A Castro ally with oil cash vexes the US | csmonitor.com:
"Name calling is nothing new to this story. The Venezuelan leader has called President Bush a 'jerk,' the US government a 'mafia of assassins,' and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice an 'illiterate.' Just this week, Cuba and Venezuela have lambasted the US for not immediately turning over Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted on suspicion of blowing up a Cuban airliner in Venezuela in 1976, killing 73 people. They accuse the US of 'harboring terrorists.'
'The US is a very ideologically oriented administration and has a lot of animosity toward us,' says Andr�s Izarra, Venezuela's minister of information. 'But we can ally ourselves with whomever we want.' Since the so-called misi�n barrio adentro, or mission inside the neighborhood, was started in 2003, some 60 percent of the population have received healthcare at one of the 300 clinics, and 2,575 lives have been saved, says Mr. Izarra. 'What is the cost of 2,575 lives saved?' he asks. 'Cuba is our ally in the war against poverty and illiteracy. We are thankful to them, and we can show it in any way we please.'"