A world of their own

One of the most disturbing elements of the Elian saga is the irrational, mystical, quasi-religious aura that has emerged around the figure of the child, a virtual Elian cult. The cult combines elements of a religious mania and a Manichean political crusade. It's a toxic and potentially dangerous combination. Love of the angelic Elian, who has been compared to Moses and Jesus and in whose Miami residence an apparition of the Virgin Mary has been reported, is the counterpart of intense hatred for the devil Castro. The angel must not be returned to Satan in hell, also known as Cuba.

Resorting to the realm of the mystical and the irrational is a convenient psychological move when what is desired is not achievable in the worlds of law, logic or reason. There is an element here of manipulation of symbols for political ends, but the effect is no less real. What might people who have internalized the cult of Elian do in case of a confrontation with authorities?

The question becomes more pertinent each day as the legal options available to the Miami relatives to prevent the child to be returned to his father evaporate. Now President Clinton has for the first time said forcefully that Elian must be returned to his father. Justice Department sources also say that Attorney General Reno is making final plans to remove the boy, if a last-ditch round of talks fails to bring a negotiated solution, as all the talks up to this point have failed to do.

How did it come to this, when little over a week ago Elian's return seemed imminent? Last Thursday a state judge threw out the relatives' lawsuit seeking temporary custody, foreclosing what had been the Miami relatives' best legal hope -- to turn the custody issue into a political trail of the Cuban government before an elected Miami judge.

In dismissing the suit and even denying a hearing, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Bailey wrote, "There is no purpose in prolonging the anxiety of this family and other people who feel so strongly about this case when the law is so clear and when the inevitable result would be ever more crushingly disappointing."

Subsequently, however, federal judges have ordered that Elian stay in the United States and will hear arguments as to whether the 6-year-old is entitled to an asylum hearing as the Miami relatives contend. The Justice Department contends only Juan Miguel Gonzalez can make legal decisions for Elian, including petitioning for asylum. The elder Gonzalez has said he does not want asylum for his son, who he wishes to return to Cuba.

Meanwhile the relatives and their political supporters have played a game of seduction and destruction with the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. Seduction, getting him to defect, was by far the preferred outcome for the hard-line exile political forces at the very center of the campaign -- including the Cuban American National Foundation and three Cuban-American members of Congress. That is the only ending that guarantees them a clear-cut political victory over Castro. According to Juan Miguel himself, he has been offered $2 million to defect.

I am convinced that if Juan Miguel had stepped off the plane and asked for political asylum, he would have been hailed as a hero and a perfect father and would now be reunited with his son. Instead, a relentless 11th-hour character assassination got under way, aimed at portraying him as an unfit father. No credible evidence has been presented to support the charge. Character assassination is just one line of attack.

"Cuba is a prison, and if you desire to return to a prison, you don't get to take your child with you, no matter how good father you are," says George Fowler, a New Orleans lawyer associated with the Cuban American National Foundation.

Such reasoning has chilling implications for every parent in Cuba, not to mention countries like China, Vietnam, North Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other states with questionable human rights records. The federal government quickly filed a brief arguing the argument is deeply flawed. Yet it represents the essence of the bargain offered Juan Miguel Gonzalez: Defect or lose your child.

Now Gonzalez has appealed to the American people, asking them to write to Clinton and Reno on his behalf. "Don't let them continue to abuse my son," he implored Thursday. "I was promised that I was going to be reunited with my son. Two weeks have gone by and it hasn't happened. I have always understood, I have always thought, that the United States is a country which abided by its laws." Gonzales was scheduled to meet with Reno again Friday.

While the majority of Americans has always been on his side, Gonzales' words are unlikely to move his implacable enemies in the exile community hellbent on preventing the return of Elian to Cuba. But perhaps they will strengthen the will of Clinton and Reno to enforce the law and put an end to one father's suffering.

As I write this a mile from the scene of what is beginning to look like a hostage situation, I am as weary and apprehensive as nearly all Miamians -- and a little sadder than most of my fellow residents, as I watch the madness that has gripped a substantial sector of my community.

In the absence of any leadership willing to risk imparting a dose of reality to the community, I join most Americans in wanting to see father and son reunited, and most Miamians in dreading the difficult and uncertain days that surely lie ahead. Upholding the law in the face of intransigence sometimes requires a forceful assertion of authority. This is one of those times. It appears that Reno has finally understood this and is preparing to reunite father and son in the face of opposition by the Miami relatives and their diehard supporters.

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