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Venezuela's Chavez pledges to undermine U.S. ethanol plans with Brazil
AP
CARACAS
Petroleumworld.com 04 12 07
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez pledged to undermine a U.S.-Brazil ethanol agreement, but denied any conflict with his South American neighbor and ally.In a televised speech on Tuesday, Chavez said he plans to "knock down" the ethanol proposal in the same way he lobbied against a U.S.-backed hemispheric trade pact.
"We are working on an alternative proposal," he said without elaborating. "Just as we overthrew the Free Trade Area of the Americas, we will now overthrow" the ethanol plan.
U.S. President George W. Bush and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, signed a memorandum of understanding last month to promote international ethanol use and production. The two countries are the world's leading producers of the alternative fuel.
Chavez has accused the United States of trying to promote an ethanol cartel to divide the region, and warned that ethanol production will end up destroying the environment if the aim is to replace U.S. gasoline consumption with fuel from industrial agriculture.
But he denied having any conflict with Silva, and accused Washington of trying manufacture a confrontation.
"There is a strategy to try to make us fight with Brazil," Chavez said. "We will never fight with Lula, we will never fight with Brazil. About this we are very clear: our enemy is the U.S. empire."
AP - The Associated Press 10 04 07
Copyright© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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