The local furor over Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s “devil” comment escalated yesterday with gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos saying he may cancel the Citgo gas contracts at his minimarts on Cape Cod.
“The guy’s just a thug,” said Mihos, who owns nine Christy’s Markets that have distributor contracts with Citgo, a subsidiary of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela. Mihos, who’s dumping millions of dollars into his long-shot independent bid for governor, said he was outraged by Chavez’s anti-American tirade on Wednesday and is mulling what action to take. “We’re talking about this at Christy’s Market, whether to keep with (Citgo),” he told the Herald.
If he breaks his agreements with Citgo, Mihos said he’ll probably lose tens of thousands of dollars. “But there are more important things in life than money,” said the millionaire business owner who sold most of his Christy’s Markets in the late 1990s. He still owns 14 of them on Cape Cod - and nine of those have distributor agreements with Citgo.
The loudmouth Chavez has stirred other trouble in Boston, with one city councilor pushing to replace the iconic Citgo sign in Kenmore Square with a giant American flag to protest Chavez’s “devil” tirade. |