Accuses Al of 'attempting to gain votes by dropping' Elian issue
By I. J. Toby Westerman. © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com . June 10, 2000
Texas Gov. George W. Bush's offer to Vice President Al Gore to jointly support a move to take the Elian Gonzalez case to a Florida family court has received a disdainful rebuke from Cuban government authorities, giving Radio Habana Cuba the opportunity to broadcast a diatribe against the U.S.
political system reminiscent of the Soviet era.
While condemning both Bush and Gore for "flirting with the anti-Cuban Mafia," the report stated that Gore, who rejected the Bush offer, now "is aware of his mistake" in supporting political asylum for Elian Gonzalez, "and is attempting to gain votes by dropping the
issue."
Radio Habana Cuba is the official broadcasting service of the Cuban government.
"Democracy in the United States is an insult to the intelligence of the American people and that of people around the world," said the government broadcast. ... "[U.S. politics] represents the interests only of a wealthy few and oppresses the vast majority of the U.S. people ..."
American voters "who go to the polls are ... reaffirming the lie," adding that U.S. politics is useful only for "misinforming and deceiving the people," the report stated.
The Elian case is also being used to attack the entire Cuban exile community, as well as the 40-year-old Cuban Adjustment Act.
The CAA remains a focus of attention for the Castro government because it allows asylum for any Cuban who arrives on dry land in the United States. (The case of Elian Gonzalez revolves around his legal capacity to make such a request).
Cuban authorities claim those fleeing Cuba tend to be either criminals or those who seek merely economic benefit.
In television interviews with Cubans purported to have attempted -- but failed -- crossing to the U.S., the official Cuban media have painted a picture of refugees driven by material gain rather than revulsion against the island nation's repressive communist system.
The Cuban Adjustment Act is portrayed as the culprit behind Cuban flight from the island, causing the life-and-death risk so many have taken to flee their homeland.
As pressure grows to lift trade restrictions with Cuba, it is certain that the CAA, which is a continuing source of embarrassment to Castro and his government, will come under increasing fire.
The case of Elian Gonzalez remains a vital issue in Cuba and it continues to prove useful in attacking both the United States political system and the Cuban exile community in the U.S.
I. J. Toby Westerman is a contributing editor to WorldNetDaily.com and WorldNet magazine.
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