Governance by law? Or by blackmail from Miami!

Human Quest, May/Jun 2000 by Parry, Renee-Marie Croose

Is this great country still governed by laws, or has the Miami mob snatched the prerogative of deciding domestic and foreign policy from the Executive, the Judiciary, and the US Congress?

After 'Waco' and ` Ruby Ridge' yet another standoff is brewing. Although the President, the Attorney General, and the Commissioner for Immigration and Naturalization have made us believe that they are on the side of the law, they have not in practice, or in a timely manner, upheld it. At the time of writing, well over four months into this saga, Elian Gonzalez is still sequestered by distant relatives in Miami, held against his father's will, and is increasingly a prisoner of the mob outside, no longer taken to school "for his own safety'!

Regarding the background of Elian's keepers, there are disturbing facts to be noted -- a profound worry for Elian's family in Cuba. None of these facts, however, prevented the elected Miami judge from giving Lazaro Gonzalez -- one of three great-- uncles who most opposes the boy's repatriation -- the temporary custody of the child, despite the fact that in letters to Janet Reno Elian's father requested that the boy be placed with his great-uncle Manuel Gonzalez, the least compromised and favoring reunion.

Great-uncle Lazaro, an automobile mechanic, has had four convictions for drunken driving and a three year license revocation. His brother, Delfin Gonzalez, a fisherman, received four DUI convictions and a two year revocation, while Jose Cid, their nephew, and one of Elian's early playmates in Miami, was sent to prison last December with a 13 year sentence for grand theft, forgery and violation of probation. Jose Cid's twin brother, Luis, went on trial in February on charges relating to a robbery in "Little Havana". Without the father's consent, Elian is being treated by a psychologist of La zaro's choice; he is offered up for interviews with Diane Sawyer on ABC, and TV crews even invade his bedroom! Meanwhile, the Miami "family" reports that the virgin Mary appeared in their house and was seen in an oval mirror, said to hang in Elian's bedroom! Outside, the vociferous `Castro haters' hold up huge crucifixes, rosaries, and a porcelain figure of the virgin Mary "for Elian", while prayers and obscenities mingle in noisy protests at the prospect of reunion between Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the father, and his little son.

Ironically, the General Accounting Office, a research agency for the US Congress, published a report in late March lamenting the great difficulty for Americans to regain custody of children abducted by one parent and taken to a foreign country! The report bemoans that "(s)ome countries do not recognize parental abduction as a crime and are therefore slow to, or do not, pursue an abducted child or abducting parent" (NYT Apr. 3, 2000). In the US and its territories, however, such abduction is a crime -- as it is also in Cuba! Why then do the Mayors of Miami, and of Miami-Dade County, the US Vice President, Al Gore, and Governor Bush of Texas defy the law that they have sworn to uphold when taking their oaths of office? Ambitious as they are, they bow before the financial clout and terrorist propensity of a network which intimidates, and claims to speak for some 800.000 Cuban Americans in greater Miami, so as to be reelected or win the presidency -- while the many, who do not approve of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and its aggressive operations, remain silent, fearing for their jobs and even for their lives. Both presidential candidates now side with the mob to gain the Votes of 25 electoral delegates in Florida, the fourth largest state in the Union. Such covetous disregard for the law would seem reason enough for conscientious citizens to write across their ballots come election day: "Neither of the above!"

Regardless of the final outcome of this tragedy for Elian and for his Cuban family (my deadline for this article was April 5, the day before Elian's father was to arrive in the US), it behooves me after so many study tours in Cuba, and as an admirer of the Cuban people and their high principles, to fill in those details for our readers that are seldom covered in the corporate, conformist, and self-censoring press!

The parents of Elian, Elizabeth and Juan Miguel, were childhood sweethearts, earnest students, diligent workers and engaged patriots, about all of which testimonials abound. Elizabeth, to her deep chagrin, was physically unable to bring to term seven of her pregnancies. But, eventually, owing to Cuban state-of-the-art medical advice and assistance, a little boy was born! He was called Elian, a word marrying his parents' names: Elizabeth and Juan.

Due to his parents' amicable divorce and a typically Cuban, very supportive community and school, Elian grew up surrounded by the love and attention of an extended family. It is this background that must have contributed to the little boy's extraordinary stamina and to his will to survive the horrendous exposure of hanging on to an inner tube for 48 hours in rough seas - an act of survival aided undoubtedly by the bottle of water his mother handed him just before drownin.