...Well, it is good to know that Elian thinks so highly of Castro. And one must admire the restraint shown by ''60 Minutes," which somehow managed to avoid mentioning that Elian's friend and surrogate ''father" is also the world's longest-ruling tyrant, a sadist who has killed or imprisoned tens of thousands of dissidents, and, not incidentally, the Stalinist thug who drove Elizabet Brotons -- Elian's mother -- to her death in the Florida Straits.

Come to think of it, why did Brotons want so desperately to leave Cuba? Why was she willing to risk her and her son's life on such a dangerous -- in her case, fatal -- attempt to cross the 90 miles that separate Cuba from freedom? Was it was the grinding poverty, the ubiquitous rationing, the constant shortages? Was it the lack of the free speech? The suppression of religion? The inability to criticize the government without risking years behind bars? Was it the informers on every block? The political dossier maintained on every student's ''political attitude and social conduct?" Was it the knowledge that once Elian turned 11, he would be subject to mandatory labor for six to eight weeks every year? Was it the sheer, soul-crushing misery of living in a country routinely ranked as one of the most unfree places in the world?

''60 Minutes" had nothing to say about any of that...