Stuart Munckton
"To the anger of many in Washington, Citgo Petroleum Corporation, a company controlled by the Venezuelan Government, will supply more than 45 million litres of oil at 40 per cent below market prices" to poor residents in Boston and New York, reported the November 25 Sydney Morning Herald. Venezuela has been providing subsidised oil to Caribbean nations and socialist President Hugo Chavez first raised the prospect of spreading this policy to assist the poor inside the US in August.
The oil deal was arranged by US representative William D. Delahunt to allow non-profit organisation Citizens Energy Corp. to distribute the heating oil. Venezuelanalysis.com reported on November 21 that the "approximately [US]$9 million deal will bring nine million gallons of oil to families and three million gallons to institutions that serve the poor, such as homeless shelters, said officials from Citizens Energy Corp., which is signing the contract. Families would pay about $276 for a 200-gallon shipment, a savings of about $184 and enough to last about three weeks."
Larry Chretien, executive director of MassEnergyConsumer Alliance, a non-profit organisation that will help distribute the heating oil to the homeless, explained why the deal is so welcome: "Home heating oil prices are expected to increase by 30 percent to 50 percent this winter because of rising oil prices."
The Wall Street Journal editorial on November 29 railed against the deal, accusing the "tyrant Chavez" of merely seeking influence in Washington, and attacked Delahunt for allegedly giving assistance to the "Venezuelan despot, whom he paints as a misunderstood humanitarian". The WSJ then went on to list a series of unsubstantiated allegations against Chavez, including that he rigs elections, sells guns to left-wing Colombian guerrillas and is responsible for serious human-rights abuses. These accusations, often repeated in one form or another by the corporate media and US government spokespeople, have never been substantiated by any real evidence. Yet the Chavez government has had its mandate renewed in democratic elections seven times in as many years.
However, others in the US media, usually uniformly anti-Chavez, have been forced to acknowledge the benefits in the scheme. The Boston Globe's November 23 editorial commented: "Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez is a controversial political leader, but it's difficult to fault his decision to provide low-cost heating oil to 45,000 needy families in Massachusetts."
From Green Left Weekly, December 7, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.