8 May 2007
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez addressed the issues of Ethanol production and the recent US-Brazil agreement, which aims to integrate the region's ethanol production.
At the South American Energy Summit, (April 16-17) Silas Rondeau Brazil’s energy minister, blocked the proposal by Venezuela and Bolivia to include a warning in the final declaration about the effect of the production of biofuels could have in agricultural production and deforestation. Chavez warned that the US-Brazil agreement, which aims to boost regional ethanol production, would leave less land available for growing food, which would in turn complicate the fight against poverty.