Cuban defector joins vigil outside boy's uncle's home in Miami.
Contributing Editor Bob Margolis reports. Sonicnet.com, Thursday, April 20, 2000
Arturo Sandoval has been speaking out — and letting his trumpet do the talking — in support of efforts to keep young Elian Gonzalez on U.S. soil.
Sandoval, who defected from Cuba in 1990, is one of several musicians and celebrities who have been gathering outside of Elian's uncle's home in Miami in what has become a divisive, borderline violent split between anti-Castro forces who want to prevent the 6-year-old boy from returning to his
father in Cuba, and the U.S. government, which has insisted the boy be sent back.
The Elian saga has been front-page news around the country since the boy arrived in Florida on Nov. 25, clinging to an inner tube after the small boat he escaped in with his mother and 12 others capsized. Eleven passengers, including Elian's mother, drowned.
"The father is trying to bring his boy to a completely hopeless situation in Cuba," Sandoval said. "The last thing you want for your child is to bring him somewhere that is a terrible place. That doesn't demonstrate to me any kind of love for your son because we, as parents,
sacrifice."
A co-founder of the Afro-Cuban band Irakere, Sandoval, 50, is well-known for playing in the United Nations Big Band, led by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. In a forthcoming HBO movie about his life called "Havana Nocturne," Sandoval will be portrayed by Andy Garcia, who was one of the
celebrities in the vigil outside the home where Elian has been staying. Sandoval is scoring the movie, which is due in October. His most recent record, Americana, was released in December. His 1998 album, Hot House, contains the song "Sandunga" (RealAudio excerpt).
"All those who are there everyday outside the house deserve all my praise and admiration," said Sandoval, who at the vigil blew the Cuban and U.S. national anthems on his trumpet. "I'm very proud that they are Cuban like me. They care about and love the kid."
He said, though, that the law should be respected. "Look, if we have to give up the kid, of course, we will, but it would be a terrible thing to do for this child. To bring him to a place where no freedom exists? Life without freedom is a piece of sh--."
Sandoval waited until 1990 to defect because he did not want to leave his family behind. "The Cuban government made a mistake in giving my family a special permit to travel to Europe to be with me," he said. "Since I was born, I always heard the real father is the one who raises
you up and really takes care about you all the time. And the biological father of Elian Gonzalez, Juan Miguel, as far as I know, he abandoned him with his mother, who died in the water on the way to the U.S."
Outside the Cuban-American community, many seem to feel Elian should be reunited with his father.
"Certainly the kid should be with his father. It's not a hard call," said Robert Brossage, co-director of the Washington, D.C.–based Campaign for America's Future. "By delaying that, the Justice Department tried to negotiate a settlement but instead has heightened the level
of hysteria around this young boy. This is an island 90 miles off our coast with whom we should be trading, traveling and communicating with, and if we were doing this, the Miami Cuban community would be dealing with business ventures as opposed to politics. The Cuban government would be a very
different government.
"This situation arises because our Cuban embargo reduces our influence on Cuba," Brossage continued. "This policy keeps the Florida Cuban community in a suspended sate of loathing which renders them incapable of relating outside the realm of their passion about Castro."
[ Wed., April 19, 2000 8:48 AM EDT ]
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