<a href=www.planetark.org<Planetark-Reuters ARGENTINA: April 9, 2003

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Natural gas-powered cars have long been preferred by cabbies who spend hours on city streets here, and these days, they can also be spotted among Argentina's smart set after an economic collapse made them a cheap, yet chic, choice.

Businessmen in suits and sedans are lining up at filling stations around Buenos Aires for CNG - or compressed natural gas - and lines for the fuel were 50 cars deep along the highways leading to beaches this summer.

Argentina, with the third-biggest natural gas reserves in Latin America after Bolivia and Venezuela, is spearheading the use of CNG in vehicles and leads the world in the number of natural-gas cars with about 800,000.

The economic crisis here has had the unexpected effect of helping the environment. The fuel is cheap, clean burning and produces fewer harmful emissions than gasoline or diesel. CNG cars today make up 15 percent of Argentina's personal vehicles.

The drive to use an abundant national resource as fuel in Argentina echoes similar attempts in Brazil, the world's No. 1 sugar producer, to encourage the use of cane-based ethanol to cut pollution and reduce dependence on oil, even though both countries are oil producers.

"It's got some potential. It's one piece of a very large puzzle. It has a lot of application in areas where there's a lot of natural gas," said Jed Bailey, a director of research for Latin America at Cambridge Energy Research. "And Argentina has the infrastructure for it."

Argentina also has a new economic reality after the January 2002 peso devaluation pumped up dollar-based gasoline and diesel prices more than 30 percent.

"It's less expensive. I'd say I save 20 to 30 pesos a day," said Luis, who drives as part of his work for an energy company.

His investment two months ago to outfit his silver Peugeot to run on CNG has already saved him about 1,500 pesos ($515), about 200 pesos more than it cost to convert the motor.

Argentina's government has also jumped on the bandwagon, promoting natural gas use to cut costs in public transportation.

Some here argue compressed gas is the fuel of the future.

Argentina's Chamber of Compressed Natural Gas, which joins providers and equipment makers, is at work on a Latin American project to unify standards to create a continent-wide network that can later be taken to other parts of the world.

"There's a revolution going on in the energy sector that developed countries aren't taking notice of. Developed countries are betting on the fuel cell idea, but that's for some 20 years from now," Chamber member Gregorio Kopyto said.

NATURAL GAS AROUND THE WORLD

Compressed gas is being promoted for use in vehicles in India, South Korea and Thailand, where it is seen as a good way to reduce oil imports in a region where crude oil reserves are small, but gas reserves are high in several countries.

Engineers in Italy have been working on a scooter that runs on natural gas. The fuel has also seen increased use in the United States in vehicle fleets such as school and city buses, police cars and airport ground service vehicles, according to U.S. government and private sector reports.

Argentina exports natural gas vehicle technology to Asia, Europe and Latin America and the Chamber plans to help host a Natural Gas Vehicles conference in Buenos Aires in 2004.

For natural gas to be a workable alternative fuel it must be widely available and the proper infrastructure must be in place. Creating a network of natural gas stations and converting vehicles may not be cost-effective in some places.

"You have to make it convenient enough for people to want to do it and it can't be so prohibitively expensive that they won't," said Linda Doman, an expert for international issues at the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.

"You have to have a certain amount of gas stations, otherwise people couldn't drive very far," Doman said.

Argentina opened its first compressed gas station in 1984 and now has 1,100 outlets in 17 provinces, making it available to a majority of its 5.4 million car owners. About 110,000 cars were converted last year alone.

The local Fiat (FIA.MI), Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) and Peugeot (PEUP.PA) units make CNG cars that also run on gasoline.

A natural-gas car costs about 10 percent more than the standard version, a Volkswagen spokesman said. The fuel is stored in a metal cylinder that can take up much of the trunk.

GAS AND GOVERNMENT

A bill that would require that all public transportation run on the fuel and provide incentives for the gas sector is wending its way through Congress.

"To keep bus tickets at the current level, the state is subsidizing diesel prices, which is costing around 20 million pesos a month ($6.9 million)," Energy Secretary Enrique Devoto said in an interview after the bill was presented.

"The cost difference would allow us to, for a short time, use the subsidy to fit the bus motors to run on compressed gas. That would lower costs by half and make it possible to maintain accessible ticket prices," he said.

The savings are key for the cash-strapped government, where a deep recession led to the biggest ever sovereign debt default last year. Using the fuel could also limit inflation as the peso has lost about 70 percent in value since devaluation.

CNG costs 60 percent less than the cheapest gasoline at the station where Luis filled his tank, run by Repsol YPF (REP.MC).

Natural gas is just one of many alternative fuels, along with liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, solar energy, biodiesel, hydrogen and electricity.

Whether it is the wave of the future or not, the fuel is likely to remain a focus of efforts to reduce dependence on costly oil in Argentina, and one welcomed by those watching their wallets.

"I travel a lot of kilometers (miles) and I spend a lot less, at least 30 or 35 percent less," said cab driver Miguel Angel Granja, who converted his car as soon as the option became available. "I have to fill the tank three times a day, but it's still cheaper than diesel."

Story by Athena Jones

Report Type : Press release Published on: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 Provider : Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Author : Michael Mortimore Email Author: mmortimore@eclac.cl Language : English   Page Count : 175 Delivery Options Format PDF, Price Free  Download LCG2198FOREIGN2002 (application/pdf, 945 KB)

Abstract

The decline in flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Latin America and the Caribbean which began in 2000 grew even sharper in 2002. This trend reflects a major change in the world and regional economies. At the regional level, it is associated with greater instability, slow economic growth and the approaching completion of the privatization process. National crises such as those experienced by Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela made investors become more risk-averse. Sluggish growth in demand in the United States economy hurt investment in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, where the transnational corporations that employ efficiency-seeking strategies are concentrated. The global and regional situations had a less adverse effect on FDI in the countries of the Andean Community, where the primary sector predominates, but instability in the Mercosur countries diminished their attractiveness for transnational corporations implementing efficiency-seeking investment strategies.

This publication is composed of three chapters. The first provides a broad review of FDI trends in Latin America and the Caribbean. The second offers the reader a comprehensive discussion of investment flows to the Andean Community countries. The third analyses flows from transnational banks to the banking sector in the region and assesses what types of effects their strategies are having on the region. 

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<a href=news.ft.com>Financial Times By Henry Hamman in Miami Published: April 8 2003 22:34 | Last Updated: April 8 2003 22:34

The US administration may further tighten its policy towards Cuba in response to a crackdown on dissidents, according to Washington's top diplomat in Havana.

James Cason, principal officer at the US interests section in Havana, told the Financial Times that a high-level Washington policy review would take place this month, as soon as senior policymakers found time to turn their attention from the war in Iraq.

Last week, Fidel Castro's government started a series of closed-door trials of 78 dissidents, many of them associated with the Varela Project, a grassroots petition drive seeking more democracy in Cuba.

On Monday, 36 of them were convicted of "working with a foreign power to undermine the government" and given prison sentences ranging from 12 to 27 years.

Among those imprisoned were Hector Palacios, a campaigner for democratic reform, Paul Rivero, a dissident journalist, and Marta Beatriz Roque, an economist and political activist, who were handed sentences of 20 years or more.

Since his arrival in Havana last September, Mr Cason has adopted a more confrontational approach to US-Cuban relations, allowing independent journalists to use a diplomatic residence for a training session and making public appearances with dissidents.

Mr Cason became the US's point man in its fractious relationship with Mr Castro following a policy position in the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

A Latin American specialist, he served in embassies in Uruguay, Honduras and Venezuela, and was political adviser to the commanders of the US Atlantic Command and the Nato Atlantic commander.

Although Mr Castro has singled out Mr Cason for criticism, Mr Cason said he did not believe his activities had triggered the crackdown. "Castro had this planned anyway," he said, because the dissidents "were getting too uppity".

Mr Cason said that among those who testified against the dissidents were undercover state security agents who had infiltrated the movement over several years.

Mr Cason rejected suggestions that Washington might bear some moral responsibility for encouraging the dissidents. "I don't think we crossed any line. I think many of [the arrested dissidents] thought this was inevitable."

He also discounted the idea that the crackdown was an example of "collateral damage" from world focus on the war in Iraq.

He noted that despite diplomatic tension between the US and Europe over the war, European governments had also been angered by Mr Castro's actions, though concerns about Cuban debt repayment and commercial ties might make some European governments less vocal than the US.

He said Canada, Germany, Sweden, Britain, the Czech Republic and Spain had sought unsuccessfully to send observers to the dissidents' trials.

European governments were particularly angered by arrests of activists supporting the Varela Project, which had drawn wide support in Europe.

"They are very, very upset about this and feel that they were slapped across the face."

A series of hijackings in recent weeks has also increased US-Cuba tensions, with Mr Castro complaining that the US is too easy on hijackers and Washington complaining that Cuba has failed to take airport security seriously.

Mr Cason last week went to Havana's José Mart International Airport in a vain attempt to dissuade one hijacker who was holding up a Cuban domestic commuter aircraft.

Later, he made a rare appearance on Cuban television to warn that hijackers would face long US prison terms.

For the US, the fear of a wave of uncontrolled Cuban migration to south Florida is a serious security threat, and US officials say bilateral compliance with the migration accord with Cuba - an agreement that establishes a procedure for legal immigration to the US - is a key policy objective.

Mr Cason's strong words on Cuba represent firmly held views in the Bush administration but White House political advisers also see domestic political benefits from a hard line against Mr Castro.

Political analysts say Republican strategists have their eyes on Florida's votes in next year's presidential race.

Florida's votes put Mr Bush in office in 2000 by the narrowest of margins.

A stern stance on Cuba has proved popular among Florida's Cuban-American voters.

Do you want a website like this one? Then you must work a lot

Wednesday 09.04.2003, CET 01:15 <a href=www.swissinfo.ch>swissinfo April 8, 2003 10:37 AM

Project organiser Nina de Vries has already done similar work in Germany (Keystone) Disabled people living in Zurich are to be offered professional sexual services, as part of a new trial project.   The organisation behind the scheme says the sexual rights of disabled people are currently being overlooked.

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“There is a very big demand for this,” says Angela Fürer, director of the Zurich branch of the social welfare organisation Pro Infirmis. “We have been hearing about the problem for years, both from disabled people and from those working with the disabled.”

Pro Infirmis Zurich is looking to train ten “touchers” who will then offer their services on a private basis. More than 150 people have already expressed an interest.  

Relief   After training, the successful applicants will be expected to offer sexual and emotional relief to Zurich’s disabled community. Full sex and oral sex will not be included in the initial service, although Fürer says that the service could be widened at a later date, possibly by training registered prostitutes to deal with the specific needs of disabled customers. “The people we are looking for should have very human personalities," adds Fürer, "and they must also be prepared to reflect those personalities in their work."

They have souls and feelings like everybody else and sexuality is a part of their lives. Angela Fürer, Pro Infirmis Zurich     First for Switzerland   The scheme may be a first for Switzerland, but similar projects have been running for years in other countries, including Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

One of the Dutch pioneers in the field, Nina de Vries, has been brought in by Pro Infirmis to run the training programme in Switzerland.

De Vries insists that careful vetting of applicants along with the intensive nature of the training programme will help eliminate any risk of abuse or exploitation.

“For now, we will just be offering massage, body contact, stroking, holding and bringing people to orgasm, if that is what they wish,” says de Vries. “But the main part of the training course will deal with the mental and emotional aspects of the job.

“It can be very difficult for some disabled people to take off their clothes and show a body which is deformed and I feel you can only expect people to put that kind of trust in you and offer their vulnerability when you yourself are willing to be vulnerable.”  

Few complaints   So far, Fürer says that only a handful of complaints have been received. In recognition of the project’s controversial nature, however, Pro Infirmis will not use money from general donations to fund the training.

“Clearly there will be people who are offended, perhaps in terms of their religious or ethical beliefs,” Fürer admits, “so we have no intention of using donations that aren’t specifically given for this scheme.

“On the whole, though, the response we’ve had has been extremely positive with many disabled people calling us to say how happy they are.

"These are people who don’t just want to spend their lives breathing and eating and being cleaned up. They have souls and feelings like everybody else and sexuality is a part of their lives, just as it is with any other human being.”

swissinfo, Mark Ledsom in Zurich