There was a time not long ago when boats coming out of Venezuela were beloved, not bombed.

That was when the late Venezuelan strongman and populist Hugo Chavez allowed for the shipment of millions of gallons of discounted home heating oil to needy families in Boston and elsewhere.

It was a humanitarian—and political—move by the charismatic Chavez aimed at providing low-cost heating oil to families in need, homeless shelters. and poor families that maxed out on the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

It was also a dig at then President George W. Bush following the spike in domestic oil prices after Hurricane Katrina. That deadly hurricane took 1,833 lives.

The hurricane in August 2005 also seriously disrupted the production of oil and shut down refineries in the Gulf of A

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