Miserable Cubans?

Your "Bike Tour of Cuba" [July/August] describes the people of that country as "fairly miserable (yet still charming)."A bit patronizing. The "misery" of Cubans might have something to do with U.S. economic oppression of their country, which means it's hard for them to get basic medical supplies, much less the toys white middle-class Americans love so much and take for granted, I'm sure that not all Cubans are happy, just as not all of them are charming. But it's doubtful that most Cubans are more miserable than they were under the pre-Castro fascist dictatorship, a terror-based regime supported by the United States that treated working-class Cubans as slaves and was not exactly a model of freedom and democracy. And probably most Cubans prefer their current status quo, economic blockade and all, to the kind of society they would live in if the ultrarich ultraconservatives came back from Miami and took over again. Gay Cubans especially would be a lot worse off than they are under their "gay-friendly dictatorship."

SUSAN JORDAN Rochester, N.Y.

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