Thursday, August 25, 2005

One thing you can say about Chavez...

he knows how to hit Bush where it hurts.

Chavez Offers Cheap Gas To Poor In U.S.

HAVANA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - 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, who has supplied Cuba with generously financed oil supplies and plans to help Caribbean countries foot their oil bills, did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline directly to poor communities 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.

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