Burma Tourism Supports Repressive Regime

I was appalled by the wink and nod given to the Burmese military dictatorship in the article ``Under Burmese Junta, Tourists' Dollars Rule,'' Dec. 29. Contrary to the author's rosy assessment of political progress, my own memory of recent events includes watching the pain of teenage Burmese students as government bullets were pulled from their bodies and the agony of hearing how friends, unarmed doctors and nurses, were slaughtered by government forces when they tried to stop the attack on Rangoon Hospital.

To encourage tourism is a central component of the regime's plan to gain legitimacy and circumvent widely supported international sanctions. It is one of the few ways that the pariah government can raise hard currency. While your readers have the right to choose whom they support by how they spend their money, they also have the right to know how their money is being spent by one of the world's most violent and repressive dictatorships. David P. Anderson, Swannanoa, N.C.

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