Judicial Watch. June 29, 2000
For Cuban-Americans, Elian saga was a wake-up call
By Jody A. Benjamin, Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 12:13 a.m. June 29, 2000
For Alberto and Adrienne Despaigne, it was like being awakened from an American dream only to be slapped with a cold reality.
The Cuban-American dentist and his wife had tended to avoid Cuban exile politics, having long ago assimilated into American society. But for the past seven months, they found themselves entranced with a Cuban drama like never before: Elián González.
"It dragged us out of our indifference," said Adrienne, 39, an Aventura housewife who was born in the United States. "I've never stood on line for concert tickets, let alone gotten in line for political reasons. But this is something that dragged me right out of my oblivion to the
Cuban issue. How long it is going to last, I don't know. But I got involved."
Getting involved did not lessen their frustration at the 6-year-old's departure Wednesday. Yet they cannot remember an issue that united so many in their community -- even if they did not agree with every action taken by local supporters of Elián's Miami family.
"We are deeply saddened," said Alberto, 52, who came to America from Cuba in 1962. "He was a very unique kid. We all fell in love with this child. He represented the fight for our freedom."
Like many Cuban-Americans, the couple saw different sides of the complicated international custody battle, which also reminded them of their own family experience.
As Americans, they cringed at television images of angry protesters burning flags and tires. As parents of three children, they winced at images of the boy being paraded before Miami crowds late at night and understood that the boy needed to be reunited with his father.
But through a Cuban lens, they also saw a father who did not always seem to act of his own free will, U.S. immigration officials who stubbornly sidestepped claims that the boy might face persecution if returned to Cuba, and a communist regime pulling strings behind the scenes.
"Something here did not add up," Alberto said. "It didn't seem right."
Others felt the same way. And they suddenly felt on the defensive while explaining their views to their Anglo neighbors and co-workers.
Laura Corry, 40, a Cuban-American who does public relations for the South Florida Water Management District, said co-workers often asked her opinions of the González case.
"People would ask me what I thought, and I could tell they had already made up their own minds on it. I would tell them, 'I have very strong opinions on this. Are you sure you want to hear?"' said Corry, of Boynton Beach.
Her grandfather was killed and her father narrowly escaped imprisonment after Cuban officers accused him of being a CIA agent. The family fled Cuba to the Dominican Republic, then moved through several other countries before settling in the United States.
"My mother has told me the story many times," Corry said. "It's very hard for someone who has never had a family member threatened by a government or thrown in jail to understand. But I never got to meet my grandfather. And I've lived places where you have to be careful what you
say and where you went."
In April, Corry honored a work stoppage called in Miami to protest the April 26 raid on the González's Little Havana home, even though she lives in Palm Beach County. She took a vacation day.
"I wanted to do something," she said.
So did Adrienne Despaigne.
While Elián was still in Miami, she joined others outside the Little Havana home of the González family. There she talked with strangers about her parents' homeland, craning for a glimpse of Elián, and even chatting up one of the adult survivors of the shipwreck that killed
the child's mother.
At home, she devoured every detail of the months-long saga, checking the Internet for diverse sources such as the Cuban government's Granma newspaper and Judicial Watch, a conservative U.S. journal.
"For Americans, this was just a miniseries. The minute he leaves, that's it. They're just not interested anymore," she said. "But six months, a year from now, we will still be watching."
Jody A. Benjamin can be reached at jbenjamin@sun-sentinel.com or at 954-356-4530.
For Elian's Miami relatives, not even a call
By JOSE DANTE PARRA HERRERA, Sun-Sentinel Web-posted: 11:23 p.m. June 28, 2000
MIAMI -- They had hoped for one last meeting with Elián. In the end, they didn't even get a phone call.
After the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear the case of Elián's Miami relatives, an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent contacted Lázaro González, the great uncle who fought to keep the boy here, saying Elián's father wanted a phone number where he could
call him. But the hours came and went and Elián got on a private jet and left without calling them.
Armando Gutierrez, the family's spokesman, said the family clung to hope that the boy might call after he arrived in Cuba.
"I guess the Cuban government wants to record it," Gutierrez said.
The family had gathered at their old house in Little Havana Wednesday morning to await the Supreme Court decision. Unlike the old days when Elián was among them, the family avoided the public eye and shortly before 11 a.m. they left the house with Gutierrez without mingling with their
supporters, as they used to do.
They went to the Hermita de la Caridad del Cobre, the Catholic Cuban community's most revered shrine and home to Cuba's patron saint, where they hung out by Biscayne Bay and then went inside, Gutierrez said. That is when they got the news.
"We went to the church and when we were inside that is when we got the news. It was a reaction of shock and disbelief. Up on to the last minute they were hoping that Juan Miguel would seek asylum."
Outside, Mike Tobin, a reporter from WSVN-Ch. 7, had caught up with them. At first Lázaro González, his daughter, Marisleysis, and a nephew did not notice the reporter and headed toward the edge of the bay. But when Lázaro González noticed the crew filming them, he
headed toward the camera and tried to force the cameraman to shut it off. Then he tried to start a scuffle with the reporter, but his daughter got in between them.
"At this point they are asking (the media) to respect their privacy," Gutierrez said later.
Back in the days when the González's home was the center of a massive media encampment, Marisleysis González bolted out of her home to the CNN tent to tell her side as guests in a talk show criticized her family and the Cuban-American community.
But in the days following the April 22 raid in which federal agents took Elián, the family started shunning the spotlight they had used for months to get their message across.
And on Wednesday, during what was probably the last major press conference of the Elián saga, none of the family members were present.
Instead, their legal team and their spokesman came on their behalf to convey to the media the family's feelings on the day Elián boarded a private jet and headed back to the island he had left on a rickety boat seven months before with his mother.
"They are suffering a lot; they are going through a lot of pain," Gutierrez said.
José Dante Parra Herrera can be reached at jparra@sun-sentinel.com or at 305-810-5005.
Castro's victory complete
By E.A. TORRIERO, Sun-Sentinel . Web-posted: 11:23 p.m. June 28, 2000
It was what Cuban exiles dreaded most.
Elián González, the boy they had protected for months, was in the clutches of Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Wednesday evening.
Exile leaders swore it would never happen. They vowed to keep Elián from communism. They promised Castro would never be able to use Elián to his advantage.
But as Elián's plane touched down on the Havana tarmac, exiles knew they had lost. The man they so hate, the man they see as a brutal dictator and tormentor, the man they want to overthrow, had scored a major public relations coup.
It was a bitter outcome for exiles and a sweet moment for Castro. And even to the end, exiles prayed for divine intervention.
"Wouldn't it be nice if at the moment Elián steps off the plane in Havana, Fidel Castro drops dead?" asked Grace Reyes, whose family fled Cuba when she was an infant, as Elián's plane flew toward Cuba on Wednesday.
Instead, Castro basked in victory.
In the five decades of his revolution, Castro has dealt some significant blows against his South Florida foes. He thwarted an exile force at the Bay of Pigs in 1962. He sent troops to usher a communist regime to power in Angola in the 1980s. He welcomed the pope to Cuba in 1998. He opened trade
avenues with Europe and Canada despite American opposition.
But never before had an issue so galvanized Cubans -- and Americans. Never before had Castro found himself so much on the favorable side of American public opinion and in such agreement with the U.S. leadership and Uncle Sam's judicial system.
Despite exiles' claims, the odds were strongly in favor of the Cuban leader when it came to fighting for Elián's return, analysts say.
"It was always going to be a win-win for Castro," said Damian Fernandez, a Cuba expert at Florida International University.
Since November, when Elián was rescued at sea after his mother drowned while trying to flee Cuba, Castro has whipped up the emotions of Cubans.
"Castro's telling people all the time that if the revolution fails, the Miami Mafia is going to come and take everything back," said William LeoGrande, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C. "Well, here's (Castro's) proof. They were even willing to take their
children … Every parent in Cuba can identify with that. It could have happened to any of them."
As hundreds of thousands of Cubans protested in the streets and stirred to Castro's speeches, they found much sympathy among Americans.
The Clinton administration supported reuniting the boy with his father. Outside of Miami, many Americans were furious that the Cuban exiles continued to defy U.S. authorities.
And after federal agents seized Elián from Miami relatives in April, and his American relatives waged a court battle to get him back, anti-exile sentiments only heightened. Surveys showed most Americans favored reuniting Elián with his father.
"The reaction toward the exiles outside of Miami was extremely negative," said Wayne Smith, former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. "This only helped Castro increase his rhetoric."
Exiles realized long ago they were fighting a losing cause, leaders of Miami's Cuban community said on Wednesday.
"We fought a hard battle," said Carlos Saladrigas, one of the negotiators inside the house when federal agents raided it. "We were trying to raise complex ethical and moral issues that were no match for simple and catchy sound bites about a father's rights."
But, no doubt, Castro in the coming days will tout Elián's return in speeches and rallies.
"It has always been his way to parade these things around as great victories," said Robert Quirk, an Indiana University history professor who wrote a book about Castro's life. "He will try to use this to his advantage for as long as possible."
Eddy Machine, a Communist Party member in Cuba, said Elián's return demonstrated that the Cuban leader and his people "are invincible."
"I think that once more, Fidel's genius has shown through," Machine said. "He led this battle step by step, always making exactly the right move at the right time, and completely defeated the Miami Mafia and their allies."
But in truth, the Castro regime had little to do with Elián's return.
"It was a victory produced by the legal system in the United States," Smith said.
And in the long run, the momentum of Elián's return will fade as Cubans return to their dreary lives, veteran Cuba watchers say.
"Will it put more food on the table?" asked Jamie Suchlicki, a University of Miami analyst who has spent months trying to cast exiles in a positive light in the American media.
"In many ways this is a lesser victory for him than, say, what happened in Angola because he will not be able to use it for long and it will not result in improvements for Cubans," he said.
Still, exiles were seething Wednesday night. They see Elián's return less as a Castro victory and more as a betrayal by the Clinton administration, which has favored liberalizing U.S. ties with Cuba.
"Of course, (Castro) is going to celebrate," said Bienvenido Comas, 24, of Miami. "The boy is a trophy."
Sun-Sentinel Staff Writers Rafael Lorente and Margarita Martin-Hidalgo contributed to this report.
E.A. Torriero can be reached at etorriero@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4578.
Growing up, Elián may have plenty to recall
By WILLIAM E. GIBSON, Sun-Sentinel .Web-posted: 10:33 p.m. June 28, 2000
How much do you remember from when you were 5 or 6 years old?
For Elián González, the past seven months have produced powerful images of a strange and traumatic visit to America, recollections that could last a lifetime.
His 5-year-old mind absorbed the sensation of being tossed at sea on a tiny craft, of seeing his mother slip into the waves never to return, of being rescued and finding a new set of doting relatives. Turning age 6, he experienced adoring crowds, the bright lights of television cameras, Walt
Disney World, and the sounds of mass demonstrations chanting his name.
He has known the fear of being pulled from his Miami refuge one early morning by uniformed men carrying big guns. And he has felt the joy of embracing his long-lost Papi.
But how much of all this will Elián remember once he grows into manhood?
Memory experts and child psychologists say most adults retain distinct and vivid recollections from ages 5 or 6, especially if they flow from exciting or traumatic experiences. But memory is a dynamic process, they said, like a movie that is constantly being re-edited.
"When you have events of such magnitude that are so public, it will be impossible for this boy not to remember them," said David Bjorklund, a professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University who has written and edited books on childhood memory. "He will remain a public
figure whether he likes it or not."
Elián's recollections inevitably will be revived and reshaped by what others recall, by news reports, by endless conversations on the subject and by the process of replaying these events in his mind, said Bjorklund and other memory experts. Some images may come back to him like a
photograph in the mind's eye.
"He may have flashbacks," Bjorklund said. "There is post-traumatic stress syndrome, which amounts to some of these memories coming back. He will have memories of these as an adult, but it will not be clear at all what it is that he is really remembering.
"Memories fade and change. Authority figures can suggest how the event actually took place. The younger the child, the less they tend to recall and the more easily you can plant suggestions in their minds and change their memory.
"That doesn't mean someone of age 5 or 6 is like a reed in the wind. They have an intact memory system, it's just not as sophisticated as an adult's. And there's a lot of things they just don't understand."
The unconscious mind
Even as his memories fade and change, Elián's mind, like that of any young child, will be influenced by the events of his early years, according to child psychologists. His bond with his Miami relatives, his sense of loss at his mother's death and the turmoil surrounding him in this
country will make lasting impressions on his unconscious mind, a realm less susceptible to the power of suggestion.
Sensory perceptions begin with infancy, a time nobody can remember but that nevertheless affects behavior throughout our lives.
"We don't remember our care as an infant, but it forms our scheme of what the world is like," said Lynne Baker-Ward, professor of psychology and a memory expert at North Carolina State University.
"Prior to age 3, it is rare to have accurate memories," Baker-Ward said. "But after early childhood, certainly by 5 or 6, children are capable of retaining memories for extended periods of time. I certainly remember my sixth birthday party."
In Elián's case, the extraordinary events straddling his sixth birthday, celebrated 10 days after he arrived in America, are bound to make lasting impressions.
But at such a young age, Elián's recollections, at least in his conscious mind, could be especially malleable, subject to interpretations from adults in the politically charged atmosphere surrounding him.
His memory could be "vulnerable to the packaging or spinning that others put on it," said Peter Ornstein, a memory expert at the University of North Carolina. "In a situation like this, where this young boy is surrounded by people who have strong points of view, these things will
affect his memory."
Contrasting depictions
Some of his Miami relatives, who were so intent on preventing his departure, insisted that Elián remembered a repressive, impoverished upbringing back in his homeland and did not want to return.
His cousin Georgina Cid claimed that Elián revealed such thoughts when he was asked in February to draw pictures of his Cuban home and Miami home as part of a psychological evaluation. Cid said his picture of the Miami home was nice and big, while he drew a Cuban home that was small and
spiked with bars on the windows.
It is impossible to know whether such depictions grew out of Elián's memory or was an idea planted in his mind directly or indirectly, Ornstein said. "We don't necessarily know when a child is expressing things that are an accurate memory or constructions," he said.
Quite a different picture emerged once Elián returned to his father's custody after an emotional reunion in April.
Paulina F. Kernberg, a psychiatrist hired by immigration officials to meet with Elián, said the boy drew her a picture of a man on a mountaintop and said it showed his "daddy looking around" -- the image of a powerful protector.
Kernberg described Elián as enthusiastic and playful, apparently unscathed by his wrenching removal from Miami by gun-toting agents.
"He also played with some plastic toy soldiers that I had brought with me to assess his reaction to their appearance, which was not unlike that of the officers who had retrieved him from his Miami relatives' home," she reported in a court affidavit. "He engaged in this sequence of
play with pleasure and without anxiety."
'He felt loved'
In the televised images the public has been allowed to see, Elián seems a happy, playful and remarkably resilient little boy no matter where he goes or who accompanies him. These glimpses, though superficial and selective, offer some hope that he will survive the array of amazing and
traumatic experiences in a healthy state of mind.
"With Elian, it looks like regardless of who he was with, he felt loved, and I'm guessing he'll get over this just fine," said Jeffrey A. Schaler, a developmental psychologist in Silver Spring, Md.
The relative strength of the boy's ego will make a major difference in determining his chances of becoming a well-adjusted adult, Schaler said.
"A person with a strong sense of self does much better with a traumatic issue like that. Bad memories will not have a destructive effect on them," he said. "Someone who feels unloved, betrayed and unsafe would tend to have a bad effect from a bad experience.
"Everybody loved this kid," Schaler said. "It's important to remember that."
Young children often recover from traumas with remarkable speed. After the Oklahoma City courthouse bombing of 1995, for example, children at a preschool across the street from the blast seemed less traumatized than some of their parents.
"It was the parents who remembered the explosion, kept having flashbacks and fears of their child being lost," said Barbara L. Bonner, director of the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma, which served children who were traumatized by the bombing.
"Certainly the children didn't understand the implications," Bonner said. "There was no way these young children could understand the severity of the event, the political and social repercussions. Children do have some protection from life's events through lack of cognitive
development."
That is one reason adult interpretations of events can affect a child's lasting impressions.
New interpretations
In Cuba, Elián will be subject to new interpretations as a poster boy in his homeland.
His Miami relatives and some members of Congress fear he will be subject to "brainwashing" and become a propaganda tool for Fidel Castro's regime.
"If he goes back there," cousin Cid warned, "they will destroy his little mind."
Memory experts say that regardless of any form of systematic indoctrination, Elián will be influenced by those who surround him and try to explain his strange adventure in America.
Even with his relatively low-key homecoming, he undoubtedly will remain a public figure. And even with the passage of time, his experiences here will remain unforgettable.
"These are all very novel events, and any one of them could be life-defining to some extent," said Bjorklund, the FAU memory expert. "And he's had all of these events in a brief period of time."
"This will be a salient time for him," Bjorklund said. "The rest of his life will not be nearly as exciting, or as traumatizing. This time in his life will always stand out."
William E. Gibson can be reached at wgibson@sun-sentinel.com or 202-824-8256 in Washington.
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