By Joseph A. Manero

                  Wednesday, March 24, 1999; Page A27

                  Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and the Clinton
                  administration have apparently bought into the misguided notion that
                  constructive engagement with Fidel Castro will bring the United States and
                  Cuba closer together. Their collective endorsement of the Baltimore
                  Orioles' trip to Havana this week to play the Cuban national team comes at
                  a time when Castro has intensified efforts at crushing opposition to his
                  four-decades-old communist dictatorship.

                  As a Cuban American, I originally favored the Orioles' trip. Not because
                  of some pie-in-the-sky "Baseball Diplomacy" with the Castro regime, but
                  because I had hoped the trip would attract hordes of international media,
                  which would report not just on the familiar runs, hits and errors of the
                  baseball game but also on the plight of Cuban dissidents. In fact, I had
                  even considered going to Havana myself to witness the historic event and
                  to visit family members I hadn't seen in 27 years.

                  The recent trial and conviction of four dissidents there has served as a rude
                  awakening, however, and has caused me to change my mind. Playing the
                  game sends the wrong message to Castro.

                  President Clinton called for the dissidents' immediate release and said he
                  was "deeply disappointed" at the sentencing of "courageous" human rights
                  activists.

                  "They did nothing more than assert their right to speak freely about their
                  country's future, call on their government to respect basic human rights and
                  seek a peaceful transition to democracy for the long-suffering Cuban
                  people," the president said.

                  Clinton should act quickly to cancel the exhibition game in Havana as well
                  as the scheduled return game at Baltimore's Camden Yards on May 3.

                  The convictions of the four Cubans provide a chilling illustration of
                  communist Cuba's lack of tolerance. In what may seem a surreal episode
                  of the Cold War, the dissidents were sentenced to prison for the crime of
                  sedition. Translation: They attempted to stir up unrest among the Cuban
                  people by doing what you and I are doing here: exercising the basic right of
                  free speech.

                  They openly questioned the communist government, drafted articles for
                  Cubans to read and disseminate and held news conferences with foreign
                  journalists. They did what we as Americans often take for granted. And
                  while we may raise an eyebrow or two if we call a radio talk show or send
                  an angry letter to a newspaper editor, we never think for a moment that we
                  may be endangering our lives.

                  Unfortunately, the dissidents -- Marta Beatriz Roque, Vladimiro Roca,
                  Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez Manzano -- did just that. They refused the
                  Cuban government's offer of exile. Instead, they opted to remain in Cuba
                  in prison. Roca, a former military pilot, was sentenced to five years.
                  Manzano, a lawyer, and engineer Bonne got four years each, and
                  economist Roque received a three-year term.

                  Though the charges, trial and punishment of the four may seem surreal, the
                  events constitute an all-too-real reminder of the lengths to which Castro's
                  regime is willing to go in the name of repression and control. It has become
                  clear that Castro does not seem to care about a possible rebuke by the
                  international community. In fact, he seems to relish rebuke; the convictions
                  could even be interpreted as Castro thumbing his nose at international
                  condemnation.

                  The dissidents were tried behind closed doors by a five-member
                  communist party tribunal. No foreign journalists were permitted to view the
                  trial, a move questioned by many around the world, including U.S.
                  Secretary of State Madeline Albright.

                  As Albright pointed out, one of the basic elements of due process -- the
                  right of the accused to a public trial -- was trampled upon. The trial
                  "violated the very concept of the rule of law," Albright said.

                  The four had been held for 19 months awaiting trial.

                  Even Canada, one of Cuba's strongest defenders, is starting to wake up to
                  the fact that Castro is unwilling to change his ways. Prime Minister Jean
                  Chretien, who pleaded the case of the four dissidents during a 1998 visit
                  with Castro, said the sentences would cause Canada to "review the range
                  of bilateral relations" with Cuba.

                  While Selig has gone to painstaking lengths to avoid any hint of a
                  connection between the Orioles' game in Havana and a possible shift in
                  U.S. policy toward Cuba, he cannot pretend to ignore the political
                  significance of the game.

                  "If this produces the kind of human results that we're all hoping it does, this
                  could be something really big," Selig said. "I'm very proud of the role we
                  will play in doing something constructive that transcends baseball."

                  Unfortunately, we've already seen the kinds of "human results" Castro is
                  capable of delivering. And no baseball game will fix those results. Clearly,
                  this is no time to play ball with Fidel Castro.

                  The writer is a political consultant in Houston.

                           © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company