Thanks Hugo - But How About Your Own?

Poor residents and nonprofit groups in the South Bronx are about to receive a gift from Venezuela's firebrand President: Eight-million gallons of heating oil at bargain prices. Two months ago, in an interview with the Daily News during his visit to the United Nations , President Hugo first made the startling offer of cheap fuel for this winter from his oil-rich country to a handful of poor communities in the United States. Under the Hugo plan, CITGO will sell oil for about $1.35 a gallon instead of the current average of $2.25.

After making sure that the world has been told the truth about the US and its President in front of the general assembly of the UN, President Hugo wasted no time to move into the streets of New York to put America's poor and underprivileged on notice that help is finally on the way.

President Hugo is reining over a country where 10% of the general population is considered illiterate, over 12% of them are unemployed for life and almost 50% of all Venezuelans live below the poverty line. Violent crime in Venezuela has spiked in recent months. The country has the highest per-capita murder rate in the world. Armed robberies take place in broad daylight throughout the city, including areas generally presumed safe and frequented by tourists. Well armed criminal gangs operate with impunity, often setting up fake police checkpoints. Kidnapping is a particularly serious problem, with more than 1,000 reported during the past year alone. Investigation of all crime is haphazard and ineffective. Only a very small percentage of criminals are tried and convicted.

President Hugo's efforts to take care of the social shortcomings in the US seem a bit far fetched. I have included 2 pictures in this blog that have actually been taken in what is known as the Barrios of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. I guess they have no use for President Hugo's cheap oil, since it seems to me that they don't have oil heater in these dwellings.