PetroPalestine: Another Clash Between Chavez Supporters and Opponents in Venezuela · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

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:
Mientras @NicolasMaduro hace acuerdos que no son beneficiosos para el pais la economia se agrava,¿Que ganamos con petropalestina?no entiendo
— TIGRE FANTASMA (@MafiaUniversal) May 17, 2014
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.
Esquema del acuerdo PetroPalestina para Dummies, ESTO: pic.twitter.com/cxGC22EhaE
— Gaetano Coccorese (@Gaetano_lo_hace) May 16, 2014
Diagram of the PetroPalestine agreement for dummies, HERE.
Venezuela hizo negocios petroleros con Cuba y sabemos quién salió ganando.Ahora veremos quién gana con PetroPalestina pic.twitter.com/jMYskjVyLr
— Angel Ceballos (@AngelCeballos5) Mayo 16, 2014
Venezuela made oil deals with Cuba and we all know who won. Now we'll see who wins with PetroPalestine.
Ahora el gobierno inventó “PetroPalestina”, y yo todavía sigo sin encontrar PetroHarinaPan, PetroLeche, PetroAzucar, PetroSeguridad
— César Capuskicapubul (@Remardicient0) Mayo 16, 2014
Today the government created “PetroPalestine,” but I'm still looking for PetroFlourBread, PetroMilk, PetroSugar, PetroSafety.
Hoy cerró GM, Alitalia y Lufthansa cerraron sus vuelos… pero nace Petropalestina!!
— Gabriel Lischinsky (@Glisare) Mayo 16, 2014
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:
Por supuesto ya el Gobierno De Obama prepara descalificaciones contra PetroPalestina….Va en contra de su Hegemonía y Geo Estrategia.JAJAAJ
— #TROPACANDANGA (@PANACIMARRON) May 17, 2014
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:
Ver cómo se expresan los escuálidos en etiqueta Petropalestina, es darse cuenta de q no tienen NI IDEA del sufrimiento del pueblo palestino
— Luigino Bracci Roa (@lubrio) May 16, 2014
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 Entonces? lloramos por palestina? y aqui no se encuentra ni gas domestico.
— ? (@ArellanoCFC) Mayo 16, 2014
@lubrio So? Let's cry for Palestine? We don't even have domestic gas here.