Revenge Of

By PAUL GRAY/

Being a State Department bureaucrat has its occasional unexpected rewards, including a chance recently to rain on Ted Turner's parade. The flamboyant entrepreneur and cable mogul wanted State to issue a visa to Jose Ramon Fernandez, the Cuban Vice President who oversees athletic development and competition, so that the official could accompany Cuba's delegation to the Goodwill Games in Seattle. No dice. A presidential directive bars Cuban Communist Party members from traveling to the U.S. for anything other than official business. The Goodwill Games, which have been plugged so insistently on Turner's TV outlets that some are calling them the Goodshill Games, do not qualify. "This is not a legitimate athletic competition," says an Administration official. "It's a Turner business promo. Why the hell should we do him any favors?"

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS