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Posted on Tue, Sep. 06, 2005
Venezuela's Citgo sets up hurricane relief centers
JORGE RUEDA
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum Corp. has set up
disaster relief centers in Texas and Louisiana in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina and has begun providing humanitarian aid to thousands of
American victims, an official said Monday.
Volunteers at Citgo refineries in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and
Corpus Christi, Texas, are providing medical care, food and water to a
total of about 5,000 people, Venezuela emergency management director Col.
Antonio Rivero told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, volunteers from the company's Houston headquarters have
provided similar help to some 40,000 victims, Rivero said.
The oil producing country, a major supplier to the United States,
also will follow through on its offer to send 1 million barrels of
gasoline to the disaster zone as soon as possible, Oil Minister Rafael
Ramirez said during a visit to Jamaica.
"We're working to put those barrels in place in the shortest time
possible," Ramirez said. He said Citgo, which is owned by the state oil
firm Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., would distribute the donated fuel.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered to send the gasoline
plus $5 million in disaster aid and a team of 200 humanitarian workers
drawn from a special force of soldiers, firefighters and other
specialists.
At the same time, he has sharply criticized the U.S. government for
failing to evacuate the victims before disaster struck.
Chavez - a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and a frequent
critic of U.S. President George W. Bush - has said many lives could have
been saved if the U.S. government had been better prepared for Katrina.
U.S. officials in Washington have said they will accept all aid
offers, though Chavez said Sunday that the American government had yet to
respond to Venezuela's offer of aid workers.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12572483.htm
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