By Azriel James Relph
azriel.james.relph@gmail.com
The funding for the North Brother Island Initiative did not fall from the sky. It came from somewhere perhaps just as unlikely, one of the United States’ most vocal critics, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
The initiative began with a grant from CITGO, the American arm of the Venezuelan National Petroleum Corporation, announced in a full-page ad in the New York Times on Sept. 26, 2007 that proclaimed, “Venezuela and The Bronx: Building a Bridge of Solidarity for the People.”
All told, CITGO distributed $4 million to various South Bronx social development and environmental groups, including The Point, Rocking the Boat and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. Chavez first visited Hunts Point in 2005, when CITGO delivered discounted heating oil to South Bronx residents. While the money earned him praise, it also sparked criticism from people who warned they were the propaganda efforts of an antagonistic autocrat. Chavez has called the United States an “evil empire” and “terrorist state.” He maintains close ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), which the State Department characterizes as the largest terrorist organization in Latin America. His beneficiaries shrug the criticism off. “We’re a non-profit. From our point of view, money is money,” said Adam Liebowitz, program director of ACTION, which is based at The Point. While most of the groups that the oil company grant funded used the money to keep their regular programs operating, The Point directed its money to ACTION to start a brand-new program, and raised additional funds to augment the CITGO grant. “There was always a desire to have part of ACTION be environmental work,” said Liebowitz. “This was the opportunity to do that, and the closest natural habitat we have are the islands.”