Venezuela's Citgo Faces Congressional Inquiry For Offering Discounted Oil to U.S. Poor

We turn now to a story that Juan Gonzalez has been covering in the New York Daily News.

In Washington, Republican Congressman Joe Barton of Texas has launched an investigation into one of the world’s major oil companies. But he is not investigating whether any of the oil giants are engaging in price gouging at a time when gasoline and heating oil casts are skyrocketing. Instead Barton has set his sights on the only oil company that actually dared to lower its prices last year - at least for the poorest Americans. Last week Barton demanded the Venezuelan-owned company Citgo produce all records, minutes, logs, e-mails and even desk calendars related to the company’s novel program of supplying discounted heating oil to low-income communities in the United States. The Citgo program, which began late last year in Massachusetts and the South Bronx, provides oil at discounts as high as 60% off market price. We hear an excerpt of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He first announced the discounted gas program during an interview with Democracy Now! on September 16, 2005.

* Rep. Jose Serrano, (D-New York)

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/24/1513213