Castro’s Cuba

Re the Jan. 25 Opinion article by Walter Russell Mead on U.S.-Cuba relations, I find his deductions to be very timely and logical. However, I wonder if as a Cuban exile I can find it in my heart to start a dialogue with Fidel Castro while thinking of the time that my mother spent doing forced labor in Cuban fields for only the crime of wanting to leave Cuba to join her only son--myself--who had left Cuba alone years earlier.

JOSE FERNANDEZ

Los Angeles

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* In his otherwise insightful piece on the prospect of a new, more harmonious era in Cuban-American relations, Mead speculates that “worldwide publicity for the papal visit will help convince European and Canadian tourists that Cuba is a safe as well as a cheap and attractive destination.”

In fact, Canadians--and Europeans too--need no persuading about the safety or attractiveness of Cuba. We are well aware that Cuba is probably the most crime-free nation, with one of the healthiest, most highly educated populations, in all Latin America. And we have been flocking there by the tens of thousands for years to take full advantage of a beautiful tropical country that remains delightfully uncluttered by Americans! Your loss is our gain.

ALEXANDER NORRIS

Montreal

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* It was to be Castro’s week to grab the headlines. He’s labored for years to engineer the pope’s visit to Cuba. He must be thinking, “Are there no lengths to which an American president won’t go to sabotage my efforts!”

CLAY CLAIBORNE

Los Angeles