By Luisa Yanez. Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 11:35 p.m. Mar. 7, 2000
MIAMI -- He's been idolized by exiles in Miami, revered by marchers in Cuba and courted by politicians in Washington.
Now, Elián Gonzalez, the famous 6-year-old, is an unwitting fund-raiser for the Republican Party of Florida.
In a four-page letter written in Spanish and mailed to voters in South Florida, state party chairman Al Cardenas blasts the Clinton-Gore administration for bowing to Cuban President Fidel Castro in the boy's case.
And the Florida Democratic Party has blasted right back.
"I am surprised that Chairman Cardenas would use this issue to collect money," said Screven Watson, the party's executive director. "The Clinton administration has tried hard not to politicize the Elián case and keep it in the legal system."
Portia Palmer, a GOP spokeswoman, denied the party was exploiting the boy. "We are only criticizing a failed Clinton policy that calls for kowtowing to Castro," she said.
The GOP letter, signed by Cardenas, solicits donations from $25 to $1,000 to help elect a Republican president who would be willing to challenge Castro and keep the boy in the United States.
The Clinton administration has ruled that the boy should be returned to his father in Cuba.
The donations are destined for a general fund, Palmer said. She would not disclose how many letters were mailed or whether any were in English, but they are clearly aimed at Cuban exiles who largely vote Republican and oppose the boy's return to the island.
"The Clinton administration has compromised and prostrated itself in front of Fidel Castro for too long," the letter says. "The case of Elián Gonzalez is only one example of its intentions to appease this terrible dictator."
The letter also accuses Clinton of failing to hold Castro responsible for the "cold-blooded murders" of four fliers of the exile organization Brothers to the Rescue, who were shot down by Cuban MiGs in 1996.
The letter details Elián's dramatic voyage across the Florida Straits with his mother, who drowned with 10 other adults during Thanksgiving week in 1999. Only three people survived.
"Quivering with fear and alone, Elián Gonzalez spent two dark and endless days three miles from the Pompano Beach coast, doing exactly what his mother told him to do. By the grace of God, he was found on a inner tube in shark-infested waters, but protected by dolphins," the
letter said.
The letter goes on to call the boy's mother, Elisabeth Brotons, "a heroine on land and an angel in heaven" and her son "a boy of incredible valor who deserves to be free and stay in the U.S."
On Thursday, a Miami federal judge will begin hearing arguments in a lawsuit brought by the boy's Miami relatives, who are fighting to keep him in the United States.
Luisa Yanez can be reached at lyanez@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.
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