The New Republic. Daily Notebook. Issue date: 04.17.00
FANTASY ISLAND: We sympathize with Representative Jose Serrano's frustration at the pandering over Elián González. But he didn't do his cause much good last Monday on CNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" when he used the controversy to launch into an ode to Fidel
Castro. Here are Serrano's various responses to Matthews's question "Is Cuba a free country?": "It's a sovereign country," "It's a country with a system different than ours," and, finally, "I don't know if it's a free country. I don't live there." Still,
even though the Puerto Rican-born Serrano resides in the South Bronx, he was comfortable telling Matthews that he believes Cuba "allows personal freedoms--absolutely." When Matthews asked Serrano whether Cuba allows freedom of speech, the congressman casually replied, "Sure."
In a final act of embarrassment, Serrano tried to explain why, if Cuba's so free, people are so eager to leave. "They leave for the same reason that my parents left Puerto Rico in the 1940s and '50s," Serrano said, "looking for a better life in the United States." Serrano
didn't bother to explain why people leaving Cuba--like Elián González and his mother--frequently choose such dangerous methods of travel. (04.10.00) |