For 20 days, Mr. Sanchez, head of Democracy Movement, has been on a water-only hunger strike protesting the Coast Guard's seizure of the Human Rights, one of several boats that the movement takes out on symbolic occasions and points toward Cuba. To our best knowledge, Mr. Sanchez has reached Cuba's territorial waters only once during these forays. More often his boats turn back because of foul weather or malfunctions. Twice his boats have been seized. The gamesmanship has grown tiresome and detracts from the very serious issue of how to change the repressive Castro government.

Be that as it may, the boat is rightly being returned thanks to efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union, which will litigate the constitutionality of the Presidential order that allowed seizure of vessel.

The Coast Guard seized another vessel of Mr. Sanchez's movement on July 13, 1997, when he was vowing to go to Cuban waters to pay homage to the 41 who died when a tugboat was rammed by Cuban fireboats. The Democracia was returned to him nine months later. The Human Rights was seized on Dec. 10, after Mr. Sanchez set sail for Cuba to distribute copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Over the weekend, Mr. Sanchez threatened to escalate his protests from a peaceful hunger strike to civil disruption. His supporters, he said, would tie up rush-hour traffic, jam federal phone lines and stall post-office lines.

For a just cause, peaceful civil disobedience is to be tolerated, but blocking streets also turns off people who would otherwise support the cause of Cuban exiles. Other than successfully irritating the Coast Guard, Mr. Sanchez's protests have had little success, and the wisdom of fighting the U. S. government when the enemy is the government of Cuba never has been clear.

Still the U. S. government overreacted by stonewalling all efforts to reclaim the boat. The President's executive order was issued after Cuban war planes shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes and killed four South Floridians. Its clear intent is to prevent ugly international incidents and further loss of lives. But good intent has never justified government trampling civil liberties. Litigation may yet end the exercise of extraordinary maritime powers.