If other South American countries start seeing the success of growing crops for fuel they might also start growing sugar cane, sugar beets, corn, soya and related crops for fuel production. So crops that benefit a relative few, such as coca, would be abandoned (enforced by the governments) and cash crops that benefit the economy would be planted. As they produce more bio-fuels they would also be welcomed into the cartel.
This would give these countries some recognition and strengthen their economies. And both of these are equally important in South America. South America has developed a complex of being virtually of the world's radar, much more so than Africa. And as such they have poor economies because they do not generate much export income.
The only thing worse for Chavez than a loss of petro dollars is a Latin America that thinks favorably of the United States. Or rather it is a South America than can become successful without the help and guidance of Hugo Chavez. He is a megalomaniac who is not satisfied being a plenipotentiary ruler of Venezuela... he wants to be the de facto emperor of South America.
And a South America with strong economies is not what Chavez wants. His ego will not allow the entire continent to not see him as a hero and the one to deliver them from oppression. Chavez sees himself as a modern day Che Guevera. His “friendship” with Castro is designed to capitalize on the emotions of South Americans who saw Guevera as a freedom fighter and also had a relationship with Castro. But Chavez is not interested in freedom for the people; he is looking for the power that goes with being the “hero of the people.”
And the US is a treat to that power. The US (who for its own selfish purposes) threatens to help enrich and empower the smaller impoverished South American countries who are currently relying on the “generosity” of Venezuela to meet their operational budgets. Giving people an incentive to grow cash crops instead of drug crops also threatens the power of the drug cartels.
There are a lot of people who don’t want the US to form an ethanol cartel to set fair production quotas and prices… and those people are not thinking about the best interest of the citizens of South American countries, they are thinking of their own vested interests which run contrary to the needs of the people.
Chavez envisions a socialist South American economic union that has him as the leader and keeps the member states poor so they rely upon the union. Unlike an ethanol cartel that would assure growth for the member states, he wants a union based on shared wealth that enslave the member states and make them dependent, not independent.
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