Lula, Bolivian president Morales spar over biofuels at 5th Summit of the Americas

In Trinidad and Tobago, national leaders attending the Fifth Summit of the Americas  heard Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speak in favor of sugarcane ethanol, while Bolivian President Evo Morales said he would not sign the final declaration from the meeting if an agreement was not reached to remove clauses supporting the production of biofuels.  ”The society demands renewable, clean, inexpensive fuels,” Lula told reporters. “The region has weather and soil conditions to export energy without relegating our domestic demand, much less our food security. We would be the first ones to condemn biofuels if they represented a threat to food production or to the preservation of our forests.”

Morales said “Introducing biofuel policies means to privilege the machines over human life. What will we pick, human life or U.S. machines?”

The conference did not produce an agreement on the reduction of the US ethanol tariff, but the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), the Council on Foreign Relations, The Brazilian Centre for International Relations (CEBRI), and the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies (IIR UWI) reported that they are collaborating on a hemispheric sustainable energy policy development process.

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