Chavez is no Allende.

• Author: de Araya, Alonzo Alvarez
• Position: Letters to the Editor

I lived in Chile and in Venezuela, and I believe that Steven Dudley's comparison of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez with Chile's Salvador Allende is utterly offensive ("?Adios Presidente?" April issue).

Allende, a pediatrician, was first and foremost a democratic man. He was a leader from the same political party that governs Chile today--akin to Britain's Labour Party or France's Socialist Party. Chavez comes from a quite different background. He was a soldier, and he led a failed coup d'etat, an event that speaks volumes about his non-democratic values.

But...