Your paper is right to quote Pope John Paul II during his visit to Cuba
                  ["Food for Cuba," editorial, Sept. 3] when he said, "The world should
                  open up to Cuba." You neglected to print, however, the rest of the pope's
                  plea: "that Cuba open itself to the world."

                  The fact is that the world continues to open itself to Cuba, but Fidel Castro
                  -- as the Vatican noted recently -- has yet to open Cuba to the world or,
                  more important, allow the existence of civil society and open Cuba to the
                  Cubans.

                  Your editorial says that the food crisis in Cuba is due to "mismanagement
                  aggravated by drought." But history shows that food shortages began when
                  Castro imposed a Marxist command economy almost 40 years ago. It is
                  not simply a question of mismanagement. Shortages and Communist
                  economics go hand in hand -- as the Poles, North Koreans, Russians and
                  others will attest.

                  Humanitarian assistance did not end food shortages in Central Europe, the
                  end of Communist rule did. Cuba is a tropical island surrounded by a
                  bountiful sea and should be self-sufficient. To the extent that there was a
                  minimal economic opening a couple of years ago, it was because of the
                  pressures exerted upon Castro. But as the pressure receded, Castro
                  curtailed those reforms, such as the right of Cubans to self-employment.
                  Channeling assistance through the regime without insisting on full
                  accountability -- as you suggest -- will simply strengthen the regime's
                  repressive apparatus and vitiate the need for economic reform.

                  Your editorial says that "the whole continuing Cuban-American
                  confrontation represents a Cold War anomaly." This is so because
                  Castro's Cuba is an anomaly. Today Poles, Hungarians and others no
                  longer fear a knock on the door in the middle of the night. They no longer
                  have to pretend to support their governments or spend hours queuing for
                  inadequate rations. That is the kind of normality, not dependency on
                  foreign handouts, we wish on the Cubans.

                  Your paper obviously means well. Additional coverage of conditions in
                  Cuba would help; but the policy debate will benefit by a greater
                  appreciation of the facts.

                  -- Frank Calzon

                  The writer is director of the Center for a Free Cuba.