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A Purge With a Purpose - "Is it so bad to be a dictator?"***Propaganda," Fidel Castro instructed a comrade in a letter written in 1954, "is the very soul of our struggle." What, then, was Mr. Castro, champion spinmeister, thinking last week when he tossed some 75 Cuban writers and dissidents into prison for up to 28 years, after a grim procession of quickie show trials worthy of Stalin? Or on Friday, when he summarily executed three men who had hijacked a passenger ferry on April 2? Certainly, it would seem, his timing could hardly have been worse: Cuba has been lobbying to keep its place on the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and that commission has been preparing its annual list of violator countries - Cuba is certain to make the grade, once again.

Fidel Castro is many things - belligerent, Machiavellian, prideful - but he is not stupid. Nor would he have thought, as some human-rights groups assume, that these recent actions would go unnoticed with the world focused on Iraq. It seems more likely that this purge was intended to make a statement, and even to win Mr. Castro some advantage. The Cuban government, of course, claims the jailings were a response to Bush administration policy. It cited meetings held with dissidents at the residence of James Cason, chief of the United States Interests Section in Havana, which it calls "subversion by a foreign power." ***

Andres Oppenheimer---Listen carefully to Latin America's response to Cuba's repression: silence***Reached in Madrid, Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez told me through his spokesman that Mexico ''laments'' the prison sentences, and that it will take them into account in the April 16 vote on Cuba's human rights conditions at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, whose country had not said anything about the Cuban crackdown on peaceful dissidents, responded, ``We are always worried about the human rights situation in any country, but the most strident actions are not always the most effective ones.''

Foreign Minister Allan Wagner of Peru, whose country is cosponsoring a mild resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Commission asking that Cuba allow a human rights monitor to visit the island, told me that his country ''expresses its concern'' over the fate of the jailed dissidents, intellectuals and independent journalists in Cuba.

Argentine Foreign Minister Carlos Ruckauf told me that ''the Cuban dictatorship has committed another crime against freedom of expression.'' But his boss, President Eduardo Duhalde, was at the same time evading any strong criticism of Cuba.

Insiders say Duhalde is under pressure from his hand-picked presidential candidate, Néstor Kirchner, to vote in support of Cuba at the United Nations, as part of his efforts to capitalize on Argentina's escalating anti-American sentiment in the wake of the war in Iraq.

What irony! The democratic leaders of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile were themselves peaceful opponents until recently, forced to knock on the doors of foreign governments, international human rights organizations -- and journalists -- to demand solidarity against their countries' authoritarian governments. Compared to Cuba's Rivero, they had it easy. Most of them were never imprisoned for having a typewriter, foreign newspapers, or for contacting foreign diplomats to explain their struggle for democracy. How can they remain silent in the face of such an outrage?***

Mexico Condemns Executions in Cuba***MEXICO CITY - Mexico on Monday condemned Cuba's execution of three men who tried to hijack a ferry to the United States. But Mexico kept silent on how it plans to vote on a resolution on its traditional ally's human rights record. The vote is expected in the coming days at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.***