Ortega: Nicaraguan Corn
Is Food, Not Ethanol
Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega termed the
initiative of his US
counterpart, George W.
Bush, to use corn to
produce ethanol
"absurd."
"It is inadmissible for
Nicaragua to produce
ethanol from corn,
because that threatens
an important element of
Nicaraguan's food," said
Ortega.
The Nicaraguan president
slammed Bush's plans at
the beginning of
official talks held in
Managua today with his
Brazilian counterpart,
Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, who arrived in
Nicaragua Tuesday as
part of a regional tour.
According to the
Sandinista leader, the
use of corn as a biofuel
threatens food rights of
Latin American and
African peoples, who are
the largest consumers of
the grain.
Ortega said, however,
that he has no
differences with Lula
over ethanol, because
Brazilians produce that
fuel from sugarcane.
According to Lula,
sugarcane in his country
only occupies one
percent of 1.08 billion
acres of cultivable
lands. |
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