Venezuelan oil is welcome

On Saturday, March 11, Chris Maier asked, "Was it cheap oil for Vermonters or was it a chance to defy the president's boycott of an anti-American dictator?" To my knowledge there is no general boycott of Venezuela; in fact it is one of our largest suppliers of oil. Nor is President Chavez a dictator. He was duly elected by the people of Venezuela and has governed within the limits of that country's constitution, administration rhetoric notwithstanding. President Bush and his crony Congress should be embarrassed by a Third World government giving aid to the United States while they cut LIHEAP spending.

Hugo Chavez has been critical of the United States, raised the specter of Yankee imperialism and has alleged that Bush and company tried to engineer the overthrow of his government. The evidence may be circumstantial, but if history is a guide, then such an attempt would not be out of character. This country has been meddling in the internal affairs of Latin American governments since at least the late 19th century, having blatantly overthrown governments our policy lackeys and their and their big business bosses don't like. And "democracy" is not an issue. We have overthrown democratic governments, like Salvador Allende in Chile and supported the bloodiest dictators, such as Batista, Duvalier, Pinochet, and the Salvadoran death squads.

So while some people have clearly been taken in by Bush's anti-Chavez tirades, a bit of study and reflection will show that the facts are, as usual, not what Mr. Bush claims, and I, for one, find it very kind of President Chavez to have made the offer, and I applaud Bernie for pulling the deal together.

CHARLES PREGGER-ROMAN, Fair Haven