Ch=E1vez, Seeking Foreign Allies, Spends Billions
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/world/americas/04venezuela.html?_r=3D1&or=
ef=3Dslogin&pagewanted=3Dall
By JUAN FORERO
Published: April 4, 2006
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Ch=E1vez is spending billions of
dollars of his country's oil windfall on pet projects abroad, aimed at
setting up his leftist government as a political counterpoint to the
conservative Bush administration in the region.
With Venezuela's oil revenues rising 32 percent last year, Mr. Ch=E1vez
has been subsidizing samba parades in Brazil, eye surgery for poor
Mexicans and even heating fuel for poor families from Maine to the
Bronx to Philadelphia. By some estimates, the spending now surpasses
the nearly $2 billion Washington allocates annually to pay for
development programs and the drug war in western South America.
.
|
