Posted on 08/23/2006 8:29:37 AM PDT by The Bronze Titan
With stories and photos of Fidel Castro's "personal health" bombarding us 24/7, I have given some second serious thought into my own involvement in the infamous Elian Gonzalez case. Once you hear the name "Elian", how can you ever forget this six year old boy and the media rampage that started in late 1999, and came full circle more than six years ago?
Looking back, I have come to realize that in my advocacy to advance the concept of fathers' rights, I forgot to understand that young Elian was the wrong boy and the wrong case to champion in the name of American fathers' rights. We can properly state over and over and over again that fathers, and subsequently their children, are victimized far more often in family courts across this country, than mothers are. This must stop. However, you don't start to bring media attention to a noble cause with the wrong case. I'm speaking for myself, and understand a million and one divorced fathers will come down on me. So be it.
Now, on the surface, there should not have even been a debate about returning Elian, once found floating on an inner tube in the Florida Straits, to his father. Elian's mother was deceased, and his biological father Juan Miguel Gonzalez was his last living parent. Here's the rub. Elian was not being returned to his father in Boston or Cleveland. He, a six year old boy with his whole life ahead of him, was being returned to a totalitarian regime. A Communist dictatorship that has been ruled by the same brutal man for almost a half century. For crying out loud! Personally, but without intending to do so, I was putting a social agenda above common sense and liberty. I regret this. Terribly. I should have known better.
You see, parental rights do not exist in Cuba because human rights do not exist. According to Richard Grenier, author of the April 14, 2000 worldnetdaily.com article, titled: "Holding Hands With Fidel", "The law on "parenting" under Cuba's present day totalitarian constitution affirms that a child's mother and father have some rights indeed, but "only so long as their influence does not go against the political objectives of the state." Children in Cuba, furthermore, are conscripted at a young age to serve in a kind of children's boot camp where the principles of the socialist state are thoroughly instilled. It is a form of youthful indoctrination previously employed by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany."
I am at a lost for words for not realizing at the time of writing columns advocating for Elian to go back home with his father, that Elian was really going home to a monster by the name of Fidel Castro. The very term "fiercely" anti-Castro in reference to many of Elian's relatives now seems silly. What other way can a person who loves America address Castro? With appeasement? With sympathy? With awe? With treating a young boy like a small fish that according to Attorney General Janet Reno, "had to be returned to his father"? Perhaps Janet "Waco" Reno and Bill Clinton could have been stronger, and not caved in to Castro. Certainly, they have no earthly idea of how to act on the best interests of the child - when given an opportunity.
If Elian's father was not being used as a puppet by Castro (not in the interest of young Elian) - then why would he want Elian to live under Castro, rather than live under the American flag? Is this what a "good" parent does? Choose totalitarianism over democracy? Isn't this in and of itself, a form of child abuse? Also, why couldn't there be some form of shared custody worked out? Why couldn't Elian live here during the school year so he didn't have to be indoctrinated with Communism, and perhaps spend summers with his father in Cuba? The real question, however, and the ultimate solution, would have been for Elian's father to live with his son Elian - in America. No matter how you look at this case, there was some kind of alternative out there for Elian, rather than sending him back to Cuba where he now shares his birthdays with Fidel Castro.
How sad. How wrong. How disgusting.
I don't understand why one of Elian's relatives could not apply for political asylum for him and our government could have made it stick. Elian Gonzalez deserved political asylum! The hearing on this in Atlanta in May of 2000 was a huge media event. As a fathers' rights activist, I kept thinking that the right thing to do was advocate for a boy to live with his father, no matter what. Again, I should have asked myself why was it such a stretch for his father and his family to come live in America. There were many questions about who really signed Elian's asylum papers, and is he old enough, but this is just a game of words.
The real issue at hand was, and is this: Does Elian deserve a chance to live in freedom or do fathers' rights and immigration law as constructed in America, mean he must live in a totalitarian regime - because this is where his father wants to live, and since Elian was only six years old at the time, only his biological father could sign political asylum papers? How can you call yourself a loving parent when you insist on a SWAT raid to pick your child up? Is that we call a Father of the Year in 2000? It's hard to even believe. If I believed in sleeping pills (aids) like Ambien, I'd take one so I could sleep at night.
I don't think anyone will ever forget that picture of Reno's boys in action doing the work of, well, a dictator named Castro. At that moment, we lost a piece of our soul. Ann Coulter was proven right once again by stating Elian Gonzalez was "the only immigrant liberals ever wanted to deport." Coulter writes further in "How To Talk To A Liberal" about the Elian Gonzalez case, "Elian Gonzalez was the only child liberals believed needed a father. Liberals believe that Elian's mother should have been able to abort Elian without input from the father, but that she could not give him freedom without the father's consent." The more I think about it, I believe Elian's father knew at some level where his son was going on that fateful November day. From what I understand, Elian's father knew the Miami relatives before all of this happened.
Again, no one is saying that fathers' rights to this day don't need to be better actualized and - enforced. It's just that the plight of American fathers was not the point in the Elian Gonzalez case. These days, you have to be careful what you align yourself with for what purpose, and what the consequences could be. Agenda isn't everything. Common sense is the most important currency we have to deal with each other. I made a mistake as a fathers' rights activist, (but being a fathers' rights activist in and of itself is certainly not a mistake), to try and say we were Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and he was one of us.
This doesn't hold water and is not truthful. It reminds me of the stark extremism that's out there when we talk about Andrea Yates murdering all five of her children. The issue was never justice for five murdered children (as it should have been), but rather, and only one of these two truths: Either a subjective mental illness is 100 percent to blame for the murders, or the drugs that Andrea took from time to time are 100 percent to blame. As far as agenda's go, I see some similarities between the media hoopla surrounding the Yates case and the Gonzalez case. It's not right. And when a CNN Talk Back Live survey stated the majority of Americans said Elian should be returned to his father, they should have been truthful and said: returned to his father, yes, but - under a totalitarian regime.
When I marched in Atlanta for Elian to be reunited with his father at the time of Elian's political asylum hearing on May 11, 2000, I thought that Elian's father's wishes were the only issue at hand. I thought like many fathers who were writing about Elian and his father. Archie Wortham wrote a piece for fathermag. com titled: "Elian Gonzalez: Fathers' Fight to be Important in America Continues." According to Wortham, "His father is the only one who should be making this decision. Yet, America is attempting to drive another stake in every man who is or happened to be a father. The boy should go home! A son needs his father." This is correct thinking for American fathers and their American children facing daily bias in American courts. It does not apply to a Communist tool like Elian's father, and an innocent child like Elian who now must shout "Fidel! Fidel!" during his youth, when instead, he could have lived in America.
When you punch "Elian Gonzalez" into an internet search engine, there are many articles and pictures to view. My heart sank when I checked out this web site: http://www.therealcuba.com/elian_gonzalez.htm
Everyone had an opinion about this case, and charges of all sorts when back and forth between all the parties.
Again, it was an unbelievable media circus, and I just didn't "get it" at the time. I thought I did. I really did. It did not even cross my heart or mind that it was a real possibility young Elian would have to live under a totalitarian regime that people try to escape from all the time. I didn't think that through. Now, I am. Back then, I should have asked myself: "How many times do we see people from America risking their lives in inner tubes to reach - Cuba?
No, this would have messed up my belief that the only issue at hand was that since Elian's mother was deceased, he must live with his father.
And Castro.
Armed (federal?) agents bring Elian to Georgetown
Human Events, May 19, 2000
What appeared to be a group of armed federal agents-escorted by a motorcade of U.S. Park Police and Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Policebrought Elian Gonzalez to a Georgetown mansion on the evening of Saturday, May 6, 2000, for an event sponsored by R.J. Reynolds tobacco heir Smith Bagley.
Bagley and his wife Elizabeth. are major contributors to the Democratic Party and to President Bill Clinton, who has visited their Georgetown home several times for fundraising events. Mrs. Bagley formerly served as Clinton's ambassador to Portugal, and the couple are frequent guests at the White House, most recently appearing on the guest list for the "Millennium Eve" dinner on December 31.
The Bagleys also run the Arca Foundation, which uses part of the family tobacco fortune to promote pro-Cuban causes, including normalizing relations with the regime of Communist dictator Fidel Castro. Over the past five years, Arca reports that it has spent $3,048,100 in support of its Cuban campaign.
After the Associated -Press broke the news of Elian's Saturday night Georgetown soiree, former Clinton impeachment lawyer Greg Craig, whocourtesy of anonymous donors to the National Council of Churches and, previously, the Methodist Church-represents Elian's father (and, in effect, Fidel Castro) told the Washington Post that he had arranged the little get together so Elian and his father could "get out of the compound out there in Maryland and socialize."
Smoked Salmon and Shrimp
The evening event for the six-year-old Cuban boy featured a menu of smoked salmon and shrimp.
Other than.the Smith Bagleys and Craig, the guest list is unknown-although it is reported to have included Cuban diplomats from the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, D.C. When a reporter asked White House spokesman Joe Lockhart three days later if the evening had been arranged so Democratic high donors could gawk at Elian, Lockhart erupted, "What basis do you have for alleging that?"
Said the reporter: "Well, why else would a bunch of 20 very rich Democratic fundraisers want to, you know, be at a house to meet Elian Gonzalez?"
A "source close to Craig" told NBC News, "Of course it was not a fundraising event. Not one dollar changed hands. It was an opportunity for Mr. Gonzalez to meet some of the city's most prominent citizens. It was a party for the little boy . . . balloons and cake."
Of course, the Clintons did not exchange money with those who spent the night in the Lincoln bedroom or attended coffees in the White House Map Room, either.
The party fundraiser or otherwise-concluded, after four hours, at 9:40 p.m., at which time Elian and his father, escorted by their police motorcade, returned to the Carmichael Farm plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where they have been staying.
No Answers
When asked by HUMAN EVENSs if the apparently armed man seen in a Reuters photograph escorting a manifestly unenthusiastic Elian out of the Georgetown party was an agent of the U.S. government, a Justice Department spokesperson at first said she believed the escorts were from the U.S. Marshals Service.
When asked if this was the only excursion Elian had taken away from the grounds of the Maryland plantation, the spokesman at first said the Justice Department could have no way of knowing. But when reminded that Elian was apparently escorted to Georgetown by U.S. marshals-who serve under the Justice Department-the spokesperson said the department would indeed know of any trips Elian had taken in the company of U.S. marshals, but that she was uncertain if those were, in fact, marshals who had escorted Elian on Saturday.
The spokesperson said she would get back to HUMAN EVENTS with answers as to whether the escorts were U.S. marshals, whether Elian has gone anywhere else but this Georgetown party, and, whether as a matter of policy he and his father are allowed to travel anywhere at all without an escort of U.S. marshals.
After a follow-up call, the Justice Department still had no answers.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200005/ai_n8890026
A lot of folks agreed and , unlike Mr. Zizza, they won't come clean.
That's ridiculous.
Elian's mother brought him here in pursuit of freedom and upon her unfortunate death, the US INS Department assigned custody to the Miami Gonzalez family pending family court proceedings (which never happened).
This baloney about Elian being "kidnapped" has got to end.
Since Elian's father was not married to Elian's mother at the time little Elian was conceived or thereafter, this matter should have been reviewed in a family court to verify paternity and allow the Miami family to present their arguments as to why Elian should stay with them.
I know a lot about this case firsthand, Rodger - and believe me, there was nothing "correct" about the way this situation was handled.
It is the indecision that I think merits attention.
My argument, at the time, was that we needed to be consistent in the type of situations like the Elian Gonzales affair.
And that we had not ever been, and would not be consistent in such cases. Politics would always intrude. We (as a nation) would not have made the same arguments, consistently, were it a child in a similar situation - let's say from China - for geo-political reasons. But domestic politics - Cuban-Americans in Florida - provided a political demand, ostensibly (and legitemately) against dictators, that, in fact would not have been made in many other situations.
For me, I prayed for two things - for Elian to be relieved from the emotional tug-of-war no child of his age should be put through, and that God grant him the providence to learn of, understand and be free from the tyranny of Castro, if not then, then in time.
You could have adopted him and spend your earnings raising him. It is easy to sit back and complain...put your money where your mouth is. Why should I have to pay for illegals?
My take on the situation:Send the boy back,or the rest of the family dies.Castro don't play.The whole situation was ugly.As someone commented,he will be treated better than the average Cuban.PR is an amazing thing.
Wasn't my government, than was Clinton-Reno's government, you remember them, the ones who burned up innocent people in Waco?
Perhaps. But he won't be free.
Not only Mike Gallagher but also our so called 'beloved' Tony Snow was impassioned on the father's rights issue and was in favor of sending poor Elian back.
How anyone can send a child back to a country like Cuba is not only incomprehensible but cruel. It defies logic and questions their morality, decency, and humanity.
I have never been as ashamed of our country as what we did to this poor child.
President Reagan had a similar case in which a teenager named Walter refused to return to Soviet Russia. Reagan kept the case churning in the courts for years until the boy turned 18 and could apply for citizenship on his own. Elian's case could have been rolling around in the courts for 12 years - death row prisoners get longer legal appeals.
When Diane Sawyer asked Elian where he wanted to be, he said the U.S., and let's not forget that Elian's mother died so that Elian could be free.
It just goes to show the power of how an issue is politically framed. Why would the issue of "Father's Rights" pre-empt or trump "The Right of Freedom" ?
WHEN WOULD IT EVER?
Thousands of parents sent their children out of Europe during WWII. Would you return a child to his father as he is walking into a death camp?
This is what the blippen media does best - frame the argument on their terms, and "Freedom" is the least of their pet projects.
How people like Gallagher, Tony Snow, this author Tony Zizza , and other so-called conservatives could fall for the "Father" over "Freedom" scenario literally makes me sick.
I hope this Zizza guy feels better after his meaningless 'mea culpa.' Something tells me it hasn't improved Elian's prospects any .
Nonsense.
Oh, I see. You're one of ~those~ types. :-)
Elian didn't need my money, sweetheart. He already had even his college paid by private citizens. And he wouldn't have spent one day on the public dime.
So, rest easy. He wouldn't have stolen a single penny from ya.
FWIW, if I could have adopted him and spent the rest of my life paying to raise him - I would have done it in a second. Just to have saved him from a life in Cuba under Castro. But see...that's just me.
That was a 'no-brainer' as to what was right and what was wrong.
This wet/dry law is totally idiotic.
Fish in territorial waters have more rights than a family fleeing to freedom from Cuba.
Elian Gonzalez had survived the impossible. I read reports of dolphins encircling his inner tube protecting him from sharks.
Poor kid never knew the real sharks were named Reno and Clinton and all the misguided and morally bankrupt people who know nothing about Freedom, and what desperation people turn to in its pursuit.
AMEN!
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