Ten years ago Cuban refugee Elian Gonzales was seized by federal agents from the home of his relatives in Miami, Fla., and returned to his father in Cuba. Elian Gonzales is now a strapping 16-year-old hero of the Cuban Communist State.
Nothing is known about Elian Gonzales’s life in modern Cuba that the government controlled media does not allow. He is said to be a member of the Cuban Young Communist Union and is seen wearing a military uniform in pictures released to the Western media. Elian Gonzales’ birthday is celebrated in Cuba with parades and other local events sponsored by the Cuban Regime.
Most tellingly, though, neither Elian Gonzales nor his father, former restaurant worker and now member of the Cuban Parliament, Juan Miguel Gonzales are allowed contact with the Western media.
The Elian Gonzales affair was a cause célèbre 10 years ago from the moment that he was plucked from the water off the coast of Florida. His mother had tried to take him to freedom but had drowned in the attempt. Five-year-old Elian was taken to the care of his relatives in Miami’s Little Havana and then the trouble began.
Juan Miguel Gonzales, likely under the instructions of the Cuban government, began to publicly campaign for the return of his son to Cuba. Unfortunately Juan Miguel Gonzales got a sympathetic ear at the Clinton Department of Justice, then headed by Attorney General Janet Reno. Despite the obvious desire of Elian Gonzales’ mother that he live in the United States and despite the notion that if her were returned to his father, young Elian would live under the heel of one of the last communist tyrannies on the planet, the Justice Department moved to have Elian Gonzales removed.
Finally growing weary of the legal process, Attorney General Janet Reno sent a detachment of Federal agents, black clad and wielding automatic weapons, to take Elian Gonzales away by force. A photographer who was present in the room took a picture that seared the conscience of the world of little Elian, screaming in the arms of one of his relatives, as a Federal agent pointed a gun at his head. The agents carried Elian out of the house, pausing only to tear gas the crowd that was assembled outside, and spirited him away. Within days, Elian was back in Cuba.
The Elian Gonzales affair became a minor issue in the 2000 campaign, with both George W. Bush and Al Gore commenting on what many called a state sponsored kidnapping. Very likely the way the matter was handled cost Al Gore the election. The Miami Cuban community was almost unanimous in their opposition to Al Gore. Considering the tiny margin with which George W. Bush won Florida and hence the election, that is telling.
Cuba is not a society where the honest airing of opinion is encouraged. Indeed, such can get one imprisoned or even shot. Thus we do not know what 16-year-old Elian Gonzales really thinks. Has 10 years of indoctrination turned him into a Cuban Communist automaton, believing in the dictates of what the Cuban Regime call the “Revolution?” Or does he remember those few months in Miami as happy ones and remember the terror of his leaving?
If the latter, there is always hope of liberation when the Communist Regime finally falls. If the latter, then the great tragedy is that the United States not only kidnapped the body of Elian Gonzales, but was complicit in the destruction of his soul.
Source: Now 16, Elian Gonzalez shown at Cuba youth meeting, AP, April 5th, 2010
