Posted on 06/16/2006 2:33:05 PM PDT by sbMKE
Venezuela bypasses Bush, offers help here Poor would get heating-oil discounts, eye operations By LARRY SANDLER lsandler@journalsentinel.com Posted: June 15, 2006 Venezuela's government plans to offer discounted heating oil and free eye surgery to Milwaukee's low-income residents, Venezuelan officials announced Thursday.
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That's the latest move in a broad-based campaign by the oil-rich nation's President Hugo Chavez to build grass-roots support and trade ties despite tension with President Bush's administration. Venezuelan government spokesman Edward Mercado called it "a new way of talking about trade."
Milwaukee and Chicago would be the first U.S. cities to benefit from the eye care program, which now flies patients from 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations to Venezuela for cataract operations performed by Cuban doctors, said Martin Sanchez, Venezuela's consul general in Chicago.
The heating-oil program, operated through Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp., is already in place in eight northeastern states.
After meeting with Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez Herrera and Sanchez, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he was open to exploring both programs.
"The natural question is whether we would work with the Venezuelan government, which is not a close ally of the United States," Barrett said. "My view is that if we can improve communications and help our people at the same time, I would support that, with the emphasis on helping our people."
As oil profits have fueled economic growth in Venezuela, the Chavez government has pumped money into social programs and aid to small businesses, Sanchez said. Expanding charitable efforts to other nations helps build common ground for trade relationships, he said. Venezuela is a major U.S. trading partner, supplying about 15% of this nation's oil.
Starting last winter, Citgo provided 16 million gallons of heating oil at a 40% discount to 181,204 low-income households in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Philadelphia, New York City's Harlem and Bronx neighborhoods and Maine's Indian reservations, Venezuelan figures show.
Most of that aid was distributed through community organizations because "some local governments don't want to do business with President Chavez," Sanchez told Journal Sentinel editors and writers Thursday. Representatives from Citgo will meet with Milwaukee city officials to determine the best way to run the program here, Barrett and Sanchez said.
Bus fuel offered in Chicago In Chicago, where heating oil is not widely used, Citgo instead offered the Chicago Transit Authority discounted diesel fuel in exchange for fare cuts for low-income groups. The CTA initially rejected the offer, saying Citgo doesn't produce the clean-burning low-sulfur fuel that federal law will soon require for buses. Citgo is now negotiating to buy clean fuel from British Petroleum, resell it to the CTA at a discount and buy bus passes for "the poorest of the poor," Sanchez said.
Venezuela would consider offering a similar deal to the Milwaukee County Transit System but wants to work out the issues with the Chicago authority first, Sanchez said. He said he had not contacted county transit officials and was not aware the city doesn't run the bus system.
Citgo's investment in the heating-oil program replaced money the oil company had been donating to charities such as United Way, Sanchez said. U.S. officials have treated it as a charitable effort by a major corporation, not as an initiative from a foreign government.
The eye-care program developed as a cooperative effort with Cuba. Seeking to rebuild his nation's corrupt and substandard national health care system, Chavez worked out a deal with Cuban President Fidel Castro to trade Cuban medical care for Venezuelan oil, Sanchez said.
As the program developed, Venezuela built clinics that were large enough not only for its own citizens but for patients from other nations, as well, Sanchez said. The program focuses on cataract surgery because the operation is easier and less expensive than many other medical procedures and because vision problems are widespread in the bright sunshine and poor nutrition of Latin America, he and Mercado said.
Venezuelan representatives will meet with Milwaukee Health Department officials to work out details of the program here, Sanchez and Barrett said. American doctors also will be invited to check out the clinic in the Venezuelan city of Carora before sending up to 400 patients from Milwaukee and Chicago there, Sanchez said.
In brief remarks at City Hall, Alvarez said he came to Milwaukee to pursue a "sister city" relationship with Carora after Ald. Michael McGee wrote an admiring letter to Chavez.
McGee introduced Alvarez by saying he hoped for great economic and cultural ties. The alderman did not return a telephone call seeking further comment later Thursday.
Visa problems delayed a visit by Carora Mayor Julio Chavez and Luis Reyes Reyes, governor of the Venezuelan state of Lara, but they plan to reschedule their trip soon, Sanchez said. The sister city status requires Common Council approval.
Cultural exchanges between artists and performers in Milwaukee and Venezuela are also likely, Sanchez said.
Better image 'a byproduct' Sanchez said improving Venezuela's image was "not the main motivation" for the heating-oil and eye care programs, but he acknowledged that could be "a byproduct."
"The ambassador says, 'Whenever we get out of Washington, we find another country,' " Sanchez said. "If we can't have better relations with Washington right now, we will do it with whoever wants to."
Bush and his cabinet have faulted Chavez for his ties with Cuba and Iran, and have alleged Chavez is not cooperating with the war on terror. Chavez has accused Bush of cooperating with a 2002 coup that briefly deposed him and has threatened to cut off oil shipments if the U.S. attacks Venezuela.
Relations deteriorated further after American evangelist Pat Robertson publicly called for Chavez's assassination. Robertson apologized, but Venezuela branded him a terrorist.
Chavez takes jibes from U.S. officials personally, even though his advisers and diplomats counsel him to tone down the rhetoric, Sanchez said.
"President Chavez is a very emotional person," Sanchez said. "Sometimes he reacts in ways that we don't agree with but that are perfectly justified."
From the June 16, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
OK. When in the heck is the White House going to step in and put a stop to this? Don't we have a clause in the constitution that gives the Federal Government the power over commerce between nations?
Hugo's Golden Goose
America should not be financing this dictator.
I'm usually not for boycotts, but I make an exception in this case.
What are they going to do, vote him out?
Or drag him out in the street and hang him from a light post. Either one works for me.
Better yet, let's ship all the Chicago and Milwaukee residents to Venezuela and start over.
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. can KMA.
Wonder if Chavez will be kind enough to ship some of our poor Democrat voters down to Venezuela for aid.
With any luck maybe they'll get to stay there.
Just keep making that ethanol so we can blow him the raspberry.
Once they get down there, they won't be able to make enough money on the Venezuelan economy to buy a plane ticket back. Happened to a number of expat friends of mine who live in Caracas - stranded because they can't afford to leave. Chavez is killing a gorgeous country - he's following his hero, Castro: a beautiful country that is dying of neglect.
I believe Milwaukee has "Bolivarian Circles." These are Chavez neighborhood spying and instigation groups, and I honestly don't know why the State Dept even allows them to be set up in this country. Mostly, I suppose, because the leaders of the Bolivarian Circles are actually native-born American leftists that he has recruited to his cause. He sends Spanish speaking members, however, so that he can keep tabs on VZ citizens in this country, instill fear in them, and try to stir up trouble.
Chicago also has "Bolivarian Circles."
"Barrett said. 'My view is that if we can improve communications and help our people at the same time, I would support that, with the emphasis on helping our people.'"
Who cares about "improving communications" with a Venezuelan dictator? Just take all the free stuff he offers. Demand a lot more. If he fails to cough up an ever increasing amount of free stuff, whine and complain like crazy and point out that his behavior is both immoral and very detrimental to good communications.
"Yeegads! Like we don't have enough problems with liberals in Madistan" ping.
NO ONE should buy CITGO or let their cities issue any business license for these communist scum.
Zoykes! Thanks for the ping, Ladysmith.
SJackson: For the Midwest Ping List, if you see fit.
"Wisconsin Conservative Ping List" Ping!
Ping
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