Venezuelan President Gives Heating Aid to U.S. Poor

Posted on Feb 15, 2013

www_ukberri_net (CC BY 2.0)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

For the eighth year in a row, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is donating oil to 100,000 American households who can’t heat their homes because they are jobless and the government no longer provides for them.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

Digital Journal at Reader Supported News:

In 2005, a pair of devastating hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, led to dwindling oil supplies and skyrocketing fuel costs. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable Americans, including many elderly people on fixed incomes, found themselves having to choose between heating their homes or providing food, clothing or medicine for themselves and their families. Since that first winter, CITGO has provided 227 million gallons of free heating oil worth an estimated $465 million to an average of 153,000 US households each year. Some 252 Native American communities and 245 homeless shelters have also benefited from the program. This winter, more than 100,000 American families will receive Venezuelan aid. With the US government estimating that households heating primarily with oil will pay $407 (19 percent) more this year than last, the program remains an invaluable helping hand to many needy Americans.

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