A new tyrant.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the editor)

Otto J. Reich and NATIONAL REVIEW should be celebrated for exposing the threat posed by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez ("Latin America's Terrible Two," April 11).

The human-rights record of Lieutenant Colonel Chavez is appalling. Thousands of Venezuelans have been arrested, intimidated, or fired from their jobs for having signed a petition seeking Chavez's resignation. There are hundreds of individuals currently facing trumped-up charges for opposing him. There are scores already in prison. In one case, jailed opponents in the Fuerte Mara prison were torched to death with flame-throwers. The government refuses to concede that there have been any disappearances at all. Beyond imprisoning, torturing, and killing his opponents-unfortunate mischief to those who observe Venezuela from afar--Chavez's foreign policy is increasingly apparent as a clear and present danger to the safety of the hemisphere. Reich's report brought needed attention to what might be the next crisis in the Americas.

For those, like President Jimmy Carter, who ignore the dead bodies of the regime's opponents and cling to the fantasy that Chavez is a ...