THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996           TAG: 9602280006
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   50 lines

SPASMS OF A FAILED CUBAN REGIME A MEASURED RESPONSE

Cuba has committed a brutal and pointless act. Not its first. The United States has responded in a measured but tough-minded manner. That's to the credit of the administration.

In the past it has been faulted for going too easy on Castro. Overreaction now would be understandable. The shooting down of two light planes, unarmed and unable to harm the Cuban regime, is shocking and shameful.

It is true that the Brothers to the Rescue organization is a sworn foe of Castro and his works, that it specializes in helping refugees flee his closed society, that its planes have violated Cuban airspace in the past and have even dropped leaflets urging the overthrow of the dictatorship.

But none of that justifies the use of deadly force in this case. It bespeaks a regime that is weak and fearful, not strong and self-confident. It is of a piece with similarly callous acts by other communist states nearing collapse - the Soviet shootdown of a Korean airliner, the Chinese suppression of incipient democracy in Tiananmen Square.

What all have in common are old men in charge, insecure and out of touch, whose ideology has predeceased them and who can only retain power by abusing their own citizens, clamping their borders and reacting with spasms of violence to any opposition no matter how trivial.

It won't work in the long run. Castro is caught in a historical dead end. He can go quietly or go violently, but he is going to go. The United States is right to punish him for this transgression against civilized behavior with economic sanctions, reparations, travel restrictions and the stepping up of anti-Castro broadcasts. But a worse punishment is in store.

The shootdown was photographed from a Caribbean cruise ship, a graphic reminder that there are two Caribbeans, that of Castro and his anachronistic faith in a discredited system and that of a region looking forward to a 21st century of greater prosperity, comity and cooperation.

W.H. Auden might have been addressing the Cuban dictator 65 years ago when he wrote: ``It's no good turning nasty/ It's no good turning good/ You're what you are and nothing you do/ Will get you out of the wood/ Out of a world that has had its day.''

The goal of U.S. policy should be to isolate Castro while making the transition as easy as possible on the long-suffering Cuban people. Long after Fidel is gone, they will be our neighbors. by CNB