Newsweek International, May 22, 2000

While media coverage of Elián González blessedly winds down in the United States, in Cuba "it's getting worse all the time," says a 33-year-old Havana woman.

Throughout the country—where Elián's face appears on billboards, thousands of T shirts and the front pages of newspapers nearly every day—Cubans have had enough. Roundtable Elián discussions, held almost daily on TV, shove the usual sports, cartoon and soap programs back to late night. If the discussions run late, according to one woman, "everyone goes out into the streets to drink rum. They're turning us all into alcoholics." Public transportation halts during the "spontaneous" demonstrations. There have been more than a dozen in Havana alone; many people say they can't skip them for fear of reprisals at work. Said one man, "If I told you how much dislike I have for the demonstrations, you'd have to write a book." Cubans want Elián to come home—if only so they can stop hearing about him.

© 2000 Newsweek, Inc.

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