By Ian James. .c The Associated Press
MIAMI, 13 (AP) - Nearly three decades before Elian Gonzalez arrived in the United States after his mother died at sea, 12-year-old Federico Falcon lost his mother to cancer in Cuba. Politics separated both boys from their fathers, Elian's father in Cuba and Federico's in the United States.
Falcon, now 41 and living in Florida, identifies with Elian, saying his own separation from his father was wrong.
But despite his own experience, Falcon strongly believes that 6-year-old Elian should not be reunited with his father.
Like the relatives Elian is staying with in Miami, Falcon says freedom is more important for Elian than living with his father.
``The boy also has a right to be free,'' Falcon said recently. ``He has a right to his future.''
Falcon's parents were divorced in 1959, when he was an infant, and his father left Cuba for the United States in about 1967.
His mother, Dr. Joaquina Gonzalez Hernandez, was a staunch supporter of the Cuban revolution, and before she died in 1970 at the age of 37 she wrote in her will that Falcon should never be allowed to leave the island.
She entrusted the little boy to a committee of eight co-workers and military officers.
``They made me a son of the revolution, adopting me as a member of that committee,'' Falcon said.
When Falcon's father, Serafin Falcon, learned of his ex-wife's death he tried to get his son out of Cuba.
But a friend wrote to him that the boy was studying in a military school and that it would be impossible to take him away.
``I couldn't do anything,'' the elder Falcon said. ``The boy was practically the property of the state.''
The Cuban government rejects accusations that it has kept members of families apart.
President Fidel Castro, answering reporters' questions at a cigar festival in Havana last weekend, said his government has never prohibited Cubans from legally leaving the island to be with relatives abroad.
``We have absolutely respected parental rights,'' Castro said.
But Falcon said the pro-government committee assigned to care for him made it impossible for his father to reclaim him. One committee member even urged him to sign a statement renouncing his father's parental rights.
Falcon refused. He recalls that he responded, ``I'm not going to sign any paper that says my father is no longer my father.''
As Falcon grew up, one of the only images he had of his father was a black-and-white photograph of the veterinarian sitting at a typewriter.
``I have it recorded in my mind because I always looked at it,'' Falcon said. ``I saw him as if in dreams. He was for me like an unreachable dream.''
He became an electrical engineer and, for much of his life, didn't think of leaving Cuba.
But by 1994, Falcon said, he had grown disillusioned with life on the island. He set out for the United States on a makeshift raft of wood and tires with nine other men; his wife left separately on another raft.
They were picked up at sea by U.S. authorities and held for months in the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo, Cuba. They now live south of Miami, a short drive from Falcon's father.
Falcon says he doesn't want Elian to live the life he led, not being free to speak against the island's government or to read the books he wanted.
``I just arrived in this country at the age of 36,'' Falcon said. ``They were 36 years of my life practically lost.''
On the Net:
Cuban newspaper Granma: http://www.granma.cu/sitioelian/indexing.html
Supporters of Elian's Miami relatives: http://libertyforelian.org
AP-NY-03-13-00 0320EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. |