Ethanol confusion

Maybe I haven’t followed the discussion closely enough, but Cuba’s policy on ethanol development is a little unclear to me. A year ago Cuba took a big political step in seeking foreign investment in sugar production and milling, so as to take advantage of higher sugar prices and to capitalize, with additional foreign investment, on the ethanol opportunity.

Fidel Castro then quashed the whole idea in his written commentaries, and his reasoning reached all the way back to exploitation of sugar workers in Brazil.

Now minister of basic industries Yadira Garcia, says, according to EFE, that her country supports ethanol production as long as it does not imply denying food to the poor or reassigning lands that produce vegetables for human consumption. Which means, given Cuba’s land use patterns and the enormous surplus of sugar lands, full speed ahead in Cuba.

Did I miss something, or did we all miss the behind-the scenes debates that twice reversed Cuba’s ethanol policy?

Here, from AP in English, a little more light on the issue.