No subject

   To the Editor:

   =E2Beginning of the End in Cuba=E2 (editorial, Aug. 2) would have been
   more useful had it recognized the legitimate role that educated,
   industrious Cuban-Americans can play in our native land=E2s eventual
   political and economic transformation.

   Those you refer to as refugees and exiles all came from Cuba or are
   descended from Cubans. We are not strangers to Cuba or Cubans. We pump
   close to a billion dollars a year into the Cuban economy in
   remittances alone.

   If Cuba=E2s eventual evolution toward a democratic society is thwarted,
   it won=E2t be because of our meddling. Its success will depend more on
   the Cubans=E2 ability to heal the damage caused by a half-century of
   brutal physical and emotional control and an unforgiving political and
   ideological state apparatus that deprived them of basic freedoms and
   human rights.

   We exiles yearn for more than Cuba=E2s political or economic
   metamorphosis. We long for reunification. We possess not only the
   economic power and political will to participate in its development,
   but also the moral imperative to help realize it.

   Alberto F. Montero Valdes
   Miami, Aug. 2, 2006