If you haven't figured it out, Fidel Castro continues with the same party line: "There is one party here, and I am giving it." For those of you who think Cuba is opening up to the outside world, think again.
As soon as we think that Mr. Castro is ready to open up to democratic changes in Cuba, he starts the party again, except this time his party included downing two American civilian unarmed aircraft and jailing more than 100 dissidents. Last year, it was the sinking of the tugboat 13 de Marzo, in which 41 men, women and children drowned after the tugboat was rammed by Cuban coast guard vessels. What's next?
It appears that our Cuba policy is based on the rock-throwing concept: Mr. Castro throws a rock, and we duck, except this time the rock struck two civilian aircraft, killing four Americans on board. And our response - a tougher embargo. It's a good start, but how will Cubans know that our intentions are good?
We could let them know in many different ways, as Adrian Karatnycky and Frank Calzon suggested in their March 4 Op-Ed article "Dealing with Fidel." They advocate using TV, radio, periodicals and the Internet to promote democratic and free-market values to counter the communist propaganda machine that will eventually put U.S. Cuba policy on the bottom of the pile.
If we are not willing to have a comprehensive program for a peaceful democratic transition in Cuba, including the promotion of freedom, as mentioned by Mr. Karatnycky and Mr. Calzon, then let's sit back and wait for the next rock and hope that it doesn't hit us or our loved ones.
MIGUEL E. LOPEZ Silver Spring
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