Tuesday, March 9, 1999; Page A14

Serge Kovaleski writes that Fidel Castro is undertaking a major diplomatic effort to "help ease a grinding economic crisis that is largely the result of U.S. sanctions and the disappearance of large subsidies that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991" ["Cuba Rolls Out Welcome Mat to Counter Embargo's Effects," news story, Feb. 28]. Hardly. While I agree that the U.S. sanctions are ill-conceived, they are not "largely" responsible for wide-spread poverty and economic malaise.

Cuba's "grinding economic crisis" is a direct result of a Communist economy featuring centralized control and virtually no private property or respect for contracts. Add on a thoroughly corrupt judicial system that is the hallmark of dictatorships, and the economic basket case that Cuba has become is not hard to explain. The simple act of giving the Cuban people the right to own private property and invest in private enterprises would quickly turn the island's economic prospects around without foreign subsidies and regardless of U.S. sanctions.

EDWARD H. CRANE

President

Cato Institute

Washington