Last week, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez took the podium at the United Nations and proceeded to blast the Bush administration and the United States. He repeatedly called President George W. Bush “the devil” and that the council chambers “still smells of sulfur” all the while genuflecting and looking heavenward. As if this was not enough to convince everyone of his benevolent intentions, he then staged a PR coup at a Harlem church to hand out discounted heating oil contracts to disadvantaged families in America through Citgo, the wholly-owned Venezuelan government oil company.

Last week, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez took the podium at the United Nations and proceeded to blast the Bush administration and the United States. He repeatedly called President George W. Bush “the devil” and that the council chambers “still smells of sulfur” all the while genuflecting and looking heavenward. As if this was not enough to convince everyone of his benevolent intentions, he then staged a PR coup at a Harlem church to hand out discounted heating oil contracts to disadvantaged families in America through Citgo, the wholly-owned Venezuelan government oil company.

There’s no question that Bush has his fair share of detractors in the U.S., but Chavez’s rhetoric was simply over the top for a world leader speaking in a diplomatic forum. And to have the proverbial cojones to then go and pander to the American poor is simply outrageous.

Chavez, along with his cronies Castro and Ahmedinejad, have clearly drawn a line in the sand, and have stood on the side of it against the U.S. and its allies. Should we continue to reward this belligerent behavior by patronizing Citgo stations? To continue buying Iranian oil? I believe that instead of rolling over and letting these Banana Republic despots run roughshod over us, Americans should voluntarily boycott Citgo stations as well as imposing formal trade sanctions against Iranian oil.

Yes, I’m well aware that most Americans probably don’t know or care what’s going on with international petro-politics, caring more about “America’s Next Top Model” or “Deal or No Deal.” So in all likelihood, my fingers are laboring in vain with this post. But I can only hope we will build the collective political and strategic will to fast-track research and development into technologies that will allow us to become truly energy independent. Thus, we can pull out of international hot-spots like Iraq and elsewhere that we are currently so dependent on, and allow us to flip the proverbial bird to Chavez and friends.

- Edward A. Sanchez