EL UNIVERSAL

"I cannot object to Venezuela being charitable," the US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told Reuters when asked about the reply his office is to give to a controversial discounted heating oil distribution program Citgo Petroleum Corporation -the US refining branch of Venezuelan state oil giant Pdvsa- has been implementing in the United States since last year, as instructed by President Hugo Chávez.

Bodman said in Washington that the US Energy Department would not refuse the sales of discounted heating oil in winter, even if they come from Citgo. For many US citizens, Citgo is the arm implementing the policies of Chávez -who openly opposes his US counterpart George W. Bush.

"I deem it a charitable contribution and I wish more companies did it," Bodman stated.
When the program was launched, several US lawmakers remarked the fact that Citgo was the only oil firm to devote a portion of skyrocketing revenues to cut the costs of heating oil for the poor.

However, Reuters claimed that some of the politicians that welcomed the program at first -including those in Maine- are now rejecting the aid plan, following Chávez' speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, where he branded Bush as "devil."
 
Some yes, others no
In a press bulletin, Pdvsa asserted it respects the positions adopted by US leaders of not participating in the project for reasons foreign to them, but the holding added that it kept open the possibility of incorporating such positions in the future.

According to Pdvsa, of a total of 151 indigenous tribes in Alaska, 147 have expressed their wish to participate in the program, and only four groups have stated otherwise. "Fuel that had been assigned to these four communities, 2.4% of the total to be distributed throughout the state, was reassigned to other groups."

Dimitri Philemonof, leader of the Association of Auletian Pribilof Islands, an organization managing fuel donations for 291 households in Alaska, told El Universal he rejected Citgo's offer because of Chávez' words at the UN. "I was astounded at what he said. I think I am reacting just like many other people. My personal view is that this plan is linked to politics."

When asked about the fact that other oil firms operating in the US lack similar programs, Philemonof replied: "there are many ways to help the poor."

Translated by Maryflor Suárez R.