By Sylvia Moreno. Washington Post Staff Writer. Friday, April 7, 2000; Page A21
Just Monday night, several dozen Cuban Americans from the Washington area gathered in front of the White House in a prayerful vigil to express quietly that they, too, were concerned about the future of a child whose story has mesmerized them from afar.
Now, the fate of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez is unfolding virtually on their doorstep.
With the arrival yesterday in suburban Maryland of Elian's father, Juan Miguel, his stepmother and infant half brother, the spotlight on Cuban American reaction has shifted from vocal protesters in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood to a community that is, by its own account, more subdued and
more divided philosophically about what should happen to the boy.
"When this whole thing started, I was adamant about Elian being returned to his father," said Julieta Valls, of Washington, an international development consultant who attended the vigil. "However, seeing how things have been politicized on both sides, it has made me ponder."
Send Elian back, she speculates, and he may never have the freedom to demonstrate in front of Cuba's equivalent of the White House, the presidential palace in Havana. Keep him here and he would grow up separated from his closest relatives.
"Generally, I know exactly how I feel. But I'm torn," she said. "I'm one of those who's undecided and struggling with their feelings about this. I guess I'm a middle-of-the-roader and in Miami, that would be considered a bit of a liberal."
That's not to say there isn't strong anti-Castro sentiment here. Leaders of two such Cuban exile organizations said they will make their presence known to Juan Miguel Gonzalez by gathering near the Bethesda house where he and his family are staying as guests of the diplomat who heads the Cuban
Interests Section.
"We're not going to protest anything. We just want to be there in peaceful vigil," said Jay Fernandez, of Fairfax, who heads Casa Cuba, an organization he started almost 30 years ago.
"I'm writing a letter to Juan Miguel welcoming him, telling him he doesn't have to feel alone. . . . Hey, if you want to go and see the monuments or come to my house and eat Cuban food, we're here," he said.
"There are Cuban Americans who don't have anything against him, and we're willing to show him the area," Fernandez said. "In this case, he's not our enemy. But we don't feel he's free to do whatever he wants. How free can he be to see whatever he wants? That's the test here."
Frank Calzon, of Arlington, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba in Dupont Circle, agreed. He also is discouraging large crowds from descending upon the temporary Bethesda residence of the Gonzalez family. "It's counterproductive," he said.
"The ideal thing would be for Juan Miguel and his relatives in Miami and the child and the stepmother to be permitted to spend a weekend at the beach or in the mountains or some resort and sit around the table and among themselves, decide what they should do," Calzon said.
He would like to see Elian and his father reunited and remain here in the United States. Barring that, Calzon said he believes a family court judge should decide what is best for the child. What he doesn't want to see: "That while this matter is before the U.S. court, this boy is given back
to the Cuban state before that is decided."
"That would be a shame," Calzon said, "and we are worried that is what is going to happen."
For some Cuban Americans, the presence of Elian's father reminds them of divisions within their own families, between those who settled in the United States and those who remained on the island. Some, such as lawyer Jose Pertierra, came here as a child from Cuba and grew up with relatives who
are vehemently anti-Castro and who never spoke again to relatives who stayed behind and remained staunch members of the Communist Party.
"Most Cuban families have that. And people who don't accept that really aren't facing reality," Pertierra said. "The rights of a father must be respected no matter what. Communists have a right to be fathers, too."
The father's trip here to reclaim his son also evokes memories for those who arrived in the United States 40 years ago as part of the so-called Peter Pan program. From 1960 to 1962, 14,000 Cuban children were sent here by parents concerned about the political situation in Cuba. The children were
sponsored by religious organizations that found American foster homes for them until their parents could join them.
"My mother made a decision . . . and I'm very grateful that she did that," said Emilio Cueto, a lawyer with the Inter-American Development Bank.
"And Cuba is not a place I would like my child to live, but this is not my child," he said about Elian. "I have to defer to the judgment of the father, who seems to be a loving, caring person."
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