Static From Radio Marti

The Reagan Administration’s decision to launch Radio Marti on Monday morning was unfortunate. The station’s anti-Fidel Castro broadcasts will worsen U.S. relations with Cuba at a time when most of the other governments in the Western Hemisphere are improving their links to the island.

Radio Marti, named after a Cuban hero, is the brainchild of President Reagan’s supporters on the political right and in the Cuban-American community. By beaming uncensored broadcasts into Cuba, where all the media are tightly controlled by the Communist government, Radio Marti will presumably help weaken Castro’s hold on the island’s 10 million people.

In practice, however, Radio Marti is unlikely to have much effect. Cubans already receive uncensored news and other broadcasts from commercial television and radio stations in Florida. And the U.S. government has tried broadcasting outright propaganda to the island in the past, with little noticeable effect.

The negative effect of the broadcasts could be considerable. In retaliation for Radio Marti’s start-up Monday, Cuba canceled a special immigration treaty under which undesirable Cuban refugees were being returned to the island. It also rescinded a 1979 agreement under which Cuban-Americans could visit their families in Cuba. Castro has also threatened to cancel U.S.-Cuban agreements on airline hijacking, and may start beaming his own propaganda broadcasts into the United States, interfering with commercial radio stations throughout the country.

Radio Marti is a losing proposition. While it gives Reagan’s most ideological supporters the satisfaction of taking verbal swipes at one of their favorite villains, it provides no tangible benefit to this country despite a cost of $10 million per year. The broadcasts should be abandoned before they do any real damage. And the Administration should find more creative ways of dealing with Castro --efforts that open lines of communication with Cuba rather than closing them off.