Can there be a happy ending to the allegory of
Elian? I find my mind running to neo-Fellini
scenarios, forms of hopeful surrealism, magic
thinking. Let Elian return to Cuba with his father.
But let father and son be escorted there by the
U.S. fleet - Elian triumphant, like a sainted
figurehead, in the bow of a battleship, followed by
an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, five destroyers,
and on board all, tens of thousands of Cuban
Americans coming home, laden with suitcases full
of American dollars. Elian wades ashore like
MacArthur returning to the Philippines. The holds
of the ships disgorge Chevrolets, Fords, Lincolns,
Hondas, BMWs, Mercedes sedans, to replace the
1950s wrecks on Cuba's roads. A cornucopia of
American products (computers, cell phones, video
cameras, gorgeous refrigerators, lustrous
shampoos, deodorant soaps, headache remedies,
mouthwashes, improved antacids, disposable
diapers) flows off the docks, a reverse Mariel of
materialism, a bright irresistible tide that will wash
Castroite Stalinist socialist poverty into the
historical dustbin where it belongs.
Let Elian lead a parade of returned exiles through
the streets of Havana, showering the astonished
populace with greenbacks, with gifts, until the
great circus arrives at Castro's place, where a
SWAT team will bash in the doors and pin the old
fraud down in a barber's chair while a barber gives
him a clean shave, after which he will be divested
of his ridiculous fatigues and dressed, by force if
necessary, in a Ralph Lauren shirt with a polo
player on the breast, and a pair of Gap khakis and
tassel loafers without socks. Let chastened Fidel
emerge to address the jubilantly reunited Cuban
people. Let him announce he means to abdicate
in favor of the Dauphin, little Elian. Thus will
religion and materialism achieve joyful Cuban
synthesis - the heaven on earth that
Communism botched.
Well, I can dream. It's not much crazier than
some of the ideas the CIA came up with in the
'60s.
- LANCE MORROW
time.com |
