"Claim: E-mail urges boycotting Citgo brand gasoline over remarks by Venezuela president Hugo Chávez.
<NOINDEX>Status: Multiple. </NOINDEX>
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2006]
<TABLE width="90%" align=center bgColor=#000000 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#eaf2e5>Venezuela Dictator Vows To Bring Down U.S. Government
Venezuela government is sole owner of Citgo Gasoline Company Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government. Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience: "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."
The guest on his television program, beamed across Venezuela, was Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist. Chavez recently had as his guest Harry Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world."
Chavez is pushing a socialist revolution and has a close alliance with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq, the issue here is that we have a socialist dictator vowing to bring down the government of the U.S. And he is using our money to achieve his goal!
The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, is the sole owner of Citgo gas company. Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow to bring down our government.
Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government? Very important. Please forward this to your friends and family. Most of them don't know that Citgo is owned by the Venezuela government.
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Origins: Hugo Chávez (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3517106.stm), the president of Venezuela, is certainly no fan of the U.S. or the current <NOBR>administration,</NOBR> and his trading rhetorical political barbs with <NOBR>U.S. government</NOBR> officials (and others) has been common news fodder of late. (Chávez was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, and after a failed coup (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,688071,00.html) in 2002, he won a referendum over whether he should serve out the remainder of his term. The war of words reached a new peak in <NOBR>August 2005,</NOBR> when Christian broadcaster <NOBR>Pat Robertson (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/23/robertson.chavez.1534/index.html)</NOBR> suggested to viewers that the U.S. should assassinate Chávez.)
Not surprisingly, U.S. attitudes towards President Chávez tend to be polarized along political lines, with one side declaring him a dangerous dictator who supports America's enemies, while the other side defends him as a democratically-elected leader who is the target of the current administration's enmity primarily because he dares to stand up to the U.S. Excerpts from two recent U.S. newspaper <NOBR>Op-Ed</NOBR> pieces illustrate this dichotomy: [Corrales, 2006]
Hugo Chávez [was] elected president of Venezuela in December 1998.The lieutenant colonel had attempted a coup six years earlier. When that failed, he won power at the ballot box and is now approaching a decade in office. In that time, he has concentrated power, harassed opponents, punished reporters, persecuted civic organizations and increased state control of the economy.
[W]hen it comes to accountability and limits on presidential power, the picture grows dark. Mr. Chávez has achieved absolute power over all state institutions that might check his power. He controls the legislature, the Supreme Court, two armed forces, the gigantic state-owned oil company <NOBR>PDVSA — the</NOBR> only important source of state revenue, which comes in handy at election <NOBR>time —</NOBR> and the institution that monitors electoral rules. As if that weren't enough, a new media law allows the state to supervise media content, and a revised criminal code permits the state to imprison any citizen for showing "disrespect" toward government officials.
By compiling and posting on the Internet lists of voters and their political <NOBR>tendencies — including</NOBR> whether they signed a petition for a recall referendum in <NOBR>2004 — Venezuela</NOBR> has achieved reverse accountability. The state is watching and punishing citizens for political actions it disapproves of rather than the other way around. If democracy requires checks on the power of incumbents, Venezuela doesn't come close.
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[Weisbrot, 2006]
Venezuela is a <NOBR>democracy — despite</NOBR> the best efforts of the Bush team to use President Hugo Chavez's close relations with Cuba's Fidel Castro as evidence to the contrary. Its elections are transparent and have been certified by observers from the Organization of American States, the Carter Center and the European Union. Freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly and of association prevail, at least as compared with the rest of the hemisphere.
In fact, most of the media remains controlled by the opposition, which attacks the government endlessly on all the major TV channels. It is the most vigorous and partisan opposition media in the hemisphere, one that has not been censored under Chavez.
Like all of Latin America, Venezuela has governance problems: a weak state, limited rule of law, corruption and incompetent government. But no reputable human rights organization has alleged that Venezuela under Chavez has deteriorated with regard to civil liberties, human rights or democracy, as compared with prior governments. Nor does the country compare unfavorably on these criteria with its neighbors in the region. In Peru, the government has shut down opposition TV stations; in Colombia, union organizers are murdered with impunity.
From a Latin American point of view, Venezuelans should have the right to choose their own <NOBR>president — even</NOBR> one who sometimes insults the American <NOBR>president — without</NOBR> interference from the United States. And Chavez's anger at Washington, from Latin Americans' point of view, appears justified. U.S. government documents released under our Freedom of Information Act indicate that Washington not only supported but was involved in the military coup that temporarily overthrew Venezuela's elected government in April 2002.
The television incident referenced in the message quoted at the head of this page occurred on <NOBR>29 January</NOBR> 2006, when anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan appeared on Chavez's weekly TV broadcast, following a similar recent meeting between the Venezuelan president and entertainer Harry Belafonte: Cindy Sheehan, who gained international fame when she camped outside President Bush's ranch in an anti-war protest, plans to pitch her tent again, Venezuela's president said Sunday as he urged activists worldwide to help bring down "the U.S. empire." Hugo Chávez, an arm around Sheehan's shoulders, told a group of activists that she had told him "she is going to put up her tent again in front of Mr. Danger's ranch." In some of his strongest recent comments aimed at Washington, Chávez condemned the Bush administration and said his audience should work toward ending U.S. dominance. "Enough already with the imperialist aggression!" Chávez said, listing countries from Panama to Iraq where the U.S. military has intervened. "Down with the U.S. empire! It must be said, in the entire world: Down with the empire!"
Sheehan also noted that singer and activist Harry Belafonte recently called Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world," and said, "I agree with him. George Bush is responsible for killing tens of thousands of innocent people."
Recently, <NOBR>U.S. Secretary</NOBR> of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Chávez a "challenge for democracy" and a danger to Latin http://www.snopes.com/politics/graphics/chavez2.jpg America and announced the establishment of contacts with government officials in other South American countries for the purpose of creating a united front to oppose Venezuela. Chávez responded to Rice's comments in a television appearance by blowing her a screen kiss and announcing, "Don't mess with me, girl," as well as warning that he would consider suspending Venezuela's oil exports if the U.S. went "too far with the Venezuelan government." (Venezuela is the fourth-largest supplier of crude oil to the U.S., sending the states about <NOBR>1.5 million</NOBR> barrels daily.)
Advocating a boycott of gasoline marketed by Citgo (http://www.citgo.com/Home.jsp) Petroleum Corporation (which has been owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, the national oil company of Venezuela, since 1990) over political issues is problematic for a number of reasons (not least of which is the notion that threatening not to buy gasoline from someone who is threatening not to sell it to you doesn't sound like an effective ploy for either side). For one thing, although Citgo may be owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, it is a formerly American company which is still headquartered in the U.S. (in Houston, Texas), employs 4,000 people, and supplies 14,000 independent retailers with gasoline and other petroleum <NOBR>products — Americans</NOBR> with no substantive connection to Venezuela who would be economically harmed by such an action. And, of course, as long as the global demand for oil exceeds supply, Citgo's products will continue to find buyers whether or not they're purchased by Americans.
Interestingly, this Citgo boycott rumbling follows on the heels of a similarly-forwarded entreaty (http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0516-25.htm) urging consumers to take the opposite tack: Americans should buy only Citgo brand gasoline, it says, in order to support "Venezuela's democratic government" and avoid sending more <NOBR>U.S. dollars</NOBR> to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries: Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.
And tell your friends.
Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."
Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela — not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. (Click here (http://www.citgo.com/CITGOLocator/StoreLocator.jsp) to find one near you.) By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela's democratic government is using to provide health care, literacy and education, and subsidized food for the majority of Venezuelans.
Instead of using government to help the rich and the corporate, as Bush does, Chavez is using the resources and oil revenue of his government to help the poor in Venezuela. A country with so much oil wealth shouldn't have <NOBR>60 percent</NOBR> of its people living in poverty, earning less than <NOBR>$2 per</NOBR> day. With a mass movement behind him, Chavez is confronting poverty in Venezuela. That's why large majorities have consistently backed him in democratic elections. And why the Bush administration supported an attempted military coup in 2002 that sought to overthrow Chavez.
So this is the opposite of a boycott. Call it a BUYcott. Spread the word.
Of course, if you can take mass transit or bike or walk to your job, you should do so. And we should all work for political changes that move our country toward a cleaner environment based on renewable energy. The BUYcott is for those of us who don't have a practical alternative to filling up our cars.
So get your gas at Citgo. And help fuel a democratic revolution in Venezuela.
As we've noted in many other articles (http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasoline.asp) discussing various schemes regarding where and how people should purchase gasoline, the global and fungible nature of the world oil market doesn't really provide consumers with many effective opportunities to influence political issues through their buying patterns.
Last updated: 15 March 2006 <!--23 February 2006 - original-->
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