If you've got to buy
gas, buy it from Venezuela. We're always being
asked to boycott this or boycott that. Gasoline
is one of the commodities that very few people
can boycott. But you can pick the gas station
you do business with. Venezuela's state-owned
oil industry refines petroleum in the United States
and sells it as gasoline at 14,000 Citgo service
stations. That's C-I-T-G-O. When you buy
gas from Citgo, you're supporting Venezuela's
policy of using its oil resources to benefit the
people of that country. President Hugo Chavez
has also struck favorable agreements with the
nations of the Caribbean, allowing them to pay
much of their oil bills over 25 years at just
one percent interest. Chavez's government trades
oil for the services of thousands of Cuban doctors,
who have brought health care to Venezuela's poor
majority, many for the first time in their lives.
And he has set aside ten percent of Venezuela's
refined oil to be sold at cut rate prices for
the benefit of the poor in nations all over the
world, including the United States. Tens of millions
of gallons of Venezuelan oil is heating the homes
of the poor in New York, Maine, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware and
Pennsylvania.
None of this would have happened
if the United States-backed coup against Chavez
had succeeded, in 2002. By now, Venezuela's oil
fields would have been privatized, and a rightwing
dictatorship would rule by death squads – all
with the approval of Washington and the oil billionaires.
When you buy gasoline from Citgo, it'll still
cost you, but at least you won't be giving your
money to the corporations that support the Bush
regime's wars against humanity. In fact, a portion
of your Citgo gasoline tab will go towards subsidizing
sanity, regional cooperation, and the quest for
peace on the planet. On the other hand, when you
buy from American-based oil companies, a chunk
of your money winds up in George Bush's campaign
machinery, rightwing think tanks, and billionaires'
mansions.
Since the Buy Citgo campaign was
launched last year, Bush's rightwing allies have
organized a boycott of Citgo gas stations. They've
sent tens of thousands of emails to Citgo's headquarters
in Houston, saying they won't spend money with
someone who wants to bring down the U.S. government.
Well, if the "government" means George
Bush, that's a very good reason for good people
to line up at Citgo's pumps. You can find your
local Citgo by Googling the words "Citgo
gas stations." Spend your money where it
does some good. For Radio BC, I'm Glen Ford.
You can visit
the Radio BC page to listen to
any of our audio commentaries voiced by BC
Co-Publisher and Executive Editor, Glen
Ford. We publish the text of the radio commentary
each week along with the audio program.