George W. Bush's trip to Latin America this month is the most ambitious attempt to reposition the United States in the region since the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas died in Mar del Plata in November of 2005. The trip, which includes Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia has a dual purpose: to counteract the growing influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in the region and
to form a strategic alliance with Brazil for the production of ethanol.
Jeb Bush, who left the Florida governorship last January, now directs the Inter-American Ethanol Commission, "an organization through which Washington seeks to diversify its relations with Latin America," according to an article from the ANSA news agency dated Feb. 23.
The commission was born out of a high-level U.S.-Brazil business alliance. On Dec. 18, still-Governor Jeb Bush, president of the Agri-Business Council of São Paulo and former Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Roberto Rodrigues, and president of the Inter-American Development Bank Alberto Moreno announced the formation of the commission "that has as its mission to promote the use of ethanol in gasoline mixtures throughout the Americas."3
A month later in his Jan. 22 State of the Union speech, President Bush proposed the promotion of a law to mandate use of a gasoline mixture of 20% ethanol over the next ten years. The objective is to reduce the vulnerability of the country to actions from hostile states.
However, this entails an increase of 800% in the consumption of ethanol by 2017. Even if corn production in the United States grew 30% a year, it could not satisfy the demand for biofuels while at the same time providing for food demand. Thus the need to seek strategic partners.
We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We'll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks, or switch grass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years. --GW Bush, 2006
--Now, where do you see Al Gore in this story?