Philly latest to get discounted Venezuelan oil

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ven29.html

PHILADELPHIA -- Low- income families in the Philadelphia area will receive discounted Venezuelan heating oil in the latest deal bringing fuel to U.S. communities that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says are neglected by Washington.

Citgo, the Houston subsidiary of the Venezuelan national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, will ship 5 million gallons of heating oil marked down by 40 percent for distribution to low-income families next month in a deal brokered by Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah.

Similar shipments have been made to New York City, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and American Indian reservations in Maine. In Chicago, the CTA spurned a similar deal.

'This is not a political matter'

The Venezuelan national oil company ran full-page ads in the Washington Post and the New York Times touting the "humanitarian aid" and "generosity." Chavez's critics portray the heating oil deals as a ploy to tweak the administration of President Bush, whom Chavez has attacked as a "madman."