International community mustn't tolerate regime's repression.

The verdict wasn't a surprise. Four Cuban dissidents, all respected independent thinkers, were deemed guilty by a state that fears free expression. The sentences for Vladimiro Roca, Rene Gomez Manzano, Felix Bonne and Marta Beatriz Roque, which ranged from 3 1/2 to 5 years, were less than what prosecutors wanted. But they were unconscionably harsh for ``crimes'' that shouldn't be crimes at all: peaceably criticizing Cuba's one-party rule.

Cuba's thought police charged The Four with inciting sedition and tried them in secret two weeks ago. They were condemned for publishing The Homeland Belongs to Us All, a stirring call for change and human rights, and for talking to foreign journalists. Yesterday marked their 20th month in jail. If there is mercy, the regime will release them on parole for time served. Yet that may be too much to ask of a government that labels universal human rights as ``crimes.''

As if harsh sentences weren't clear enough, the regime also put into effect Cuba's newest, most extreme gag law. Called the ``Law for the Protection of the National Independence and the Economy of Cuba,'' it mandates jail terms of up to 20 years for Cubans who collaborate with ``Yanqui imperialists.'' The harsh measures, of course, are directed at Cuba's courageous independent journalists, such as Raul Rivero. But under their vague terms practically anyone is susceptible -- perhaps even Cuban baseball players and musicians slated to participate in people-to-people events with their U.S counterparts in Havana on March 28.

Finally, though, the message is getting through to the world that too long has seen Cuba's regime as a romantic anachronism. There is nothing romantic in a despot, his communist rhetoric and his government that disrespects universal human rights. Thus, Canada is reevaluating its cozy relations with Cuba. Spain's President Jose Maria Aznar deplored the country's ``grave retrogression.'' Ibero-American heads of states are having second thoughts about a November summit in Cuba. Good.

Both President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright condemned The Four's punishment. The United States commendably vows to push the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which soon meets in Geneva, also to condemn Cuba's depotism. This year, may it be so.