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HAVANA, Cuba - 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 did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor
communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000
gas stations 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. Average gas prices have risen to $2.61
a gallon in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Chavez said Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price
they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers"
were cut out.
Venezuela supplies Cuba with generously financed oil and plans to help Caribbean
nations foot their oil bills.
Chavez, in Cuba to attend the graduation of Cuban-trained doctors from 28 countries,
was seen off at the airport by Cuban President Fidel Castro. Washington has
accused the two leaders of being a destabilizing influence in South America.
Chavez and Castro offered to give poor Americans free health care and train
doctors free of charge.