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Elian's circus


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By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

February 8, 2000

UNITED NATIONS -- The continuing debate over the fate of the Cuban boat boy Elian Gonzalez has emerged as a kind of morality play. The boy was plucked from the waters off Florida after losing his mother and step-father to the sea, Thanksgiving day. What originally looked like the grist of legends, has turned into a festering diplomatic incident with the Castro regime. Even more appallingly, the American media have turned this drama into a tawdry three ring circus.

Playing the incident by strict legal rules, Janet Reno's oft-tarnished Justice Department has a case to be sure. Since Elian's mother perished, the child would likely better with his father who's still back in Cuba. Yet, Cuba is neither Canada nor Costa Rica; given those political realities, one can't treat this as a normal case. Let's not forget the obvious--Elian and his deceased mother were willfully fleeing Castro's tropical isle for freedom in Florida. Does the time-tested rule of political asylum have no place?

A litany of characters from American Church do-gooders, Elian's two grand- mothers, (the paternal one decidedly distasteful and no doubt a Fidelista), to an hounding U.S. press have turned the case into a charade. Listening to most U.S. media, the real bad guys in this story seem to be the Cuban-American community who clings to this child to keep him out of the clutches of Fidel. And with good reason!

Cuban-Americans are demonized more than the dictator Castro. They are portrayed as passionate but politically incorrect souls in a enlightened society where being judgmental towards left-wing dictators is as impolite as asking Al Gore about his family roots in tobacco farming. Let me say that the original Cuban-American community in the USA, refugees who came in the early 1960's are a credit to America. And they know of whom they speak.

The Catholic nuns who arranged for Elian's grandmothers to meet with the boy no doubt surmised this would be the final act in the drama, clinching the deal for Elian to be on the way home to Cardenas, Cuba. Yet, quite the opposite transpired with Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin admitting candidly that the child may be better in America after all. Sister Jeanne conceded she was "no longer neutral" about Elian's fate and felt the boy should stay in America.

The National Council of Churches (NCC), an agenda-driven group long enchanted with Castro's Cuba and sponsors of the grandmothers visit to the USA, was shocked over the Sister's turnaround.

Clearly little Elian is on the side of the angels though he has not reached the age of reason and is not likely to appreciate the finer aspects of American freedom. He has been lovingly cared for by his Florida-relatives and the wider Cuban-American community; that Elian is materially better off in Miami than in Cuba goes without question.

It's also crystal clear though that the nasty drama provides Castro's regime with yet another cause and crusade with which to harangue the "gringos" in Washington for "kidnapping" a Cuban companero. Given the genuine propaganda advantage Fidel gets from the ongoing circus, I presume Castro would wish the child stays in Florida. Cuba can re-name his school after him along with a detachment of the crimson kerchiefed Young Pioneers. Fidel has the perfect excuse to harangue the Yanquis. But so what! Elian will surely return to Cuba someday to see his friends and family. The spirit of this little boy will surely outlive the dictator Fidel.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues who writes weekly for World Tribune.com.

February 8, 2000


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