Lawyer for Cuban Boy's Relatives Is Elected Miami Mayor

New York Times ^ | 11/14/01 | DANA CANEDY

[kattracks]

IAMI, Nov. 13 — Manny Diaz, a political no-name who became a central figure in the Elián González episode, shook up the local political establishment today by easily winning the race for mayor of Miami in his first campaign for elected office.

Mr. Diaz, a 47-year-old Cuban- American lawyer who became publicly known last year as a representative of the Miami relatives of Elián, the young Cuban survivor of a boat sinking, defeated Maurice Ferre, a former mayor who could not gain enough support among African- Americans and non-Cuban whites to overcome Mr. Diaz's lock on the decisive Cuban-American vote for the runoff election.

Mr. Diaz, an independent, had 55.3 percent of the vote to 44.7 percent for Mr. Ferre, a Democrat.

"Forty years ago my mother and I arrived as poor immigrants in this city and lived a couple of blocks away," Mr. Diaz said in his acceptance speech at his headquarters in Little Havana. "And 40 years later here I am as mayor of the city. God bless America."

In many ways, the election of the political newcomer was vintage Miami politics. In a familiar election theme here, a campaign that initially focused on taxes, city services and other municipal issues shifted in the last week into a battle dominated by race, ethnicity and Cuban-American ideologies. The shift highlighted the deep divisions among racial and ethnic groups in a city that prides itself on its international reputation.

The candidates were forced into a runoff after they came in first and second in the election on Nov. 6 in which no one received more than 50 percent of the vote. In qualifying for today's matchup, the candidates defeated Mayor Joe Carollo.

Almost immediately after eliminating their opponents, the front-runners began accusing each other of pushing ethnically sensitive hot buttons for political gain.

Mr. Ferre, who is Puerto Rican, accused his opponent of spreading a rumor in the Little Havana section that he supported Janet Reno, the Democratic candidate for governor who has been vilified among many Cuban-Americans for ordering the federal raid that returned Elián to his Cuban father while she was attorney general in the Clinton administration.

Mr. Diaz's supporters, meanwhile, pointed fingers at Mr. Ferre over pamphlets placed anonymously on cars in a black neighborhood that showed Mr. Diaz with Elián and suggested that he used the boy to advance his political agenda.

Both candidates denied the other's accusations while accusing each other of waging a divisive campaign.

"There's been a lot of dirty stuff here," said Mr. Ferre, who was mayor from 1973 until 1985 and campaigned on his experience, which included presiding over the city during the Mariel boatlift and the race riots in the Liberty City section.

"I think what has happened is that what keeps popping out is Elián and Janet Reno and, you know, the right- wing fanaticism in the Cuban-American community," Mr. Ferre said this afternoon.

"It is the lock-step blind fanatical rejection of anything not within the purview of what they think is right," he said. "There is no middle ground in the minds of many of these people."

Mr. Diaz's supporters said Mr. Ferre had simply run a negative campaign at a time when voters were looking for positive change.

"People are upset at the way Ferre handled his campaign," Alberto Lorenzo, Mr. Diaz's campaign manager, said this afternoon. "He's doing what he likes to do, which is divide and confuse."

Some voters, however, emphasized the need for political experience in a city that has been plagued by scandal and embarrassment.

More than a dozen Miami police officers are awaiting trial on federal charges of brutality and corruption. And Mayor Carollo has had his own legal troubles, having spent a night in jail in February after being accused of throwing a cardboard tea container at his wife. Prosecutors later dropped a misdemeanor abuse charge against him.

"Manny Diaz has never had this kind of job and has no political experience," said Marina Vazquez, 37, who voted for Mr. Ferre, saying he made her feel "a bit more secure."

Despite Mr. Carollo's troubles, his endorsement of Mr. Diaz seems to have been a factor.

"Running against a Cuban-American is always difficult here," said George Gonzalez, a political science professor at the University of Miami. "Cuban-Americans here do vote along ethnic lines."

In his concession speech, Mr. Ferre again emphasized the ethnic and racial divisions that he believes helped to determine the outcome of the race. "The time will come in America when we can look and deal with each other based on our value and our worth and not on the color of our skin, our nationality or our ethnicity or our religion," he said. But he added on a hopeful note: "Today Miami seems to be a divided community but from a divided community to a united community, the change can be very quick and very short."

[Dr. Frank fan]

I hope no one ever kidnaps one of your children and hides in another country.

Yes, me too. Thank you for the kind wishes.

I also hope that if such unthinkable were to happen, I wouldn't think to myself "damn, if only our government had sent more Cuban boys back to a dictatorship at gunpoint against their will, maybe then I'd be able to get my kid back more easily!"

I surely wouldn't want such a horrible tragedy to strike my family, but on the other hand I also hope I'd react to it with more honor and integrity than that.

[Ann Archy]

It's just as plasa said....the man called his uncle to tell him that the mom and Elian were on their way to their house and to watch out for hem...THAT'S how the family KNEW it was Elian that was fished out of the water....how ELSE would they have known.....case closed.

[Darheel]

'I hope no one ever kidnaps one of your children and hides in another country'

That's exactly what Castro did, legally with Reno's help at gunpoint. Have you read the Cuban Constitution lately, 'cuz buddy, in Cuba, Castro's yer daddy.

[GeronL]

big bump

[Ann Archy]

Are you on the east coast or west coast?

[ForGod'sSake]

If you spouse took your child to another country where she/he had relatives and then she/he died, would you want those relatives to be given preference over you to have custody of your child?

Depends. Just who's interests should a parent look after first? Theirs or their childs? If you're a parent you know the answer to this. Did the "father" want to follow in any case?

The long and the short of it is: If you lived in a totalitarian state and your child had the chance to grow up in a free country without you, what would you do? I don't know if there's and easy answer.

FGS

[JD86]

Personally, I don't see why not. You think otherwise? On what basis?

I'm sorry. I was under the impression that you would have seen the pictures of the hundreds of Cuban activists surrounding the house where Elian lived in Little Havana. And that you would have seen the picture of the man hiding in the closet with Elian. And that you would have heard the press conferences with the uncle and the cousin swearing to not allow Elian to go back to Cuba. The uncle did not have custody of Elian and he would not turn him over. The uncle dared the US govt to come and get him.

[tallhappy]

Nice comments, but I'm sure JD86 has thought things through very well and has a very rational and logical basis for his ideas.

For example, he thinks the father had unquestionable right to be with his boy -- that is unless of course more people happened to walk by the house the boy was staying at with certain flags. In that case father's rights are out the window in JD's reasoning.

Can't argue with logic like that.

[JD86]

I don't know if there's and easy answer.

I agree, there isn't. Thank you for your response.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Bump for the kind of activity we need to be doing or encouraging here on this board. Suggestion for you: Start another thread specifying the details you mention above, and include the keyword 'activism' in the header.

[JD86]

Why didn't the father go to his Uncle's house and get his son? I was responding to your question...see #27...

[Darheel]

'that is unless of course more people happened'

Hmm, I thought his mother DIED to give him freedom from Communism. Well she's dead, we can 'move on' now right? lol

[Dr. Frank fan]

I was under the impression that you would have seen the pictures of the hundreds of Cuban activists surrounding the house where Elian lived in Little Havana.

I saw such pictures, thanks. However, if I may jump ahead to the final chapter, you are basically implying that the people pictured in those photographs, upon seeing the kid's father walking down the street towards them saying "I would like to go see my kid", would not let him pass.

And so I ask again: On what basis do you believe this?

You believe the people you saw in those pictures are inherently Evil, Horrible People, or perhaps are the "Miami Mafia". Is that the explanation? If so I don't expect you to admit it; no one likes to admit to bigotry.

And that you would have seen the picture of the man hiding in the closet with Elian.

I saw no such picture, or at least, you have provided an incomplete description of a picture which I did see.

The picture I did see showed an unnamed government agent who had busted into a house at 5 a.m. under pretense of a fraudulent court order, in violation of the 4th Amendment, and took a kid at gunpoint who had been in the arms of the man "hiding in the closet".

And that you would have heard the press conferences with the uncle and the cousin swearing to not allow Elian to go back to Cuba.

I am sure they said such things but I am also sure that their statements were meant only to address a situation where Castro, or the U.S. government, or the U.S. government at the behest of Castro (as was the case), tried to force the kid back to Cuba, against his wishes and perhaps those of the kid's father.

They made no corresponding statements regarding how they would react if the father had freely expressed a desire to have the kid live with him in Cuba. Of course, the father made no such statements in the first place, so this is all very hypothetical.

The uncle did not have custody of Elian and he would not turn him over.

The uncle was assigned temporary custody of the kid pending an asylum hearing.

The uncle dared the US govt to come and get him.

If I dare the U.S. government to send me to an oven, does that make them justified in doing so?

[JD86]

The question is not whether the father has a right to be with his son.......the question was whether or not the father could have gotten the boy out of the uncle's house. Since it took a swat team to do it, my guess would be no. But then it seems you think you could have walked in and gotten the boy and walked out. You must be reeeeealllll tall...:)

[JD86]

The uncle was assigned temporary custody of the kid pending an asylum hearing.

and the temporary custody was recended.....the question was not whether the crowd would have let the father in the house...but rather would they have let him leave....from your impassioned response it seems that you yourself would not have agreed to let the father take the boy back to Cuba.

[JD86]

Thanks to everyone who responded. Although I do not agree with everyone, or you with me, I will think about all your responses. Some of you have made points I had not considered before, which is why I asked for your input.

[piasa]

I hope no one ever kidnaps one of your children and hides in another country.

Under the Cuban constitution, children are the 'property' or wards of the state- not the parents. So legally speaking, a father has no case, much less a father who is not the legal guardian.

The Elian case was never one of 'kidnapping,' unless you agree that parents cannot take their own children out of Cuba without the Cuban government giving up its own custody first. There was no accusation of 'kidnapping' filed in any court regarding the case.

The boy was not his biological father's in the first place. Why? Well, no real paternity was ever established ; the boy was conceived out of wedlock and born at a time the mother was single, since the alleged bio-dad was living with another woman at the time. The only word on his paternity was that of the mom and she is dead. It is possible that he was not Mr. Gonzaleses kid biologically speaking- though no one contested that, and the relatives in Miami were not the mother's relatives- but Mr. Gonzales' own relatives!

The boy was raised by the mother and the grandparents, and later with the addition of the man who died with the mother. During this time, bio-Dad did not share in the boy's upbringing or support. Bio-dad is known to have attended a birthday party. The boy's custody was always with mom, with no strings attached.

Since in terms of marriage, the second man had as much a right to the boy as bio-dad (both zip under Cuban law), man #2's presence and the mother's on the boat with the boy could not be mistaken for kidnapping under ANY circumstances.

The additional probability that Dad was in on the defection and the phone call from him to the relatives in Miami (why else would he call unless he knew where they were going- to his own relatives in Miami?)...and retrieval of the boy by the relatives in Miami on his arrival... conflict with the idea of a 'kidnapping.'

In truth, the only kidnapping that occured, occured at the hands of the US government, which obstructed justice in every way possible. Witnesses, including a reporter and lawyer, say no warrant was presented when the house was barged into by the agents. The warrant the government FINALLY produced- days later- after a government official's first assertion that there was no warrant because they didn't need one- was signed (so they say) late at night not by the judge on the case but by a judge known to be favorable to the administration. (Where was this warrant, or a copy of this warrant, between the time the government CLAIMS it was preseted and the time the government produced a copy for the press and the family's lawyers?) The warrant- which according to witnesses was NOT presented- was for the ARREST of an illegal alien by the name of Elian Gonzales. That was an unlawful warrant because as everyone knew- including the people who sought the warrant- the boy was NOT an illegal alien but was in fact still in the US... by court order... and witht he person whom the court bestowed legal custody and an additional order to the custodian (his uncle, the bio-father's brother) to make sure the child was NOT allowed out of the state of Florida!

[Politicalmom]

All your hypothetical crap about whether or not they would have turned the boy over is useless, SINCE THEY WERE NEVER ASKED, and they still thought they were negotiating in good faith when the Reno Gestapo broke down the doors, beat reporters, lied to Elian saying "Don't worry, you aren't going back to Cuba", and then THREW A BLANKET OVER THE BOY'S HEAD. Sounds like America, all right.

[Green Knight]

Not to mention assaulting protesters who were there protesting peacefully. My mother, uncle, and their cousin got hurt in that raid. Bastards.

And I still find it disgraceful to this day that a mother could sacrifice her life for her son to live free, and that people could just spit on that. Make her sacrifice mean nothing. Make her death mean nothing.

[kayak]

Some others may be able to clarify the statements I am about to make ..... or perhaps correct them if my recollections are in error.

I seem to recall that two other people survived that trip along with Elian .... a man and a woman. The woman had left a child behind, hoping to get her to the U.S. soon. Castro will not let the child leave Cuba .... and there has been absolutely no outrage that the child is not being re-united with her mother. Outrage .... actually, there's hardly even any mention of it. The same people who felt so adamantly that Elian should be with his father, even in the hell hole called Cuba, have no interest at all in this girl being re-united with her mother in America.

Also, I believe there is a law saying that any Cuban who successfully makes it to shore alive is granted asylum ..... and the other two survivors were granted such. But it was decided that Elian was not covered by that law, which did not mention the age of the survivors.

As I said, all of this is from memory .... I'm sure that others can provide more specific and perhaps more accurate details.