Describing the program as "From the Venezuelan heart to American hearths" the effort actually is a slick public relations move which should really be re-labeled Chavez's "Hearts and Minds campaign." For the third consecutive year, CITGO petroleum, a totally owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, will send free heating oil to needy families from the Bronx borough in New York to Boston and states throughout New England. This year 112 million gallons of heating fuel will be distributed to 235,000 low income families.
The state of Maine is New England's largest and probably coldest state; last winter 9 million gallons went to 51,000 families in Maine, which includes members of the Aroostook Band of MicMacs, the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. A further 12 million gallons went to 50,000 families in Massachusetts; 3.3 million gallons to 9,000 families in Rhode Island, and 2 million gallons to 12,000 families in Vermont.
When the controversial program kicked off in Boston a month ago, Joe Kennedy, a former Democratic congressman whose nonprofit Citizens Energy Corp is a major distributor of the heating oil, said the project has nothing to do with politics. Politics? No it's just that a South American dictator Hugo Chavez wishes to play political Santa Claus for poor Americans. President Chavez is best-known for his anti-American political rants and coddling up to dictators from Cuba to Islamic Iran.
"The politics side of this is absurd," said Kennedy, of the Boston Kennedy political dynasty and nephew of former president John F. Kennedy. At the same time Kennedy and his group imply that the U.S. government does little for the poor and so it takes a Latin American caudillo to ride to the rescue. Gracias Presidente Chavez!
In fact, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) begun during the Reagan Administration has been an expanding federal program offering block grant assistance to low-income households across America. This year, Congress appropriated US$2.6 billion for the program. Given the historic spike in energy prices with oil hitting US$100 per barrel, the ensuing jump in per gallon fuel prices, combined with a very cold winter, there are additional price squeezes for all consumers.
