Chavez Fuels the South Bronx

[Andronex]

Written by Lainie Cassel
Sunday, 11 April 2010 19:49

In 2005, during a visit to the South Bronx in New York City, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a lofty promise to help active community members cope with local issues. A half-decade and a few million dollars later, Chavez’s promise has become a reality and residents from the community are reaping the benefits.

The program, which officially took off in 2007, is controlled by CITGO Petroleum Corporation, the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s national oil company. With a three-year agreement to provide $1 million annually, CITGO’s profits have now funded numerous social projects in what is one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States.

With over 500,000 residents and around 50% living in poverty, no one expected the modest $1 million would generate an economic recovery. However, for many start-up organizations and small nonprofits, the funds have been a vital resource especially during the economic slump. Petro-Bronx, a coalition of resident volunteers, decides through consensus how the money will be divided annually based on proposals submitted by various groups around the South Bronx.

The groups funded are a majority community-based and built as a response to what they argue has been a decades long recession in the South Bronx. From worker-run and food cooperatives to environmental justice and women of color collectives, many of the groups are also creating new democratic alternatives in an area that has received little attention from the city.

more... <http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/2441-chavez-fuels-the-south-bronx>

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Evil, I tells ya. Evil.

Preventing poor people from freezing to death? NOOOOO! That makes Nordic Baby Jesus cry!

[Yuugal]

2. K&R

[troubledamerican]

3. Where's our Colombian "ally" Alvaro Uribe? Funding Appalachia? or Death Squads & mass graves

[HappyCynic]

4. The most telling portion of the article...

I think the most telling portion of the article is this:

In 2005, a letter was written from a dozen US-Senators asking 10 of the largest oil companies to use their record profits to help low-income families pay for home heating oil. CITGO was the only corporation to respond to the call.

There are those against government programs to help the needy or disadvantaged by claiming they should rely on charity. This should be all that's needed for a counter-argument. If large corporations sporting record profits won't donate even a fraction of a percent of their profits, what does that say about the "charity" of the corporations and the expectations one should have regarding reliance on charity?

Regardless of Chavez's or CITGO's motives in the donation, the fact that the only company to help was one with strong foreign ties (to a much maligned government, at that) and none of the "more American" companies makes it all the worse.