<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=465 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=t18>Venezuela announces assistance plan for poor people in US</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right><SCRIPT language=javascript><!-- drawline1(); //--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT langage="javascript"> printResizeButton(); </SCRIPT> </TD></TR><TR><TD>
The Venezuelan government said Sunday that it will provide assistance for at least 7 million poor people in the United States, the world's first economic power, despite struggling against poverty in its own territory.

In a Sunday radio and television program, President Hugo Chavez said that there are many poor people in the United States, and every year a large number of them die of cold during the winter.

That is why "we're going to offer fuel for heating that is 40 percent cheaper" than market prices, said Chavez, adding that the plan would benefit 7 million to 8 million poor people in the United States.

He said the price reduction would be attained through the elimination of intermediaries, with the sale being made directly through Citgo, a US branch of Venezuela's state-run petroleum company PDVSA.

Chavez said the fuel would be distributed to the poor through organizations headed by veteran defender of civil rights in the United States, Jesse Jackson, actor Danny Glover and other personalities.

Jackson, who is currently visiting Venezuela, joined Chavez on television to announce his involvement with the plan.

In addition to fuel subsidies, the Venezuelan assistance plan will also include more than 150,000 eye surgeries a year for US people and 242,000 for people from other Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Source: Xinhua


http://english.people.com.cn/200508/...29_205053.html
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>