As U.S. heating aid drops, Venezuela chips in

Close to 200,000 poor families in 15 cold-weather states – in every Northeastern state except New Hampshire – can thank controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for helping them heat their homes this winter. The Venezuelan-controlled oil-refining company, Citgo Petroleum Corp., donated 45 million gallons of free home heating oil this winter in a move that bought good publicity for the country’s socialist leader, who famously called President Bush “the devil” in a 2006 United Nations speech.