Susana Barciela. Published Monday, April 24, 2000, in the Miami Herald
The feelings kept coming at me, messy and discomforting. First the horror of the raid. The menacing INS agent in riot gear, his gun up close to Elian's terrified face. There were no guns at the house. But this was the Immigration and Naturalization Service's idea of a family-friendly custody
transfer. This was what I would expect of Cuba's police state. Where were all those advocates for the child's welfare now?
Then came the horror of the aftermath. Four high-powered civic leaders had been brokering what could have been a peaceful arrangement. These were not fanatics or flakes. Aaron Podhurst, a well-respected lawyer mediating the negotiations, was still
Betrayal. There is no other word. We have tasted that bitterness before.
On the phone with Attorney General Janet Reno, still under the impression that they were close to a final deal and negotiating in good faith, when the raid erupted.
Betrayal. There is no other word to describe it. Miami Cubans have tasted that bitterness before. This wasn't the Bay of Pigs, but it sure felt like when the promise of air support was broken. Only this time the one betraying the trust was Miami's own Reno.
This shouldn't surprise, but it hurts. For five months Miami and its Cuban community have been put through the media grinder. Unfairly we've been portrayed as violent extremists, gangsters and fruitcakes. No wonder so many Americans disdain us, even within our own community.
Lost in the xenophobic spin were the serious questions. Was father Juan Miguel Gonzalez speaking for Elian or for Fidel Castro? And who would Elian return to in Cuba? His father? No, Elian would return to an amoral megalomaniac who would just as soon drown the boy as kiss him if could it buy 30
seconds more in power.
Lost, too, were the heart-wrenching stories of families ripped apart by Cuba's totalitarian dictator: the children barred from leaving the island though they have visas to join parents abroad; the children harassed because they and their parents have been caught trying to leave by raft; the
children of Cuban dissidents, such as the two daughters of Maritza Lugo, who are left as orphans after their parents are jailed for peacefully criticizing the abuse of human rights.
Many Americans don't even realize that the peaceful protesters at Elian's the Little Havana home could never have done the same in Cuba. The dictatorship permits no criticism. Those few who do attempt protest, as human-rights activists before the Ibero American Summit in Havana last year,
ruthlessly are attacked by government organized goons.
Scratch the surface of most any Cuban exile, and you will find loss, family separation and other psychic wounds deliberately inflicted by a totalitarian regime.
The Gonzalez family saga is all our stories magnified.
I lost my homeland to a tyrant 41 years ago. And I have come to love the America that so generously took me in 39 years ago. But what happened this weekend has left me bereft all over again.
Saturday, the heartbreak rippled thoughout Little Havana. Outraged crowds took to the streets, and despite the many calls for peaceful expression and my silent prayers for restraint, some hot-heads and thugs shamefully got ugly.
The tire burners and rock throwers don't represent all 740,000 Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade County. The rest of us know that's not the way to make the case. In the days to come we must channel the anger and grief much-more effectively. We still have the power of our votes and voices.
Tad Foote, Carlos de la Cruz, Aaron Podhurst and Carlos Saladrigas, the civic leaders who so sincerely searched for a sane solution, deserve our thanks and respect. So do all the leaders who have called for peace and calm. However each of us feels about what's best for Elian, it's time to bridge
the fissures opened since his arrival.
Yes, the ``worst case'' happened. But the story is not ended. Elian right to seek asylum still is being weighed by the federal appeals court.
Reunited with Elian, Juan Miguel Gonzalez is free of his Cuban handlers for now at least. Elian survived the sharks in the Florida Straits. He may yet survive America.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald |