Susan Brady Konig. Published Friday, June 2, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Castro shipped up Elián's playmates so that the child wouldn't have to fraternize with freedom-tainted American children.
Donato Dalrymple, the fisherman/housecleaner who saved Elián González's life, is suing Attorney General Janet Reno for unnecessary roughness during that horrific raid in Miami on April 22.
Dalrymple claims that the un- reasonable search and seizure violated his rights as an American citizen. At least he kept the Elián story in the headlines.
Where's good, old media scrutiny when we need it? Why has just about everybody thrown up their hands on this case now that the 6-year-old is practically out of sight at Fidel Castro's summer residences in the United States?
Perhaps it has to do with the vague and inaccurate views of many of our top governmental agencies. Apparently, according to a State Department spokesman, Elián, his dad, stepmom and half-brother have the freedom to go anywhere they want on their U.S. visitors' visas.
Still, for weeks they stayed locked up at the Wye Plantation, never leaving -- unless of course it involved a fancy dinner, Nintendo and a swimming pool at a pro-Castro get-together in Georgetown given by Smith Bagley, the head of the Arca Foundation, which throws its money behind free trade
with Cuba.
And strangely, the Justice Department is unable to recognize the uniform that Elián is wearing these days -- that of the Pioneers communist-indoctrination group, which Cuban schoolchildren are required to join.
An Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesperson maintained that it's up to the father how Elián is educated and clothed. Conveniently, Juan Miguel González has made the same ``choice'' that every father in Castro's Cuba is forced to make.
Why not just send Elián back?
If he's not going to enjoy the freedoms of this country while he awaits the final results of our legal system, why not have him in the real Cuba, instead of living like a prisoner, where no one can visit without the approval of the Cuban government?
Everyone was outraged about this case when the boy was happily scampering around the backyard of his relatives' house in Miami. Now no one has said a word even though we -- the public and the press -- are denied any access to a child who applied for asylum in the United States, but, during that
waiting period, has been held captive by the same country that he [and his mother] fled.
Cuba is calling the shots on our soil.
It's all about parents' rights, right? What about grandparents' rights? Why no concern for Elián's grandmother, the one back in Cuba being held in a government facility ``for her own protection''?
Of course we're all supposed to buy into the premise that González is free to make any decision regarding his son while Castro holds his grandmother hostage.
And what about Elián's playmates, shipped up to the United States by Castro so Elián wouldn't have to fraternize with freedom-tainted American children? In a television interview with a reporter, the mother of one of the Cuban kids expressed concern as to when her child would be
allowed to return home.
Allowed? Apparently the mother has no real say in the matter. And neither does González. Elián has not been returned to the father's custody because the father never had custody. In Cuba, only Castro has custody.
With the total cooperation of the U.S. government, Elián's mind is back under Castro's control. And with total cooperation of the U.S. government, Elián's body soon will follow.
Susan Brady Konig is a writer for The New York Post.
©2000 New York Post
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald |