DON'T GO TO CITGO?
by Charles R. Martel
The Venezuelan national oil company, PDVSA, owns Citgo. Citgo is the Venezuelan national oil company's refining and marketing branch. Citgo has become the target of a steadily increasing boycott in the United States due to the outrageous conduct of Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez.
Many Americans are deeply angered over Hugo Chavez' support of terrorism, his frequent diatribes against and hostility for the United States, and his profligate squandering of Venezuela's oil revenue. If Mr. Chavez stays the course he is on, he will waste Venezuela's oil wealth for his own self-aggrandizement in a vein attempt to accomplish his radical political agenda without accomplishing any long-term boost in Venezuelans' standard of living.
While Venezuela remains saddled with large pockets of grinding poverty, Mr. Chavez has chosen to greatly increase Venezuela’s military budget despite no military threat against the country. He gives foreign aid to anti-American regimes, sells discounted heating oil in the U.S. in order to make a political point, and picks friends around the World solely based upon their hostility to the United States and not based upon Venezuela’s legitimate interests.
Mr. Chavez' level of vitriolic hatred toward the United States is evidenced by his highly offensive United Nations speech wherein he called President Bush "the devil." Such infantile conduct in such a formal setting reveals a deep level of hatred that cannot be controlled. Such unbridled anger and incompetence in a national leader suggests great danger to the United States.
It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that there are reports that Mr. Chavez is training terrorists in Venezuela.
Hundreds of gas stations have already dropped Citgo gasoline and most others would follow if Americans refused to purchase anything from gas stations that sell Citgo products. While we should refuse to give any financial support to those who would harm us, a boycott may well hurt innocent Americans far more than Hugo Chavez.
After initially calling for a boycott of Citgo, I received the following critique of my boycott call and it is an interesting one so I altered this post in response:
"Yours is one of the more eloquent posts I've read on this subject, even though I respectfully disagree with your conclusion to boycott Citgo. Don't you think that boycotting Citgo would harm Americans way before it had even a tiny impact on Chavez? And by Americans, I mean people like Maximo Alvarez (an American) who owns gas stations in Florida. Not to mention his employees and their families. What's that cliche about cutting off one's nose to spite one's face?"
The foregoing comment was sent anonymously, but I do not know why as it is very rational. I agree with the criticism. I originally assumed that gas station owners could just switch suppliers. If not, then perhaps a boycott is not a good idea. I do not want to see any mom and pop businesses placed into distress.
Thank you anonymous.
(Please see my related article posted October 17, 2006, entitled "America Must Depose Hugo Chavez." I also recommend that readers view the linked article above by clicking where it says "Maximo Alvarez.")
by Charles Martel
by Charles R. Martel
The Venezuelan national oil company, PDVSA, owns Citgo. Citgo is the Venezuelan national oil company's refining and marketing branch. Citgo has become the target of a steadily increasing boycott in the United States due to the outrageous conduct of Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez.
Many Americans are deeply angered over Hugo Chavez' support of terrorism, his frequent diatribes against and hostility for the United States, and his profligate squandering of Venezuela's oil revenue. If Mr. Chavez stays the course he is on, he will waste Venezuela's oil wealth for his own self-aggrandizement in a vein attempt to accomplish his radical political agenda without accomplishing any long-term boost in Venezuelans' standard of living.
While Venezuela remains saddled with large pockets of grinding poverty, Mr. Chavez has chosen to greatly increase Venezuela’s military budget despite no military threat against the country. He gives foreign aid to anti-American regimes, sells discounted heating oil in the U.S. in order to make a political point, and picks friends around the World solely based upon their hostility to the United States and not based upon Venezuela’s legitimate interests.
Mr. Chavez' level of vitriolic hatred toward the United States is evidenced by his highly offensive United Nations speech wherein he called President Bush "the devil." Such infantile conduct in such a formal setting reveals a deep level of hatred that cannot be controlled. Such unbridled anger and incompetence in a national leader suggests great danger to the United States.
It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that there are reports that Mr. Chavez is training terrorists in Venezuela.
Hundreds of gas stations have already dropped Citgo gasoline and most others would follow if Americans refused to purchase anything from gas stations that sell Citgo products. While we should refuse to give any financial support to those who would harm us, a boycott may well hurt innocent Americans far more than Hugo Chavez.
After initially calling for a boycott of Citgo, I received the following critique of my boycott call and it is an interesting one so I altered this post in response:
"Yours is one of the more eloquent posts I've read on this subject, even though I respectfully disagree with your conclusion to boycott Citgo. Don't you think that boycotting Citgo would harm Americans way before it had even a tiny impact on Chavez? And by Americans, I mean people like Maximo Alvarez (an American) who owns gas stations in Florida. Not to mention his employees and their families. What's that cliche about cutting off one's nose to spite one's face?"
The foregoing comment was sent anonymously, but I do not know why as it is very rational. I agree with the criticism. I originally assumed that gas station owners could just switch suppliers. If not, then perhaps a boycott is not a good idea. I do not want to see any mom and pop businesses placed into distress.
Thank you anonymous.
(Please see my related article posted October 17, 2006, entitled "America Must Depose Hugo Chavez." I also recommend that readers view the linked article above by clicking where it says "Maximo Alvarez.")
by Charles Martel
posted by Charles R. Martel | 7:06 AM
1 Comments:
Yours is one of the more eloquent posts I've read on this subject, even though I respectfully disagree with your conclusion to boycott Citgo. Don't you think that boycotting Citgo would harm Americans way before it had even a tiny impact on Chavez? And by Americans, I mean people like Maximo Alvarez (an American) who owns gas stations in Florida. Not to mention his employees and their families. What's that cliche about cutting off one's nose to spite one's face?
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