Havana

IF AMERICAN news organizations cannot inform their readers adequately on Cuba, that ought to be the fault of Havana not Washington. The Clinton administration reached this common sense conclusion when it authorized exceptions to the embargo to allow 10 news organizations to establish bureaus in Havana.These include the Associated Press (of which The Sun is a member), CNN, two Florida newspapers and a newsletter published by the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

OTHER EXTRAORDINARY contacts have happened, on the Gaza-Israel border, near Khmer Rouge territory in Cambodia, in a woodland home in Norway. But this one was only on the airwaves thanks to modern communications. Communist Cuba's third-ranking official sat in a Havana studio. The Florida Cuban exile community's most anti-Communist leader and the panelists were in Miami. They talked. Not much, but nothing like it had happened before.Ricardo Alarcon is president of the Cuban National Assembly, former foreign minister and chief negotiator with the U.S. on such issues as immigration.

WASHINGTON -- Picture the sight: spectacularly expensive American yachts glittering in the waters off Fidel Castro's Havana, the Cubans looking on as some of the major players in the exclusive U.S. sailing community put the Communist island behind them in a race to Baltimore. The idea for a race from Cuba to the city's Inner Harbor during the waterfront festival in April has enthusiastic support from officials in Baltimore and Havana. The race, which would not feature a boat from Cuba, is under review by the U.S. government, which must rule on any exchanges because of a trade embargo between the two countries.

A Glen Burnie pastor has returned from a mission trip to Cuba, wondering whether communism has been as bad for its people as he once believed. It was a mixed impression that the Rev. James M. Lucas brought home. He said he also met Cubans who were happy for relatives who managed to get away, and people weary of government-orchestrated demonstrations seeking the return of young Elian Gonzalez. Lucas, associate pastor of Glen Burnie United Methodist Church and graduate student in cultural anthropology, went to Cuba with six other ministers last month to help repair a retirement home.

HAVANA -- Calling himself a "pilgrim of love, of truth and of hope," Pope John Paul II arrived in Cuba's capital yesterday for a historic five-day visit to the euphoric cheers of the hundreds of thousands who lined his parade route.The pontiff slowly descended from his Alitalia jet into the bright tropical sunshine to kiss a box of Cuban soil raised to his lips by four children.Pope John Paul, the 77-year-old, staunch anti-Communist who helped tear down the Iron Curtain, was greeted by President Fidel Castro, Cuba's 71-year-old Communist dictator, dressed in a blue double-breasted suit instead of his usual military fatigues.

HAVANA -- It's just a baseball game. That's the way Major League Baseball and sports officials from Cuba have attempted to characterize today's historic meeting between the Orioles and a team of Cuban all-stars at Latin American Stadium.If only it were that simple.The long-anticipated exhibition game is laden with political implications and historical significance. The Orioles will be the first American major-league team to play in Cuba since Fidel Castro turned this island nation into a Communist beachhead nearly 40 years ago, and a lot of people aren't happy about it.The event has sparked protest demonstrations by anti-Castro groups in South Florida and expressions of disgust from sympathetic congressmen in Washington.

Can a Cuban restaurant owned by three American guys deliver authentic food? Well, maybe, but Little Havana is not that restaurant. Owners Ronnie Prochoren, Tim Whisted and Chris Whisted aren't really trying to create a true Cuban menu. Instead, inspired by Tim's years in the Florida Keys, they use Cuban ingredients and techniques as a starting point for a menu that's in a category all its own. For example, instead of the meltingly sweet sauteed plantains that are often served as a Cuban side dish, Little Havana uses the plantains to create a crust on a thick piece of mahi mahi.

Here's a proposal for consideration and debate: Next year, the Baltimore Orioles should play an exhibition game against the Cuban National Team in Havana. Why? Follow my thoughts for a moment.I visited Havana recently at the invitation of an organization called the Center for International Policy. The delegation I joined was relatively small and included a former U.S. senator, a retired general, two former U.S. diplomats and two businessmen with ties to Latin America and the Caribbean.Each had his or her own reasons for joining this trip.

HAVANA - With tears and jubilation, Cubans welcomed Elian Gonzalez back to his homeland last night, his seven-month American odyssey ended exactly the way many who fought to keep in him the United States feared - with the boy engulfed in a controlled, flag-waving show of national victory. The 6-year-old Elian, accompanied by his father, family and friends, landed at Jose Marti Airport here about 7:45 p.m., touching off cheers from the hundreds of schoolchildren organized as a welcoming party on the tarmac and quiet joy among Cubans watching live coverage of the return of a prodigal son. "Tears come to my eyes because I am a mother and I have been wishing a long time for him to come back," said Eloina Matos, 36, a waitress at an outdoor cafM-i in Havana where a small group of employees and customers were glued to the TV and its wall-to-wall coverage.

IT MAY NOT be the biggest deal in the world. It will not end the Cold War in the Straits of Florida. But the game set for the Orioles to play in Havana on March 28, with a return visit by the Cuban national team at a later date, is a good thing and a reward for Orioles' owner Peter Angelos' persistence.Most fans in Baltimore seem to agree. Many Cuban-Americans near the Orioles spring training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and others who disagree should keep in mind that baseball is only a game.