Translation

The expectation grows

Protests will accompany Bush in his tour

There will be manifestations in all the countries that he will visit; “I love the people’s right to express themselves”, said the chief executive about Chávez rally in Ferro

During his more extensive tour by the region, that will begin Thursday in Brazil, in addition to possible approaches to different chief executives, Bush also will have to deal with numerous protests.

Friday, when the chief executive is in Uruguay, Chávez will head in the stage of Ferro a rally against him. Consulted on the matter, in an interview published today by the newspaper El País, he assured: “Look, I go to many places and there are street protests. My attitude is: I love the freedom and the right of the people to express themselves. I take a message of good will to Uruguay and to all the region.”

Nevertheless, in today’s Washington Post editorial, the rally is described as a factor that will darken the presidential tour.

The trip will continue in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

Brazil The protests will have symbolic elements. According to the ex- priest Luis Bassegio, the idea is “to surround with sulfur the area where Bush is going to be to exorcise the devil”.

On March 8, International Women Day, opponents to Bush will try to reunite in Sao Paulo 10,000 persons and also there will be concentrations in the 27 regional capitals, whereas in Brasilia left congressmen prepare a protest against the visit.

The protests in Brazil will have as axis the opposition to the called “power agriculture”, that looks to increase the production of biofuel from raw materials like sugar cane and corn, which, for some, will worsen the labor conditions in the country.

Uruguay About 60 cooperative members with Venezuelan flags initiated yesterday in Montevideo a march of 200 kilometers until the proximities of the estancia that the Uruguayan presidency has in the department of Colonia, where they will arrive on Friday. That same day, Bush will land in the capital city.

Bush will meet Saturday on in the estancia with his Uruguayan pair, Tabaré Vázquez, and they will go fishing.

Although Argentina is not included in the tour, more than 40 social organizations prepare for Friday a competing rally in the stadium of Ferro, headed by Hugo Chávez, and to which Evo Morales was invited by Madres de Plaza de Mayo.

“Welcome president Chávez” and “Outside Bush and imperialism”, is the slogans prepared by the organizers.

Colombia The third scale of the tour will be Colombia, main ally of the U.S.A. in the region, where the Great Democratic Coalition summoned for the next Sunday, day in which Bush will be in the country, a concentration of protest in Bogota.

The spokesman of the Coalition, Fabio Aryan, said that “we are going to reject its presence for everything it represents in the relations of complete submission that maintains president (Alvaro) Uribe with respect to the foreign policy of the United States”.

Guatemala The protests will begin tomorrow, International Women Day.

Carlos Barreda, leader of the Group of Social Organizations, said that he hopes that the 10 of March, a day before the arrival of Bush, there will be a massive manifestation in the capital city.

Mexico The protests will be centered against the construction of the border wall to prevent the entrance of undocumented people in the U.S.A.. social Groups created a “No Bush Agenda” that includes protests on the 12, day in which the chief executive will be in Mérida, in the U.S.A. consulate in Monterrey, Acapulco, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Hermosillo, as well as a concentration in front of the American embassy in City of Mexico.

Uruguay

Today in Cali, Colombia

Preparations in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Yay! Muchas gracias.

Making Biofuels Without Wasting Food

OPEN QUOTE

HAVANA, Mar 6 (IPS) – The governments of Cuba and Venezuela are planning to move forward together on biofuels production, but they will rely on producing alcohol from sugarcane, in order to spare food crops.

Official Cuban sources described the cooperative alcohol programme between the two countries as part of their “joint efforts” to protect the environment, reduce consumption of fossil fuels and promote alternative energy sources, while holding fast to the principle of not using edible crops to make fuels.

At present Venezuela imports Brazilian ethanol to mix with gasoline distributed in the eastern part of the country, in preference to methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), an oxygenate additive which is a pollutant.

The Venezuelans “are planning to add eight percent ethanol to petrol in the first instance,” said the head of the state Cuban Institute of Research on Sugarcane Derivatives, Luis Gálvez, on a television panel programme on alternative energy, in which experts warned that the rush to produce fuel alcohol could threaten food production.

Venezuela is planning to grow 276,000 hectares of sugarcane, to produce some 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) of fuel ethanol from bagasse, the plant matter left over after the sugar has been extracted.

Anti-Bush Warm Up Riot :

“Demostrators throw stones and molotov cocktails to riot police during a protest against the upcoming visit of US President George W. Bush to Colombia, in Bogota, Wednesday, March 7, 2007. US President George W. Bush will visit Colombia March 11. (AP Photo/Inaldo Perez)”

aw what, i just posted those on my blog.

sorry bout that shifty (I voted tho)

get some good pics agu, and stay safe!

and this

and this