Could they be any more disrespectful and unscrupulous?
From Cuba Standard:
Brazil is providing Cuba a rotating credit facility of $400 million for food purchases in the South American country.
Early this year, Brazil’s Grupo Odebrecht said that a subsidiary will form a joint production agreement with state company Azcuba to operate a sugar mill in the province of Cienfuegos. Although the production agreement is a notch below a direct investment, this is the first time a foreign company becomes active in Cuba’s sugar industry. Companhia de Obras e Infraestrutura (COI), an Odebrecht subsidiary that is also the foreign partner in the Brazilian-financed expansion of the Port of Mariel, said it will sign a 10-year agreement to operate the 5 de Septiembre sugar mill.
While Odebrecht has experience in operating sugar mills in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America, the bigger prize for foreign investors in Cuba’s sugar industry is ethanol production and electricity generation. A Brazilian foreign ministry spokesman told reporters in January that Cuba is about to engage in ethanol production, as “Fidel’s resistance in this field is being overcome.” The historic leader of the revolution has maintained in his opinion columns that ethanol reduces food production and raises food prices. Odebrecht’s bioenergy division is one of Brazil’s largest ethanol producers.
