U.N. needs to challenge Venezuela rights abuses

Jackson Diehl rightly highlights the ordeal of Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of Venezuela’s last opposition TV station, and notes the protest by Frank La Rue, the United Nations’ free-speech monitor [“Defying Chávez’s iron fist,” op-ed, July 12]. Tragically, Mr. La Rue’s stand against abuses by the regime of Hugo Chávez has been the exception at the world body. The 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council to which Mr. La Rue must report — dominated by dictatorships such as China, Cuba and Libya — has turned a blind eye to Mr. Chávez’s trampling of basic human rights and due process. Instead, in one of its few resolutions not condemning Israel, the council last year endorsed ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, reportedly a beneficiary of Mr. Chávez’s oil money and private jets. Last month, the council unanimously elected another Chávez ally, ex-Sandinista Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, as one of its advisers. Which is all the more reason the United States and the European Union must embolden the few U.N. voices willing to defy this authoritarianism. The international community should demand that Venezuela accept Mr. La Rue’s request to visit and investigate. As the space for free expression shrinks at alarming speed, unflinching solidarity with Venezuela’s courageous dissidents is crucial.