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 News from Around the Americas | August 2005 
Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor in U.S.
 CNN.com
| | Cuban President Fidel Castro (R) and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez talk to media before Chavez's departure at Havana's Jose Marti airport. Chavez was ending a three-day trip to Cuba where he attended the graduation of 1,610 Cuban-trained doctors from 28 countries. Conservative U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but top U.S. officials denied on August 23, 2005 that any such act was being contemplated - and noted it would be illegal. (Photo: Claudia Daut/Reuters) |
Havana, Cuba - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, popular with the poor at home, offered on Tuesday to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline.
"We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba.
Chavez did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States.
The offer may sound attractive to Americans feeling pinched by soaring prices at the pump but not to the U.S. government, which sees Chavez as a left-wing troublemaker in Latin America.
Gasoline is cheaper than mineral water in oil-producing Venezuela, where consumers can fill their tanks for less than $2. Average gas prices have risen to $2.61 a gallon in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Chavez said Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out.
Venezuela supplies Cuba with generously financed oil and plans to help Caribbean nations foot their oil bills.
Chavez, in Cuba to attend the graduation of Cuban-trained doctors from 28 countries, was seen off at the airport by Cuban President Fidel Castro. Washington has accused the two leaders of being a destabilizing influence in South America.
Chavez and Castro offered to give poor Americans free health care and train doctors free of charge. |
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