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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 April 2000 Issue No. 477 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 April 2000 Issue No. 477
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Sharks in troubled waters
By Hisham El-NaggarIn the past four decades, Miami has transformed from a sleepy magnet for retirees and beachcombers to an international city -- one with an unmistakably Latin flavour, and now at the centre of an over-politicised tug-of-war between the United States government, Cuba and the pocket of Cuban exiles clamouring in between.
These days, Miami's "Little Havana" has displaced Cuba's original Havana as the playground of the Caribbean. Not so long ago, a steady stream of American tourists flocked to Cuba, drawn by its dazzling night-life and year-round tropical climate. The legal currency was none other than the good old greenback and the ruler was one of those whom Americans then referred to as "our friends."
Then came the Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro -- at first welcomed by the US media as a refreshing change from the corrupt dictator, Fulgencio Battista -- started seizing American assets and, horror of horrors, declared himself a Marxist-Leninist. The Cold War was at its height and the thought of an island 90 kilometres off the coast of Florida governed by someone whom Moscow could call "their friend" was unpalatable. An embargo was promptly decreed and Washington never let go of Guantanamo Base, Cuba.
With the Cuban missile crisis, Miami's relationship with Cuba changed dramatically and thousands of refugees weary of the new regime arrived in Miami, where they were welcomed with open arms and offered immigrant status. And so Little Havana was born -- a closely-knit Cuban enclave in the south-east corner of a sympathetic US.
The battle lines were drawn. Castro was to become one of Washington's most bitter foes and Cuba went on to export its revolution; first to Latin America, and then as far afield as Africa. Castro became the idol of the intellectual left: the man who defied Washington and got away with it.
And what of the Cubans who settled in Miami? One president after another has felt the extent of this prosperous and influential minority's power. But nothing has dramatised this potentially explosive state of affairs more than the case of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez, the lone survivor of a tiny boat that set sail from Cuba last November and capsised, killing his mother and 10 other Cubans. After surviving for two days in shark-infested waters, Elian was rescued off the coast of Florida.
Temporary custody of Elian was assigned to his great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, by a Florida state court while the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) dealt with the case. Things grew complicated when it turned out that Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, was alive and well back in Cuba. Juan Gonzalez, who was divorced from Elian's mother and is now remarried, had not been informed of his ex-wife's plans to take Elian to the US. What is more, he wanted his son back.
It was then that all hell broke loose. US law says that a child belongs with his nearest surviving relative, given that they are fit to care for the child. The boy's Miami relatives were dead-set against Elian being returned to Cuba; one doesn't leave Miami to go back to Castro's Cuba -- a view supported by 80 per cent of the Cuban community in Miami.
The issue quickly deteriorated into a debate about Fidel Castro. With the end of the Cold War, many Americans have begun to wonder whether the embargo against Castro still makes sense. But ideas of softening the embargo are stymied by the 800,000-strong Miami Cuban community. The Cold War may have ended, but their war against Castro certainly hasn't. Solid organisation, coupled with the importance of the state of Florida in the electoral process, has kept the issue alive.
Never mind that according to opinion polls, roughly 60 per cent of all Americans believe that Elian should be returned to his father (roughly 30 per cent think he should remain with his Miami relatives); never mind that the Supreme Court has already decided as much. The boy's Miami relatives have threatened that if federal officers want to seize the boy, they'll have to fight it out, rule of law be damned.
Castro has capitalised skilfully on the issue. The world is being treated to the spectacle of a superpower that is unable to enforce its own laws, and a judiciary that is proving helpless against a recalcitrant minority. Never one to miss a chance to rally the nationalist sentiments of his compatriots, Castro has overseen the issue personally, attending rallies calling for the return of Elian, who is depicted as a virtual hostage in the clutches of a mad community.
The affair is growing more emotional by the minute. On Thursday, 6 April, Elian's father arrived in Virginia, along with his wife, their baby, and Fernando Remirez, chief of the Cuban interests section in Washington. More than 600 protesters gathered at the Gonzalez home that night, vowing once again that they would not give up the boy. But Attorney General Janet Reno has said that the relatives must surrender Elian for a transfer to his father this week. Juan Gonzalez, who has made clear his feelings about the Miami relatives in strong statements accusing them of putting "psychological pressure" on Elian, has refused to meet with any of them. A federal appeals hearing is scheduled for mid-May.
How the issue is resolved remains to be seen. What does appear to have happened is that Castro has scored a propaganda coup at a time that could hardly have been more opportune, driving a wedge in the already muddled American sentiment regarding Cuban-American affairs.
