Clinton Link in Brazil Ethanol Probe

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Brazil-Ethanol-Raid.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- A team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found ''degrading'' living conditions for 133 sugarcane workers employed by an ethanol company whose investors include former President Clinton and other high-profile financial players.

At five sites inspected, workers ''complained they were suffering from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions,'' according to a statement issued Friday by Jaqueline Carrijo, who led the inspections last month.

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Clinton's connection is via an investment in Brenco by The Yucaipa Cos., a U.S.-based fund in which Clinton was a senior advisor until last year. His investment in Brenco is valued between $15,001 and $50,000, according to a financial dislosure report submitted last year by his wife, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.


And so it begins. I suspect we'll see this starting to trickle out more and more.

I thought we only had 6 billion people in the world. ;-)

Seriously though, terrible.

Edwards' message regarding poverty. But it's okay, cause Bill will work on transitioning out of that company if Hillary gets the nomination.

It's okay to be involved in a company like this, unless it's more politically expedient not to be.

Bill Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said that the former president's investment made via Yucaipa was small but that he had been assured Brenco was "committed to the highest ethical standard with regard to the treatment of its workforce and of the environment."

"The president finds these allegations deeply troubling and expects Brenco to move swiftly to ensure that those responsible are held accountable," McKenna said, adding that Clinton is "taking steps to ensure that there is an appropriate transition for his business relationships should Senator Clinton become the Democratic nominee."

The Brazilian labor probe focused mostly on living conditions for the workers, including 17 who were paying rent to live in housing overrun by rats and cockroaches, Carrijo said. In addition, trucks lacked special seatbelts for workers who ride atop the vehicles as they throw sugarcane seedlings to the ground, she said.

Brenco chief executive Henri Philippe Reichstul traveled Monday to personally inspect the living arrangements of his company's workers. He said in an interview that the 17 workers cited by Carrijo were not living in company housing, but that the company agreed with labor inspectors that there were housing problems for the remaining 116 workers.

No workers are "in this situation any more," he said. "If there are fines to pay for it, we will pay the fines. We are not breaking the spirit or the confidence that we got from our shareholders to start a project of sustainable growth."