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| Citgo boycott leads gas station owners to drop Venezuelan supplier |
| 2008-03-05 |
| The Bush administration may be trying to ignore Hugo Chavez, but some local gas station owners are moving to protect themselves from the backlash against the Venezuelan president's anti-American rhetoric. Calls by some across the country to boycott gasoline sold by Venezuelan-owned Citgo are cutting into sales, prompting some station owners to move to other suppliers. George Vazquez, owner of a convenience store and gas station on Kingston Pike in West Knoxville, is among several local independent Citgo station operators who will be switching to Marathon Oil of Findlay, Ohio, in the coming weeks. "My gas sales were down 30 percent last year," Vazquez said. "People will come into the store and buy groceries, but they tell me they won't buy gas from Citgo." The problems with Citgo increased after Chavez's September 2006 visit to the United Nations where he referred to President Bush as "the devil." Calls for boycotts of Citgo were heard in states from Massachusetts to Florida following Chavez's U.N. visit. Shortly after the U.N. speech, 7-Eleven stores announced they would cancel a 20-year contract with Citgo that supplied 2,100 stations. Citgo, based in Houston, is owned by PDV America Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the national oil company of Venezuela. "All of our stations are independently owned," said Annabell Lopez-Curtis, spokeswoman for Citgo in Houston. "They make their own decisions." Ohio-based Marathon is gaining strength in Tennessee. The number of Marathon stations in Tennessee increased from 84 to 103 between March and December 2007, said Marathon spokeswoman Linda Casey. The new Marathon stations have converted from a variety of other brands, including Citgo, but there is a clear trend with Citgo gas retailers, Casey said. Banners at Vazquez's store proclaimed the switch to "American-owned" Marathon. A lighted sign visible from Kingston Pike declared "Hugo Chavez you are out of here." Vazquez, who immigrated from Argentina 32 years ago, said he is not trying to make a political statement against Chavez but that he is responding to the sentiments of his customers. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #13 Short school buses, anyway. |
| Posted by: SR-71 2008-03-05 19:07 |
| #12 Short school buses, anyway. |
| Posted by: SR-71 2008-03-05 19:07 |
| #11 Dang, Darrell! Dem Rooskies be everywhere. Hope they don't try to penetrate the Virginia market. (Though they'd probabaly have a hard time beating out WaWa & Sheetz, who are proliferating like crazy here.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-03-05 18:49 |
| #10 I've got two within a mile here in southeastern PA. They were formerly Mobil stations. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2008-03-05 17:55 |
| #9 Do we have any Lukoil stations in the State, Darrell? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-03-05 15:58 |
| #8 China and India have 1/2 of the world's population. And in India, about 70% of that population are illiterate and backwards tribal and villagers that have no interest in education. |
| Posted by: Omomoger the Fat4169 2008-03-05 14:26 |
| #7 Citgo is not the only pump to pass: Lukoil is Russian-owned. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2008-03-05 12:30 |
| #6 Havn't seen the inside of a Citgo in over 5 years. I don't shop at china-mart. Folks, your dollar makes a difference. My guess is that they are not opening any new stores because nobody wants to put their money into that risk. So as the new markets open all the citgo stores, probably requiring a facelift by now, can only sit there and rot in old markets. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-03-05 11:46 |
| #5 Numbers aren't everything. But be like a CIA analysts and deal with numbers rather than underlying constructs. The Chinese are one in name only. They are as much unified as Euros are by a multi cultural identity of 'we'. However, when you get down under the skin, you find a lot of regionalism and ethnic divides. Same with mainland China, it is not a homogeneous whole. Let's take your statement and put in perspective - If Russia wants Poland, Russia gets Poland. You think it will be that easy today? If you throw in all the 'Rus' and ethnic numbers numbers out there circa 1980 and Poland's military position, you'd make a point. Comes the collapse of the first Soviet Union and witness the raise of nationalism that suddenly makes once whole a lot smaller subunit. Russia could make it happen by nuking them, but short of that they know its an iffy fight because they know the Poles will fight and fight hard and that their own forces are less than world class. They had to get an assist from the Germans in 1939 just to get the chunk they hold on to now. My point however, is that the central government in Beijing has not had to deal with massive disruptive economic displacement after a continuous raise in both in prosperity and expectations. A collapse of those even in western democracies create crises that governments in power seldom survive. Those who enjoyed the 'good life', particularly those regional governments, are not going to take lightly having it thrown away by an adventure. It will begin a collapse of the power of those who directed any such acts. That's when China cycles back through the historical pattern of fracture, states, war, reunification that they have experienced for thousands of years. Its fascinating how the prelude to each fracture features what can be termed massive corruption of the central government and its ministers and how that plays out now. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-03-05 11:45 |
| #4 and Taiwan will, at some point, want to be a part of China again. About as likely as Americans wanting to be British again. You should check at Taiwan's history since its colonization by the Han: it has spent more time out than in China. Also 85% of Taiwanese descend from people who were in Taiwan before the Japanese invasion and they don't feel themselves Chinese at all. I am not even sure they would change minds if China became a democracy. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-03-05 11:39 |
| #3 China has 1/4 of the world's population. Together China and India have 1/2 of the world's population. They can pretty much do whatever they want. Unfortunately they've also got a corner on the world's poor. And they don't have a corner on the world's fertile land. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-03-05 11:15 |
| #2 China is a totally different story. If China wants Taiwan, China gets Taiwan. What I think is going to happen over time is that China will change as they develop and prosper and Taiwan will, at some point, want to be a part of China again. China has 1/4 of the world's population. Together China and India have 1/2 of the world's population. They can pretty much do whatever they want. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-03-05 11:08 |
| #1 China take note. You use force to take Taiwan, the American People [screw the State Department] are going to inspect every item that is labeled Made in China. There will be a special internet alert for companies carrying relabeled products. Hope you can weather double digit unemployment for years in the land of raising expectations. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-03-05 10:01 |