Castro: No Corn for Fuel

Fidel Castro is perking up again these days and has written an editorial condeming the U.S. for its newfound love of ethanol fuels (from Special Report):

Fidel Castro is back — and accusing the U.S. of a scheme that he said could kill billions of people.

Castro has published his first editorial since undergoing surgery last summer. He says U.S. plans to partially replace its gasoline consumption with biofuels such as ethanol will result in a worldwide food crisis that will condemn more than three billion people to death. That's because corn and other edible products used to make the fuels would then be unavailable as food.

Castro makes no mention of his health in the article. He has yet to reappear in public and has been seen only in photographs and video.

I think his numbers may be a bit inflated, but I had a piece a few weeks ago about the coming crisis in many countries where corn, which is used to make tortillas and is a staple of life, is rapidly increasing in price and thus becoming out of reach for many who need it the most. Fidel may be overplaying it a bit, but he's basically right.