From Volume 37, Issue 35 of EIR Online, Published Sept 10, 2010

Ibero-American News Digest

Fidel Castro Gets Briefing on NAWAPA

Aug. 30 (EIRNS)—Daniel Estulin, the Spain-based journalist who has prominently posted LaRouchePAC's NAWAPA interactive map and LPAC Basement Team articles on his website, on Aug. 26 posted the following blog entry:

"I'm in Cuba. I met with Fidel Castro today. The meeting lasted about three hours, meal included. Among the many subjects addressed, I transmitted to him a private message from Meta Groups, composed of agents from the world of espionage, about the situation the world is in, and the role that the Comandante [Castro] can play to help in the struggle....

"The meeting with Castro had various important facets, because I was carrying messages for him from U.S. congressmen, messages that it was very important to transmit....

"One of the messages had to do with the role of Cuba in the NAWAPA project. That project is the future of the world. In terms of technology, it is the frontier of mankind's intellectual capacity. [Water] transfer, which would bring progress not only to the more developed countries of North America, but to the Southern Cone, Central America, Cuba. Castro's role in this regard is very important, because many people in this part of the world admire and value him."

Brazil and Argentina Strengthen Nuclear Energy Cooperation

Sept. 4 (EIRNS)—Nuclear energy experts from Brazil and Argentina met in Buenos Aires during the last week of August, to discuss cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. Among those present were representatives of the Binational Nuclear Energy Commission (COBEN), the Permanent Nuclear Policy Committee (CPPN), as well as officials from the nuclear energy commissions of both nations, Argentina's CNEA and Brazil's CNEN.

Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her Brazilian counterpart Inácio Lula da Silva met in July in San Juan, Argentina to affirm that their two nations would cooperate closely on nuclear energy development, and emphasized the "inalienable right" of all nations to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The next bilateral meeting to further cooperation will take place in Rio de Janeiro in October.

One topic of discussion at the Buenos Aires meeting was the project to jointly design and build two nuclear reactors, one for each country. Vera Machado, Under-Secretary General of Brazil's Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty), told Correio do Estado that "the cooperation we're discussing can be broadened to various other fields, depending on the opportunities that research offers once the reactors are ready. From a political standpoint, we are committed to continuing our nuclear cooperation."

Brazil is particularly interested in developing the capability to produce radio-isotopes for medical purposes, and expects to have its own Multipurpose Brazilian Reactor (RMB) ready for operations by 2016, for that specific purpose. Brazil was badly affected, as were many other countries, when the world's chief supplier of Molybdenum-99, Canada's Chalk River MDS Nordion reactor, was shut down in May 2009. Argentina, which does have the ability to produce radio-isotopes, immediately increased its production of this key element used in nuclear medicine, and was able to supply part of what Brazil's Nuclear Energy Research Institute (IPEN) needed.

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