy, vying with the 82-year average for Japan.

The Chickasaw Plum - Volume V - Number 1 - January 2008

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the above articles are distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The Chickasaw Plum has no affiliation whatsoever with the originators of these articles nor is it endorsed or sponsored by the originator.

"Go to Original" links are provided where possible as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted on the Plum may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the "Go to Original" links.

Home Short Stories Poetry Articles Humor Links