Pastor Maldonado’s victory stirs controversy in Venezuela – Formula 1 news
Pastor Maldonado’s historic win at the Spanish Grand Prix has stirred up some controversy in his native country Venezuela.
Maldonado has been praised over his achievement by his countrymen and the president, Hugo Chavez. Some political activists Yon Goicoechea mainly the opposition to Chavez are pointing at the money invested by the Venezuelan government owned oil company Petroleos
de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA.
The company has shown increased debt recently and while the government in power are saying that they are working in the interests of the poor people the opposition is pointing towards the money invested in an elite sport and also asking for the need to invest
so much money at a sport when it can be utilised better for the people of the country.
An article was published in the EI Universal newspaper titled “Maldonado and the idiots,” and the author Goicoechea says, “No one remembers that Pastor Maldonado costs Pdvsa $66 million a year.” He criticised the way some opposition leaders had praised Maldonado's
performance, saying “What's most probable is that in a few days we'll see him on TV supporting Chavez.”
Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Carlos Ramos has working for months to find out exactly how much money has been used for the sponsorship by the state oil company. He said that despite several requests to get that information he has not received any response
from PDVSA.
He did however mention that he is very happy that Maldonado has won the Grand Prix but the win does not take away the responsibility of knowing fully how the government is planning to spend the public’s money. He also pointed out that the investment had
not received the congressional approval.
Venezuela Sports Minister Hector Rodriguez rubbished the criticism thrown at the issue and said, “Pastor’s triumph is even a triumph for those people who did not believe in him, even the people who criticized him.”
Chavez praised Maldonado in a message on Twitter for what he called “this first triumph in F1.” Maldonado, in turn, warmly thanked Chavez in a Twitter message “For making this historical achievement for Venezuela a reality.”
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