Letters

(3 of 3)

Looking Beyond Castro

I was waiting to see what time would say about Fidel Castro's crackdown on Cuban dissidents [WORLD, May 19]. Tim Padgett's thoughtful and balanced appraisal of Oswaldo Paya, the Cuban dissident who stayed in the country to work for democratic reform, was worth the wait. Paya's drive calling for a plebiscite on free speech and multiparty elections has placed the emphasis on a hopeful future. Castro has run Cuba as his feudal estate for 44 years, but his naive supporters are finally seeing him for the tyrant he is. As Padgett wrote, Paya has succeeded in "wresting the Cuba debate away from pro-and anti-Castro extremists." The debate is now about measures that will be pro-or anti-Cuba, the freedom of its people from tyranny and oppression, with the understanding that Cuba and Castro are not synonymous.
MARIJEAN MIYAR
Coral Gables, Fla.

I wish Bush would show the same guts in dealing with Castro that he showed with Saddam. Both are murderous dictators. Why not have our troops stop by and take care of Cuba on the way back from the gulf?
ROY U. ROJAS WAHL
Teaneck, N.J.

It is refreshing to see someone like Paya fight for what he believes in with reason and logic rather than with Latin emotion. For years I have argued over the futility of the embargo with my fellow Cuban Americans, to no avail. Perhaps it takes someone still living inside Cuba to better understand that the embargo serves only to perpetuate the interests of Castro's government. And the restrictions on U.S. citizens' traveling to Cuba prevent an open dialogue with Cubans who are still think the U.S. wishes them harm. Unlike many of us who chose to leave Cuba, Paya has stayed and struggled for change from within. He has earned my respect and support.
ALEJANDRO GARCIA
Plano, Texas

The Young Hitler

Your story on the mini-series Hitler: The Rise of Evil [TELEVISION, May 19] reported that many people were concerned that this biography of Adolf Hitler would risk humanizing the tyrant as if this were a bad thing! What better way to combat evil than to understand it in its full context? We must comprehend all the facets human and inhuman of Hitler's life in order to appreciate fully the horror that his hate brought to the world. In refusing to pay attention to the disturbing ways in which Hitler may have resembled a normal person, the world runs the risk of allowing another Hitler figure to twist our minds.
HAYWOOD FOARD
Gloucester, Va.

Cheney's Life Support

How nice to hear Vice President Dick Cheney gloating that he has "a doc with me 24 hours a day" [VERBATIM, May 19]. It should be mighty encouraging to the U.S.'s uncounted millions of uninsured workers to know that their withholding taxes are helping pay for Cheney's round-the-clock medical care, even though these workers couldn't pry their way into their own doctor's office with a crowbar. Isn't there anything that would shame this rich-get-richer, poor-get-poorer Administration? Apparently not.
GLENN HODGES
Memphis, Tenn.