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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kip518 who wrote (170378)	9/1/2005 9:38:58 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Chavez Criticizes U.S. Response to Katrina freerepublic.com NewsMax.com ^ \| Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005 \| NewsMax.com CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez offered humanitarian relief Wednesday in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina but sharply criticized the U.S. government's planning and response to the disaster. Chavez focused his criticism on U.S. President George W. Bush, calling him "the King of Vacations," referring to the fact he was at his Texas ranch when the hurricane struck. "As more information comes out now, a terrible truth is becoming evident: That government doesn't have evacuation plans," Chavez said during a speech. He said Bush, "there at his ranch, said nothing more than 'you need to flee;' he didn't even say how - in cowboy style." In contrast to an earthquake or tsunami, the hurricane came "in slow motion," and U.S. authorities had time to plan, Chavez said. "There are many innocent people who left in the direction of the hurricane. No one told them where they should go," Chavez said. "It's surprising how in a city that has the ocean on one side, and is below sea level, there wasn't an evacuation plan." He praised Cuba's record of organizing evacuations ahead of hurricanes as an example. "We all saw the long lines of desperate people leaving that city in vehicles, those who had vehicles," Chavez said, adding that the area hit by Katrina includes "some of the poorest in the United States, most of them black." "How is it possible that this occurs in the United States and the 'King of Vacations' says 'flee to high ground'?" Chavez said. "It isn't known how many dead there are." The Venezuelan leader, a fierce critic of Bush, spoke just hours after Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged a US$1 million (euro820,000) donation for hurricane aid, and after his government offered humanitarian workers and fuel to help. "It's a terrible tragedy that our North American brothers are living through," Chavez said. "We have a battalion from our Simon Bolivar humanitarian team ready in case they authorize it for us to go there, if they give us the green light." He said Citgo was already giving aid to some 2,000 flood victims in the area of its refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana. "We have given US$1 million (euro820,000), a modest sum," he said. The funds from Citgo - based in Houston and owned by state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. - will be directed to aid organizations in affected areas, company president Felix Rodriguez said in a statement. Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, is a major supplier of fuel to the United States, though relations have been tense between Washington and Chavez, a self-proclaimed "revolutionary" with close ties to Cuba's Fidel Castro. "We are willing to donate fuel for hospitals, for public transport, everything we can do," Chavez said, without specifying how much fuel. Meanwhile, Citgo asked for 250,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil Monday from the U.S. federal petroleum reserves to ensure that its Lake Charles refinery doesn't run out. Chavez said the fierceness of recent hurricanes is a product of global warming, and blamed in large part "capitalist consumerism" championed by the United States. He noted the United States hasn't signed the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing so-called "greenhouse gases."