By Skip Wood. USA Today. May 4, 2000
Without doubt the most colorful owner in NASCAR's Winston Cup garage, Felix Sabates long has been one to deliver comic hyperbole about most any subject. But for the last several weeks, he has been quite serious when discussing one particular topic.
Elian.
Sabates, who came to the USA from his native Cuba in 1959 when he was 16, is steadfast in his belief that young Elian Gonzalez should remain in this country.
He also believes that now that Elian is back with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, a return to the communist country of Fidel Castro is all but inevitable.
''At the end of the day, he will go back to Cuba and disappear,'' Sabates says bitterly. ''He will become one more communist and will grow up learning to hate America.''
Sabates has no problem with Elian being reunited with his father after losing his mother during their boat trip from Cuba.
But he insists the matter should have been handled solely through the courts and not involved a government raid on the home of Elian's Miami relatives.
Sabates also is quick to point out that though he believes a boy belongs with his father, he has little sympathy for Juan Miguel and sees him as typical of die-hard Castro loyalists.
''That young man, Juan Miguel, he was born in Cuba and he is a communist, an active communist,'' Sabates says. ''A communist is not going to like America, no matter what. And look at his eyes. He has a mean look. You've got to be Cuban to understand that look, but he has it: the look of a
communist.''
Sabates scoffs at the reason given by Juan Miguel's attorney, Gregory B. Craig, on why the father didn't travel to Miami to retrieve his son, that Juan Miguel was concerned about his safety as well as a possible outbreak of violence.
''That never would have been an issue, because the Cuban people are not violent people,'' Sabates says. ''It just doesn't happen that way. The way it happened, the whole thing was a disgrace.
''The boy's mother lost her life to come to America, and if his father really wanted him back, he should have gone and gotten him. But this whole thing has played right into Fidel Castro's hands.
''What he has done is made Castro look like a hero, and (Juan Miguel) will be a hero, too, but that boy won't stay with his father.
''They'll take him off to school somewhere and teach him to hate America, and Castro wins again.'' |