TORONTO, March 1 /CNW-PRN/ - There is one six-year-old child who should not be spending March Break in Florida, says The United Church of Canada. In a letter sent this week to Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, the United Church's Division of World Outreach calls on the Canadian Government
to use every diplomatic channel to urge the US government to immediately return Elian Gonzalez to his home in Cuba.
"It is outrageous that the needs of this boy should be supplanted by ideological anti-Cuba propaganda," says the Reverend Chris Ferguson, General Secretary of the United Church's Division of World Outreach.
In taking this stand, the United Church is responding to church partners in Cuba and the United States, all of whom have said that the only acceptable solution to this case, for pastoral and humanitarian reasons, is for Elian to go home.
Ferguson says the church is very concerned that after three months in Florida, Elian Gonzalez is no closer to being reunited with his father in Cuba than when he was found by the US Coast Guard following a shipwreck in which his mother drowned.
"Elian Gonzalez has become a political pawn of some Cuban American groups in an attempt to use the child to discredit the Cuban government," says Ferguson. "It is unconscionable that this child be held any longer."
"Our concern is that the child's relationship with his father must come first," says Ferguson. He says the pastoral, ethical and legal imperatives in this case are clear. "Compassion and due process cannot be lost in a sea of ideological posturing and legal maneuvering."
The United Church of Canada considers the case of Elian Gonzalez particularly worrying given the history of hostile US-Cuba relations and the four-decade economic blockade that continues unabated. In its letter to Minister Axworthy, the United Church affirms the Canadian tradition of
constructive engagement with Cuba and calls on the Canadian Government to continue to provide a voice of reason with respect to Cuba.
"As a voice of reason, Canada must reject attempts to portray Cuba as hell on earth, or even hell in the hemisphere." says the letter. "We encourage the Canadian Government to continue to downplay the rhetoric, dispel the myths and advocate for the rule of law in the hemisphere."
Ferguson adds that the church is also concerned that the lure of a consumer society would so easily be seen to take precedence over a child being with his father in his home. "It is truly scandalous that a group of people with clearly political aims have been able to keep Elian Gonzalez in
Florida based on the argument that his only chance for a decent life is in the United States," comments Ferguson.
He adds that it's critical as Canadians enjoy the Florida sunshine during March Break, that they also remember the tragedy of the little boy who's being kept away from his father and his home in Cuba.
The emotional and psychological harm to Elian Gonzalez is real, says Ferguson. And, he adds, "All the dazzle of Disney World can never compensate for the loss of one parent, much less both parents."
CO: United Church of Canada
ST: Ontario
IN:
SU:
03/02/2000 08:30 EST http://www.prnewswire.com |