The facile stereotypes about ``those crazy Cubans in Miami'' are resurfacing of late as this community struggles with the planned appearance of Los Van Van, a touring band from the island. The stereotypes are long past tiresome, not to mention insensitive to the anguish of people who have suffered directly at the hands of the Cuban dictatorship.

Yet Cuban Americans continue to be depicted in cartoonish portraits published recently in such respected periodicals as The New Yorker magazine and The New York Times. To go by them you'd be sure that all Cuban exiles think and behave alike, that all are sympathetic to bomb-throwing, hard-line reactionaries, that all are callous to the suffering on the island.

As with all stereotypes, this one ignores the community's full range of ideologies. And let us remember that those ``virulent'' Cuban exiles who favor the embargo are also shipping packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Cubans stuck behind.

The stereotypers aren't all outsiders, either. The Los Van Van concert -- off and on again -- has provided new fodder for those among us who seek to slap the intolerance label on those Cubans who are critical of the band. A full-page ad for the concert in this newspaper reinforces the stereotype by declaring: ``The concert they don't want you to see.''

They? It's true that many Cuban exiles are offended by the band's decision to include Miami on its U.S. tour. Since Los Van Van took its name from the revolutionary slogan of the failed sugar-cane harvest of 1970, the group has been identified with the Cuban regime. For many, the band and its music represents the dictatorship. As Manny Martinez, who was harassed by Cuba's police state for listening to American music, told Herald staff writer Damarys Ocaña, ``This was the kind of junk we were allowed to listen to, and I hated it. I still do.''

But this is no different from other minority groups taking offense at, say, a march of the Ku Klux Klan or a rally by Louis Farrakhan. Others in South Florida, The Herald included, disavow any attempts to stifle free speech -- no matter how righteous the cause. Many remember the bombs in the 1970s, and more recently the bomb threats and other crude intimidation tactics used by extremists to attack any one labeled ``communist.'' Any number of South Floridians who have been burned by such backlash still censor themselves so as to not get disgusting calls, mail and worse.

But this self-imposed silence dampens public debate. Thus the extremists gain all the more attention. Whether Cuban spies or simply misguided zealots, the extremists project the ugly stereotype by which all Cuban Americans are measured.

And it's plain wrong. Just as Louis Farrakhan and welfare moms do not define African Americans, would-be Castro assassins and crude, bullying protesters do not represent all Cuban exiles.

South Florida has grown in its diversity of opinion and understanding. Many Cuban Americans have openly stated their intentions to go see the concert. Plenty who condemn the band also defend its right to put on a show.

Los Van Van, their fans and their protesters blessedly all have the right to free expression. Let the concert and the protests proceed -- and finally bury this stereotype.