A private dog owners' association in Cuba on Monday ejected the top U.S.
 diplomat in Havana from its membership, protesting Washington's four-decade-old
 Cuba policy.

 ``This is an outrage. This would be ludicrous if they didn't take themselves so
 seriously,'' said Charles Shapiro, chief of the State Department's Cuba Desk.

 Vikki Huddleston, the head of the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, received the
 dismissal for both herself and her dog -- named ``Havana'' -- from the Cuban
 National Association of Afghan Breeders, Shapiro said.

 American diplomats abroad routinely join civil groups and other associations in
 order to rub elbows with local residents.

 In the case of Huddleston, Shapiro said she acquired the dog after becoming
 principal U.S. officer in Cuba 18 months ago.

 The letter, dated Feb. 6, arrived in a fax at the U.S. mission on Havana. It
 specifically complained that Huddleston had recently met with some university
 students and professors on an educational trip to the island, and ``gave them
 verbal and written briefings against our country.''

 It decried the U.S. government's 40 years ``of hostility against our people and
 government, with which, despite the fact that we are a non-governmental
 organization, we identify with politically and ideologically.''

 Shapiro said the State Department has no interest in retaliating against Cuba's
 top diplomat in Washington, Fernando Remirez de Estenoz.

 ``We will not retaliate against Remirez's dog,'' he said. ``I'm not going to stoop so
 low as to sniff around that one.''