Just kidding. I'll never like ethanol. But Raul Castro does. Earlier this week Fidel resigned as Cuba's president, bringing an end to the Cold War and the return of peace on ear... wait, nevermind. With his retirement comes the opportunity for Cuba to bolster its economy through the production and export of sugarcane ethanol. The Communist holdout has worked in secret for a few years to upgrade it's ethanol production infrastructure, building as many as 17 ethanol refineries. Analysts estimate Cuba could produce between 2 billion and 3.2 billion gallons of ethanol a year, putting it third behind the U.S. and Brazil in global production. Now that Fidel's more outward looking brother Raul is calling the shots, it's possible we can expect a small wave of foreign investment into the country. Years of embargo have left the country's production infrastructure in a state of disrepair, and as any economist from the IMF circa 1995 will tell you, FDI is the cure for this particular kind of cold. However, with the embargo still in place, don't expect any of Cuba's sugary goodness to flow into the U.S. Ethanol export is expected to net about $7 billion annually for Cuba, more than enough for the country to hold its own for another 50 years. Finding open paths in global export markets is probably the next step. Though this isn't anything a little Chavez won't fix.