UNITED STATES: Venezuelan cheap heating oil program expands

by Stuart Munckton
...
In an article on increasing US aggression against Venezuela posted on Voltairenet.org on March 10, French academic Salim Lamrani pointed out how the pro-people policies practiced by the Venezuelan government, both at home and abroad, compared extremely favourably to the anti-people policies promoted by the Bush administration. Lamrani noted that while Venezuela contributes US$3.6 billion annually as part of its assistance for Latin America, the US plans to significantly decrease its $1.2 billion annual assistance.

Lamrani claimed that two “contrary models of society face each other, the one in Caracas and the other in Washington”. In an opinion piece in the March 9 Los Angeles Times, the co-director for the Centre of Economic and Policy Research in Washington Mark Wiesbrot wrote: “In the contest for the hearts and minds of the hemisphere, Venezuela is clearly winning.”