SAN ANTONIO - United States flags are normally lowered to half staff when one of the country's leaders dies, but a Venezuela-based company lowered it when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died.
Both U.S. and state flags at Citgo headquarters in Houston, Corpus Christi and Lake Charles, Louisiana, were lowered to honor Chavez, who died on Tuesday.
A statement from the company read "We at Citgo Petroleum Corporation are deeply saddened by the news of his passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the people of Venezuela in this time of grief."
Chavez was not a friend to the United States.
His inner circle has long claimed the U.S. was behind a failed 2002 attempt to overthrow him.
In a 2006 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Chavez called President George W. Bush 'the devil,' saying the podium reeked of sulfur after Bush's address.
