Posted on 11/22/2005 2:05:58 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON -- While most of Congress was spending an August recess tending to local constituents, Representative William D. Delahunt was in Caracas, sitting down to a four-hour, one-on-one dinner conversation with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, one of the Bush administration's most ardent critics.
That meeting -- unusual for a sitting member of Congress and a head of state so critical of the White House -- sparked negotiations that led to the official announcement scheduled for today: A US subsidiary of a Venezuelan-owned company will provide 12 million gallons of discounted home heating oil to Massachusetts consumers and organizations serving the poor.
Delahunt, a Quincy Democrat who is emerging as one of his party's leading voices in Latin American affairs, said he was simply trying to smooth strained US-Venezuelan relations while helping low-income people in his home state.
Critics said Delahunt should not be working so closely with Chávez, an outspoken leftist.
Chávez is close to the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, who seems to delight in needling President Bush and his administration.
''He's been kind of an apologist for Chávez for some time," said Steve Johnson, a Latin American specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation. Meeting with the leader who calls himself a revolutionary populist, Johnson said, ''is not something I'd like my congressman to be doing."
Delahunt dismissed the criticism, saying he is doing his part to continue a dialogue with a country that is the fourth-largest provider of refined petroleum products to the United States. The heating oil agreement, he said, ''was something that wasn't about politics, was not about the bilateral relationship. It was about people. It was genuinely humanitarian in its intention and in its impact."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Bump!
Dems cozy up to dictators that insult Condi Rice, George bush and those who wish freedom for this hemisphere and the world.
Remember, we are not all that way up here. Some of us are trying to fight the good fight.
Will somewone please post that picture of Tom "Dung" Harkin and John F'n Kerry shmoozing with the Sandanista thug?
This is your DemocRAT party.
This is little bit like a politician doing a deal with Hitler for "bone meal" for the farmers.
Treason with the cover of compassion for the poor.
Lest we forget.
WTF? One family uses 200 gallons of oil in 3 weeks? What kind of poor people live in homes that require that much fuel? That's what, about 1200 gallons per winter? I find that hard to believe.
I would think that the people of Venezuela need the profits from the oil, more than they need to have Chavez enrich himself and Delahunt to endear himself to people who, though they may be called 'poor', are not all that impoverished.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.