Let me respectfully point out some major weaknesses in Doug Bandow's article on Cuba ("Washington's Inadvertent Support for Cuban Communism," Ideas on Liberty, July 2002). Bandow, a writer whom I admire and whose books and commentaries I have always enjoyed, was misled by the likes of Ricardo Alarcon, a devious man characterized as a dog that barks only while under the protection of his master. Once Fidel Castro is gone, so will his lapdog Alarcon be gone.

Regarding your editorials "Bush's Cuba Pickle(1)" (May 9) and "Our Man in Havana(2)" (May 16): While the U.S. embargo has not forced Fidel Castro's capitulation, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 it has limited his capacity to subvert his Latin American neighbors, while forcing him to liberalize economic policies in order to remain in power. He has been forced to divert funds from his subversive military machine, limiting his capacity for terrorism and subversion, including his assistance to the Colombian FARC narco-terrorist rebels.