* Re "U.S. Policy a Barrier to Change in Cuba," by Julian Nava, April 21.
Being a Cal State Northridge graduate, I am familiar with Nava's views on Cuba and on the U.S. embargo. His account of his trip to Cuba is very telling in that not a single word is said about Castro's repressive apparatus, about the lack of basic rights such as freedom of speech or of assembly, or about an all-powerful state that fully controls the lives of its subjects, despite the recently installed economic reforms.
Once again, the embargo is blamed for all of Cuba's troubles and no mention is made of the intrinsic inadequacy of a centralized economy or of the end of the massive Soviet subsidies [Cuba had received] up to 1991. I wonder if Nava would have advocated lifting our embargo on South Africa back when Nelson Mandela was imprisoned by that regime.
Nava asserts that Castro is not the demon that Cuban exiles have described him to be. I'm not of Cuban descent, but perhaps he should ask that question of the mothers and wives of the four Cuban Americans callously shot down by Cuba's air force while flying civilian planes Feb. 24.
ARAM ORDUBEGIAN
Glendale
