Dear Editor:

I've been reading and rereading Dale Van Atta's article on the "World's Most Dangerous Leaders". His focus on Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez as a threat to "the security of countries well beyond [its] borders" is an exaggeration at best and maligning at worst.

Admittedly, Chavez is no flatterer of President Bush or Condoleeza Rice. Yes, he did refer to our President as "the devil" in his address to the UN last September. Okay, so he's passionate in his speaking and his feelings about freeing Venezuela and Latin America from what he and his supporters see as oligarchical constraints. Yes he is something of a big-mouth.

However, I  recently traveled to Venezuela on a study abroad program from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It was a ten-day program: "Agrarian Reform and Agro-Ecological Farming in Venezuela". We visited cooperative farms and campesina farmers to learn about land reform and government-supported programs to attain food sovereignty, reducing the country's dependence on imported food.

Some of the farmers we met were among those evicted from the land in the 1950's. "Landgrabbers" let them prepare for planting. When the soil was ready, the campesinas were run off the land. The new "owners" then had sugarcane planted or let the land lie fallow so they had somewhere to ride their horses.  

These are the "landlords" we hear complaining about the government stealing their land. In most cases, they held no title. They simply claimed the land and put up fences while the government turned a blind eye. This is the land being reclaimed.

In cases where there is legitimate title, the owners are compensated. Cooperatives are formed to renew the soil, grow food and produce seeds for future planting. Land titles are distributed to the cooperatives. The national agriculture bank provides funding for equipment, seeds and such, with delayed repayment at a very low interest rate. The land must be farmed for title to be retained. The campesinas are also working toward all organic growing and pest control.

Upon our return to Caracas, we met some of the farmers selling their produce in the streets at prices much lower than the commercial markets. Venezuela has a very high rate of food importation causing prices in the commercial markets to be out of reach for barrio dwellers. Whatever is left at the end of the day is purchased by the government and distributed to the poor.

By now you may be thinking, "She's young, idealistic, impressionable and naive." I have recently celebrated my 50th birthday. I am what they call in the academic world a "nontraditional" or "returning" student. So, I am neither young nor naive. I have, however, retained some of the idealism of my youth and am impressionable but discerning.

I was impressed by what I saw in the land reform movement as well as other social programs we visited: an orphanage; a home for pregnant teens where they learn marketable skills; a lunch site for seniors; a community for campesinas working the cooperatives which has its own school, medical center, cyber and telephone center, and radio station.

This is where the money from the increased oil prices is going, to the marginalized of Venezuela. To these people Chavez is a hero. These people flooded the streets and turned the attempted 2002 coup into a victory for "their" president.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth (Beth) Sidlow