Where Buying Gas Actually Does Some Good?

I have to drive a car to get to work, sadly. Wish 'tweren't so, alas. Once there though, it's all walking and buses to get around. Our town's local buses are free to encourage mass transit use (yaay!), and it's a college town, so many, many people walk, bike, carpool to work. I have a small car, by choice, but still I need gas. And I drive myself crazy thinking I can't go to Exxon because I still haven't forgiven them for the Valdez disaster, or Shell and Chevron because of Nigeria, or BP because of Columbia. For those of us who worry, some good news on this front:

Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!.

Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.

And tell your friends.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."

Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela -- not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. (Click here to find one near you.) By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela's democratic government is using to provide health care, literacy and education, and subsidized food for the majority of Venezuelans.

Instead of using government to help the rich and the corporate, as Bush does, Chavez is using the resources and oil revenue of his government to help the poor in Venezuela. A country with so much oil wealth shouldn't have 60 percent of its people living in poverty, earning less than $2 per day. With a mass movement behind him, Chavez is confronting poverty in Venezuela. That's why large majorities have consistently backed him in democratic elections. And why the Bush administration supported an attempted military coup in 2002 that sought to overthrow Chavez.

So this is the opposite of a boycott. Call it a BUYcott. Spread the word.

Of course, if you can take mass transit or bike or walk to your job, you should do so. And we should all work for political changes that move our country toward a cleaner environment based on renewable energy. The BUYcott is for those of us who don't have a practical alternative to filling up our cars.

So get your gas at Citgo. And help fuel a democratic revolution in Venezuela.

Comments

[periangel]

Thanks for the info!

[handdrummer]

Many thanks for the info. I just sent it out on my progressive buddy email list. (55 people) Everyone else should do the same.

[The Heretik]

Thanks for the info. Will follow through.

[ae]

periangel, handdrummer, 'tik, you're so welcome. Thanks for sending it around. I sent it to my progressive buddy list, too (though mine's smaller). I hope this gets some attention! =)

[Pat]

Umm... as bad as some of those other countries are... you are a fool to actually think Venezuela is a democracy. Also, thanks to Bush you got a tax cut. Certainly you can argue that dollar wise the rich got a bigger tax cut but thats because they are paying MORE!!! You should really get your news from sources other than Michael Moore or Moveon.org