OK, so Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Florida Marlins, said something offensive and maybe not well thought out ("Guillen suspended five games," April 10), but let's put this in context. Ozzie works in an environment of professional jocks -- not exactly a large amount of Rhodes Scholars in that bunch.

Second, he's in trouble with the Cuban-American community for appearing to admire the tenacity of Fidel Castro. I'd say his observation of Castro's survival skills was fairly astute.

But I understand why Cuban-Americans would be upset. They left a country, like many in Latin America, where the wealth is controlled be a few. Fortunately, they came to America, where the wealth ...

Next, they left a country where the literacy rate was abysmal, and they came to America, where the Hispanic literacy rate is ... Cuba's literacy rate, in the meantime, has reached 99 percent.

While the life expectancy there is within months of that of the United States, the infant mortality rate is 10 spots better than that of the U.S.

Now, granted, Castro's Cuba is broke, unlike America, which is simply $15 trillion in debt. I think the biggest difference, though, and the one most Cuban-Americans would point out, is that if you speak out in Cuba, you may get in trouble, while in America ...

Never mind.


GARTH GIDEON, BECKER, MINN.