WHETHER YOU’RE A NEW ENGLANDER who is forced to wear two pairs of longjohns in the winter to keep warm or a Londoner who has trouble ponying up bus fare for the daily commute, worry no more: You can look to the leader of the Bolivarian revolution for succor.
For instance, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has been offering discounted heating oil through former congressman Joseph Patrick Kennedy’s nonprofit Citizens Energy Commission. And in February Chavez orchestrated a deal with London mayor Ken Livingstone in which the prosperous British capital will provide teeming Caracas with planning consultation on matters ranging from traffic flow to recycling in return for discounted fuel. That fuel will enable half-price bus fares for 250,000 down-on-their luck workers. But why is a nation where 37 percent of the population lives below the poverty line helping the United States and the United Kingdom, where 12 and 17 percent of the people, respectively, live in poverty–and where the standards of living are much higher?
According to Fadi Kabboul, the minister counselor for petroleum affairs at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, most of Chavez’s oil charity generally extends to nations that “have similarities with us,” that is, countries with “state-owned companies.” These nations include Brazil, Spain, Russia, China, Argentina, Vietnam, Uruguay, and, Belarus. According to Chavez’s own claim, the Bolivarian republic provides 200,000 barrels a day to its Latin American neighbors–more financial aid than the United States offers, he says. Why? “We’re sick of being [America’s] backyard where they toss their garbage. That’s over.” Chavez has touted this on this weekly radio show: “Venezuela, as modest as it is, is helping Latin America much more than the United States.”
ENTER JOE KENNEDY. After Hurricane Katrina led to a spike in the cost of oil, Kennedy’s Citizens Energy Corporation (from which the ex-congressman earns $400,000 a year) appealed to various energy firms for donations. Only one responded: Houston-based Citgo, which is owned by the Venezuelan state energy firm, Petroleos de Venezuela, SA.
Since Kennedy started CEC in 1979 to alleviate the cost of heating for needy New Englanders, Venezuela has been a major donor. But this time the Caracas charity has been controversial, given Chavez’s public disdain for the U.S. government. Despite much criticism of Kennedy for accepting the offer, U.S. Energy secretary Sam Bodman endorsed the program last year: “I can’t find my way clear to object to Venezuela being charitable,” the secretary said. “I view it as a charitable contribution, and I wish more companies did it.”
Kabboul says that Hurricane Katrina “was the awakening of Venezuela.” The images of dispossessed New Orleanians–most of them African American–opened the eyes of Chávez to the poverty of many Americans. And, despite leading a nation suffering from severe poverty, Chávez made an offer of charity through Citgo. Olivia B. Goumbri, executive director of the Washington-based Venezuela Information Office, says that since the beginning of the program, over 400,000 families throughout America have been helped. It is supported in Philadelphia by Rep. Chaka Fattah, in Boston by Rep. William Delahunt, in Brooklyn by Rep. Jose Serrano, and in Harlem by Rep. Charlie Rangel. In Alaska, 150 villages have accepted aid totaling $5.2 million.
There have been some objectors. Four Alaskan villages, all members of the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, said no thanks in the name of American patriotism. While Florida’s state toll road authority has an exclusive contract with Citgo through 2008, the state now advertises other nearby gas stations–and doesn’t charge drivers to exit the turnpike to purchase non-Citgo fuel. Last September, 7-Eleven stopped selling Citgo gasoline, and there is a movement in Boston to topple the neon Citgo sign in Kenmore Square. (Since 2003, nearly all the top Citgo executives have resigned, due to concerns about the company’s fiscal integrity arising from Chávez’s interference. In 2004, when Citgo moved from Tulsa to Houston, the new Venezuelan executives, one of whom is closely allied with Chávez, installed a bullet proof chamber in the corporate headquarters.)
A January article in the Nation reported that “Venezuela has encouraged . . . citizen diplomacy by bringing beneficiaries of the heating-oil program to Caracas.” About 60 recipients of the discounted oil journeyed to Venezuela in April 2006, though others declined the offer. At least one of the travelers made an appearance on Chávez’s weekly radio show, during which, “he spent four hours explaining how Venezuelan oil reserves could be used to build stronger relationships with people in other nations,” according to the Nation.
Kabboul insists that this trip was not a publicity stunt. On the contrary, Kabboul says, the grateful recipients of Citgo charity told “Citgo that they wanted to go to Venezuela, because they wanted President Chávez to continue the program. We prepared an event, and President Chávez came. President Chávez went there and listened to their needs. This was not a PR move.”
“He was so touched by the stories of the people,” Kabboul said. “He said, ‘Look we are not only going to continue, we are going to expand it.’ . . . He was not interested at all in talking about politics.”
KABBOUL SAYS that Venezuela believes that the U.S. government’s Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is not a sufficient means of helping poor Americans stay warm during the winter. Since 1982, LIHEAP has been geared toward the poorest of the poor who cannot heat their homes–two-thirds of the households receiving assistance earn less than $8,000 a year. In 2006, $3 billion in federal funding was appropriated for the program, which is administered by states and counties. Some localities have indeed run out of their LIHEAP funding.
Some critics have accused Kennedy of pandering in preparation for a possible senate bid in the future. He represented Massachusetts’s 8th district from 1987 until 1999 and television advertisements, running in cities from Boston to Detroit, sponsored by Citizens Energy and Citgo, suggest to viewers that Kennedy and Chávez are there for the needy–and feature Joe Kennedy prominently.
The spot begins with a sad, elderly man saying, “I wear two pairs of long underwear and a jacket–and that’s inside my house.” As the minor-key music plays on, we meet an old lady reenacting events as she speaks her woes: “I’m 94 and alone. I had to drag an iron cart from the basement to the kitchen, so I could sleep by the oven.” But then, the camera zooms toward an oil rig in the Caribbean on which stands a blue-jump-suit-clad man, his arms extended in the orans position. He says: “I’m Joe Kennedy. Help is on the way. Heating oil at 40 percent off from our friends in Venezuela at Citgo. . . . No one should be left out in the cold.” The old lady smiles, and then Kennedy tells you the number to call–a number that suggests Chávez is not the only saint in this enterprise: 1-800-JOE-4-OIL.
Joseph Lindsley is an editorial assistant at The Weekly Standard.
