As U.S. heating aid drops, Venezuela chips in

Close to 200,000 poor families in 15 cold-weather states – in every Northeastern state except New Hampshire – can thank controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for helping them heat their homes this winter.

The Venezuelan-controlled oil-refining company, Citgo Petroleum Corp., donated 45 million gallons of free home heating oil this winter in a move that bought good publicity for the country’s socialist leader, who famously called President Bush “the devil” in a 2006 United Nations speech.

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Venezuela’s offer of free oil this winter came as the U.S. economy was slumping, federal assistance through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) had dropped and home heating-oil prices hit a record high at more than $3.50 a gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration database of monthly prices since 1990.

The almost 200,000 American families helped by Venezuela this winter is small compared to the almost 6 million families helped through LIHEAP. But LIHEAP was able to help only about 16 percent of families needing assistance, so Venezuela’s program helped to fill a void until its supplies were exhausted early this winter season.

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