Belafonte Praises Venezuelan President
AP, Jan 4, 2006 1:06 pm PSTAmerican singer and activist Harry Belafonte praised the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday for providing cheap home heating oil to poverty-stricken families in the United States.
"This generosity that has been offered to the United States says very much about the Venezuelan spirit," said Belafonte, who was visiting Venezuela with a delegation of civil rights activists.
Venezuela's state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, and its Houston-based affiliate, Citgo Petroleum Corp., are providing more than 20 million gallons of heating oil with a 40 percent discount from market rates to poor families living in Massachusetts and New York.
Citgo says it plans to establish similar programs in Rhode Island.
The fuel assistance deals have generated controversy because of tensions between Washington and Chavez, who has denounced U.S. President George W. Bush and U.S.-style capitalism.
Opponents of Chavez have criticized the program, arguing that Venezuela's fuel should be sold at market prices and the revenue used to benefit Venezuelans.
Belafonte, has been a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and was active in the U.S. civil rights movement, said he wanted to learn more about the "Bolivarian Revolution" led by Chavez.
"There are many places in the world where they don't speak well of President Chavez, or the efforts he is making for the Venezuelan people," he said. "We've decided to come to see what is really happening with our own eyes."
Venezuelans are deeply divided over Chavez, a socialist and close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro. Supporters applaud his programs for the poor while foes fear he is leading the world's fifth largest oil exporter toward Cuba-style communism.
Belafonte, who arrived on Monday, was slated to visit a state-run cooperative near a Caracas slum and meet with left-leaning Chavez during his weeklong visit to this South American nation of 26 million.
Belafonte became famous for his calypso-inspired music in the 1950s and 1960s. The 78-year-old entertainer was a close collaborator of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
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