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U.S., Cuba headed for counseling

Three reminders that the relationship between the United States and Cuba could use some work:

--Fifteen Cuban refugees were sent back to the island Monday because they weren't lucky enough to hit the right bridge in the Florida Keys. The refugees were rescued by the Coast Guard Thursday from a piling for part of the old Seven Mile Bridge. But that unused bridge has sections missing, and the part they were on isn't connected to land. So the federal government ruled the refugees never actually reached American soil and violated the "wet-foot, dry-foot" rule.

--Major League Baseball has organized the first World Baseball Classic for March, featuring teams of big league players and others representing 16 countries. But not Cuba, which has a rich baseball tradition. The Bush administration ruled that letting Cuba play would violate the archaic economic sanctions against the communist country.

--Unable to threaten the United States militarily or economically or any other way, Fidel Castro resorts to school yard taunts. He suggested last month that Gov. Jeb Bush could lose a little weight, leaving the governor momentarily speechless. He was too polite to mention Castro's unkempt beard or unimaginative wardrobe.

So an old bridge in the Keys can't be counted as American soil because it no longer connects to land. Cuba can participate in the '96 Olympics in Atlanta but can't send a baseball team now to play in an international tournament, and relations between the leaders of Cuba and Florida are confined to long-distance wisecracks. The absurdity of it all would be pretty funny if real lives weren't at stake.

[Last modified January 10, 2006, 01:51:15]