PetroPalestine: Another Clash Between Chavez Supporters and Opponents in Venezuela

PuertoLaCruz

Oil production plant in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. Photo taken by Flickr user Jumanji Solar. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Following the Venezuelan government's announcement of an agreement to send oil and diesel to Palestine, the hashtag #Petropalestina [es] was a trending topic on Twitter for most of the weekend of May 17th, and is still active. Under that label, users discussed possible drawbacks and doubts on the one hand, and the importance of helping the Palestinian people on the other, illustrating how political polarization and tough conditions in the country are having an impact on their expressed opinions and positions:

One side expressed doubts about the benefits of the agreement:

While [president] Nicolas Maduro makes agreements that don't benefit the country, the economy gets worse. What are we gaining with PetroPalestine? I don't understand.

Gaetano Coccorese and Angel Cabellos used images to illustrate what they see as an unbalanced business transaction.

Diagram of the PetroPalestine agreement for dummies, HERE.

Venezuela made oil deals with Cuba and we all know who won. Now we'll see who wins with PetroPalestine.

Today the government created “PetroPalestine,” but I'm still looking for PetroFlourBread, PetroMilk, PetroSugar, PetroSafety.

Today GM closed, Alitalia and Lufthansa shut down their flights… but PetroPalestine was born!!

Meanwhile, supporters of the government were not surprised by the reaction:

Of course the Obama Administration is already trying to discredit PetroPalestine… It goes against its Hegemony and Geostrategy. HAHAHA

Similarly, some expressed indignation about opposition to the agreement:

To see what the anti-Chavez crowd is saying under the PetroPalestine hashtag is to realize that they have NO IDEA how the Palestinian people have suffered.

To which @ArellanoCFC responded:

@lubrio So? Let's cry for Palestine? We don't even have domestic gas here.

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