Free Republic

Chavez Touts Cheap Heat In HarlemSeptember 21, 2006NEW YORK -- After reports that he left the U.S. and one day after he called President George W. Bush the devil, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez spoke about a heating oil initiative in Harlem. Chavez was in Harlem to inaugurate the CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program. During a visit to New York City in September 2005, Chavez made a pledge to help low-income Americans fight the increasing costs of home heating oil. Over the past winter, the Venezuelan government, through its U.S.-based oil company CITGO, provided more than 40 million gallons of reduced price...

Latin America: Oil earnings have given Hugo Chavez a colossal sense of his own power at home and abroad. He's not limiting himself to small countries like Bolivia, though. Surprise: The U.S. is also in his cross hairs. Venezuela's president has targeted America and not just by organizing political fifth columns called "Bolivarian Circles" ... He's also getting himself good press for delivering discounted oil for his handpicked "poor" ... Chavez has won plaudits from the mainstream media for his newly launched program to deliver cheap heating oil to carefully "screened" low-income constituencies. Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, through its...