Chavez vows to help U.S. poor

To thunderous applause and chants in Spanish of "Chavez, friend, the people are with you," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez strode into the United Methodist Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew yesterday on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Chavez told the house packed with peace and anti-globalization activists and community and religious leaders that he would soon start to ship heating oil and diesel fuel at below-market prices to poor communities and schools in the United States.

"I felt a love for the Bronx and New York starting with my visit today," he said as he patted his heart under his red shirt, a symbol of the Bolivarian revolution, during the forum on "Poverty and Justice in a Globalized World."

A capacity crowd of more than 1,100 from New York, Washington, Chicago and Miami fanned themselves in the sweltering heat inside the church as they waited to hear Chavez and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Outside, hundreds more waited through three hours of tight security checks in hopes of gaining entry.

Those who came to hear the forum organized by Westchester residents Lisa Sullivan Rodriguez of Ossining and the Rev. John Collins of the Memorial United Methodist Church of White Plains, included several dozen members of WESPAC Foundation, a Westchester County-based peace and justice organization active since 1974. Students from Manhattanville College in Purchase were accompanied by Connie Hogarth, namesake of the Center for Social Action at the college. Also in the audience were actor Danny Glover, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, union leaders and senior Venezuelan and Cuban government officials.

Chavez said that by selling heating oil directly to poor communities in the United States, he could save schools, senior centers, hospitals and apartment buildings in poor communities at least a dollar per gallon.

Venezuela owns Citgo Petroleum Corp., which has 14,000 gas stations and owns eight oil refineries in the United States, none of which were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Chavez, in his more-than-two-hour speech, said he could afford to sharply reduce Citgo’s prices by "cutting out the middle man."

He said he would also look for ways to donate money or give low-interest loans to public institutions in poor communities.

Chavez was in New York to attend the United Nations summit and celebrations of the organization’s 60th anniversary.

"Chavez is using the resources of his country to develop education, health care, housing and employment for his people," said Nada Khader of Chappaqua, executive director of WESPAC Foundation.

Venezuela is the world’s No. 5 oil exporter and a key petroleum supplier to the U.S. Chavez has irked oil companies by getting the Venezuelan Congress to pass a "Law of Hydrocarbons," which increased the portion of his nation’s oil proceeds from 16 to 30 percent. Chavez has used the oil profits for programs to help the poor.

Sheila Collins of New Rochelle, a political science professor at William Patterson University in Wayne, N.J., who attended with WESPAC, said Chavez "represents a real alternative approach to the corporate-driven globalization process." Collins recently returned from Venezuela, where she studied Chavez’s policies.

This view is not shared by all.

Bush administration officials say Chavez uses his country’s oil wealth to threaten regional stability, in league with Cuba.

Televangelist Pat Robertson recently suggested during a broadcast of his 700 Club that the U.S. assassinate Chavez. Robertson later apologized for the statement.

After his U.S. visit, Chavez said, his next stop would be to drink some wine with Fidel Castro.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/...