Candidates for the ‘Ignoble Prize’ : Tyrants: For every strongman eliminated last year, another hangs on, abusing his country in defiance of the worldwide trend toward democracy.

With stunning speed, one after another of some of the world’s most loathed figures tumbled from power last year. Gen. Afredo Stroessner of Paraguay was toppled in a military coup, which was followed by elections; Bulgaria’s Todor Zhivkov, Czechoslovakia’s Gustav Husak (and his successor as party secretary, Milos Jakes) and East Germany’s Erich Honecker bowed to enormous popular pressure and resigned; Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran died; Pieter W. Botha of South Africa was hounded out of office by his own party; Gen. Manuel A. Noriega was forcibly toppled from power by the United States; Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s grasp on Chile was finally loosened in a popular referendum that rejected him resoundingly; Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski’s Communist Party was defeated in elections in Poland, and Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu was executed.

The departure of tyrants is cause for celebration, though in some cases (Iran and South Africa), their absence has not ended gross abuses of human rights, and in others (Romania and Panama) the wounds inflicted in the course of the dictators’ leaving will take years to heal. Still, too many despots remain in power, continuing to abuse their countries’ citizens. In 1990, let us hope that they will go the way of 1989’s bumper crop of toppled thugs, thieves and murderers.

Deng Xiaoping of China (along with his aged inner circle) horrified the civilized world when troops and tanks routed thousands of unarmed democracy movement demonstrators from Tian An Men Square. To emphasize the lesson, he executed at least 40, jailed tens of thousands of young people, workers and intellectuals, silenced the press and the universities, and subjected a generation of students to reindoctrination and forced labor.

Saddam Hussein of Iraq has a distinction of his own among tyrants: He is the only one known to have engaged in the widespread use of chemical weapons against his own people. In 1988, thousands of Iraqi Kurds died from nerve-gas poisoning by Hussein’s army, which also destroyed hundreds of centuries-old Kurdish villages and forcibly relocated hundreds of thousands of their residents. Hussein has sent thousands of Iraqis to the torture chambers, and has pursued his critics far beyond the country’s borders by ordering the execution of Iraqi expatriates in Paris and other capitals.

Fidel Castro is the last of the Western Hemisphere’s dictators. As if to flaunt the title, last year he strangled a newly formed human-rights movement by sending its leaders to jail for daring to report on the regime’s abuses. Independent civilian institutions such as labor unions, newspapers and political parties are nonexistent, and scores of political prisoners languish in Cuba’s prisons. Several months ago, Castro rid himself of supposed rivals by conducting an appalling show trial of prominent members of the army and interior ministry. Four were condemned to death and promptly executed.

The “Great Leader” of North Korea (known to the rest of the world as Kim Il Sung) has imposed his cult of personality on the country for more than 40 years, keeping it virtually closed off from the outside world. Thanks to his self-styled divine leadership and a pervasive Communist Party apparatus, every aspect of life is controlled by the government. Thousands of Koreans are in prison, subjected to starvation rations, beatings and other harsh treatment for their perceived opposition to the government. The aging “Great Leader” is preparing to transfer power to his son, the equally repressive cult figure, Kim Jong il--the “Dear Guide.”

Another entrenched strongman is Gen. Suharto of Indonesia, who came to power in a 1966 coup, after which at least half a million unarmed Indonesians were slaughtered to ensure the country’s “stability.” Ten years later, the general extended his regime’s reach by invading and brutally annexing the island of Timor, a former Portuguese colony struggling for independence. Today, the Suharto government holds more than 400 political prisoners--some of whom have been in jail since the mid-1960s.

The 24-year rule of Gen. Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire has made him one of the richest men in the world while impoverishing the Zairian people and bankrupting the country. Jail--and its related components of torture and other abuse--is the usual answer for those attempting to challenge Mobutu’s one-party dictatorship or his severe limits on freedom of expression.

Castro, Hussein, Kim, Suharto, Mobutu and Deng are, unfortunately, not the only candidates for this year’s “Ignoble Prize”; their competition includes Somalia’s Gen. Mohammed Siad Barre, Moammar Kadafi of Libya, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, “Doctor” Samuel Doe of Liberia, Ethiopia’s Mengistu Haile Mariam, and Burma’s behind-the-scenes strongman Ne Win.

The dictators on today’s roster may prove to be more durable than last year’s and linger on as vicious anachronisms. Worse, their ranks may swell as former democracies are overturned (as happened in Sudan last year) or as murderous military forces ignore their weak civilian presidents and rule their countries in fact, if not in name (as is the case in Guatemala). Yet it is comforting to know that the world’s fraternity of dictators is a dwindling band. Let them look upon the repellent company they keep, and ponder the fate of those who departed in 1989.