To the editors:

The crude polemic by Ross G. Douthat ’02 depicting Fidel Castro as equivalent to Adolf Hitler and Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor Mario Coyula as the equal of Albert Speer (Column, “Albert Speer at Harvard,” March 4) deserves condemnation on at least three grounds.

First, it trivializes World War II and the Holocaust. The Cuban government does not practice genocide or start world wars. It prosecutes and harasses some dissenters. Equating the two regimes makes no moral or analytical sense.

Second, many decent and honorable people in Cuba are Communists. They work in government agencies, schools, laboratories, and clinics to improve the lives of their fellow citizens. Often, they succeed in spite of daunting obstacles. Supporting and recognizing good people who do good work does make sense.

Third, Coyula is a distinguished architect and urbanist. His life’s work has been the preservation and restoration of Havana, a UNESCO world heritage city. He has struggled against great odds to rescue and restore buildings and entire neighborhoods. He won international acclaim for his work as director of Havana’s Grupo para el Desarrollo Integral de la Capital (GDIC), the equivalent of our National Capital Planning Commission. His many papers and articles have been widely published. His most recent publication in this country is the 1997 book Havana: Two Faces of the Antillean Metropolis, co-authored with Joseph Scarpaci and published by Wiley. He is the former director of Cuba’s National School of Architecture.

The David Rockefeller Center is delighted to have helped make Coyula’s visit possible. He is a superb professional, a fine teacher, and a warm and generous human being. The Harvard community is much the better for his presence among us.

John H.Coatsworth

Mar. 4, 2002

The writer is Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.