"I don't deal with that country. I don't know what they're about," said James Cager, 52, whose brick and stucco home in the Lower 9th Ward flooded to the rooftop. "If our government felt that it's not a good idea to take from them, then we have to go with that."

Others regret an offer to provide help in a desperate time was turned down. Mtangulizi Sanyika, 70, lived in New Orleans at the time of the storm and now resides in Houston. He said Katrina's victims weren't concerned with the ideological origins of the aid.

"An offer from Mr. Chavez may be multidimensional," Sanyika said. "Yes, it might be said he was seeking to embarrass the United States. On the other side, he could have been genuine."