(CNSNews.com) - One of Congress's most outspoken critics of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez Monday called on former Massachusetts lawmaker Joe Kennedy to stop airing television advertisements that give "shameless support" to "the most dangerous man in the Western Hemisphere."

Calling Chavez "a sworn enemy of the United States," Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) wrote in a letter to Kennedy that "there is absolutely no excuse for you to be praising him in television commercials and media interviews for any reason whatsoever."

"More than 40 years ago, your uncle - President John F. Kennedy - spoke about the perils of communism in the Western Hemisphere and the threats posed by Fidel Castro, saying: 'We and our Latin friends will have to face the fact that we cannot postpone any longer the real issue of survival of freedom in this hemisphere itself,'" Mack noted.

"Those words still ring true today," he added.

Stephanie DuBois, a spokesperson for Mack, told Cybercast News Service the letter was sparked by the fact that CITGO, a Houston-based oil company owned by the Venezuelan government, is providing heating oil at a 40 percent discount to Citizens Energy Corporation, which Kennedy founded in 1979 and heads as chairman and president.

According to the non-profit energy company's website, Citizens "exists to help make life's basic needs more accessible and affordable."

The site says the company signed its first crude oil contract with Venezuela in November 1979. Citizens continued to receive gas from the country after Chavez came into power in December 1998.

"Hugo Chavez is providing your company 'low-cost heating oil' not to help the American people, but rather to exploit his apologists in the name of public relations," Mack stated in his letter on Monday.

DuBois said that one form of support Kennedy provides Chavez in the U.S. is television commercials promoting his company and praising its relationship with Venezuela.

One such commercial begins with video of an elderly Caucasian man, who says in a voiceover, "I wear two pairs of long underwear and a jacket, and that's inside my house."

The scene then shifts to an elderly African-American woman. "I'm 84 and alone," she states. "I had to drag an iron cot from the basement to the kitchen so I could sleep by the oven."

"I'm Joe Kennedy. Help is on the way," the former congressman says in a voiceover while the ad shows him on an oil rig in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. "Heating oil at 40 percent off from our friends at Venezuela and CITGO. Call me at Citizens Energy ..."

"No one should be left out in the cold," he concludes.

In his letter to Kennedy, Mack wrote: "Sadly, you have chosen to actively participate in [Chavez'] charade even as he continues to attack the United States, our leaders and freedom-loving people everywhere."

'The Mack Doctrine'

Relations between Venezuela and the United States have deteriorated significantly since Chavez came to power.

By 2001, matters had grown so bad that after one of many tirades by Chavez against President Bush, the U.S. withdrew its ambassador from Caracas.

The antagonism between the two countries has continued ever since, as evidenced by Chavez calling Bush "the devil" during an address to the United Nations in September 2006.

Late last year, Chavez won another six-year termin office, and last month, Venezuelan lawmakers loyal to Chavez approved a measure granting the U.S.-baiting populist leader authority to rule by decree for the next 18 months.

Kennedy responded with a letter of his own late Monday.

"I appreciate your interest, however misguided your conclusions may be, regarding our efforts to provide low-cost heating oil to thousands of low-income people, whose federal fuel benefits, by the way, you voted to cut by over $1 billion just a few months ago," he wrote.

"If, in fact, your objection to our program is the politics of President Chavez and the actions that he's taken - which you feel threaten our democracy - I would suggest you hold all 558 million barrels of oil we import annually from Venezuela to the same moral standard and not just the small slice we provide at a discount to the poor," he added.

Kennedy said he has "a lot of disagreements" with the Venezuelan leader, "but what are we supposed to do in the absence of adequate help from the federal government or of any help from other oil companies - turn down the fuel for those in need?"

"Once we've followed the Mack Doctrine and refused oil from every country that fails to meet our disciplined moral standards, I'm sure you'll enjoy your walks to Washington -because there won't be fuel to fly you there," he said.

Mack told Cybercast News Service that reading Kennedy's response left him with several questions.

"What is his relationship to Hugo Chavez?" the Florida Republican asked. "Was there a contract that Joe had to say and do certain things in his commercials to get the heating oil?

"The point of this for me is that all this looks like a self-promotion for Joe, so why is he aligning himself with and being part of a propaganda machine for Hugo Chavez? That's the question that most needs to be asked and answered," Mack added.

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