Juan-Miguel, himself a victim of Fidel's "revolution", is
demonstrating his love and concern for his son by allowing
Elian to be "re-programmed" in preparation for his return
to the motherland. What a perfect example of the love
and devotion (to what?) of the father to his son.
NOT!
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THE WASHINGTON TIMES
washtimes.com
Elian's communist 'indoctrination' begins at Wye
May 18, 2000
By Tom Carter
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
New photographs of Elian Gonzalez, in the
uniform of Cuba's communist youth Pioneers, taken
at Wye Plantation in Maryland in the care of U.S.
government chaperones, were cited by Miami exiles
yesterday as "further proof" that he is being
brainwashed there by "communist propaganda."
A spokesman said the Justice Department was
not concerned about it.
But the Cuban-Americans are. "I think it's
appalling that this kind of communist propaganda
would be allowed under the protection of the U.S.
Marshals' Service right here in this country," said
Spencer Eig, an attorney hired by Elian's great-uncle,
Lazaro Gonzalez, to seek political asylum in America
for the boy.
Mr. Eig, speaking to reporters in Miami
yesterday, said another attorney for the family,
Manny Diaz, was working on a letter to be sent to
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
Granma, Cuba's Communist Party daily, on
Monday published five photographs showing Elian in
the Pioneers uniform - a blue kerchief and white
shirt with a logo of Cuban patriot Jose Marti on his
breast. Granma said the photographs were taken at
the Maryland retreat where Elian has been staying,
but did not say when.
Since Elian arrived at Wye Plantation, several of
Elian's schoolmates from Cardenas, Cuba, have
come to the United States to stay with the boy.
Elian's schoolteacher also came to continue the
children's lessons, along with a Cuban physician.
"As far as Elian is concerned, he is back in Cuba,
pledging allegiance to the 'Maximum Leader,' " said
Frank Calzon of the Center for a Free Cuba. "He is
in a Potemkin village with his teachers and
schoolmates, learning to be Fidel's 'New Man,'
selfless and obedient in the class struggle. We knew
this was going to happen."
The Justice Department said that Elian's clothing
did not concern them. "We do not think it is up to us
to comment on what Elian wears. He is continuing his
education by the arrangement of his government,"
said Carole Florman, Justice Department
spokeswoman. "We do not think there is anything
inappropriate about it."
Cuba's Pioneers were created on the model of
groups in the former Soviet Union. Children join
when they enter school and wear the uniform to
school through the 12th grade. Children who refuse
to join, for religious or other reasons, are ostracized.
So are their parents.
The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, an
anti-Castro group in the United States, says that in
Pioneers, children sing songs, take weekend trips
and take a pledge saying, "We will be like Che," the
guerrilla fighter Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
The foundation has reproduced pages from a
Pioneers manual that instructs children, some as
young as Elian, in games called "Bridge Attack,"
"Mine Layers," "Night Infiltration," "Eliminate the
Sentry," "Coastal Infiltration," and "Throwing
Grenades Through Windows."
Pioneers learn at camp to assemble and
disassemble military rifles blindfolded.
The Associated Press reported from Havana that
Cuban youths are required to work to earn their "free
education." From eighth grade through 10th grade,
they spend 21 days a year doing some type of
agricultural work - planting, picking or cutting crops
such as tobacco, citrus, potatoes and tomatoes. In
11th grade and 12th grade, they live at boarding
schools in the countryside, and their days are split
between studies and farm work.
Ninoska Perez of the Cuban American National
Foundation (CANF) said Pioneers are expected to
inform on their parents if they say anything the
government construes as critical of Cuba's
communist government.
"A student's dossier is kept on the child that
reflects not only academic standing, but everything
else associated with his social life," wrote Martha
Molina Puerto, a Cuban psychologist who fled Cuba
in August 1999, in a document published by CANF.
"This is one enormous apparatus around the child
who lacks any freedom to express himself."
The Clinton administration this year labeled Cuba
as one of the world's worst human rights violators
and a "terrorist regime." Nevertheless, the INS and
the Justice Department insist that Elian's father should
be allowed to take him back to Cuba. Elian's mother
drowned trying to reach America with him, and he
was rescued off Florida after floating on an inner tube
for two days after their boat sank.
Elian and the Gonzalez family have been staying at
Wye Plantation on Maryland's Eastern Shore, while
legal appeals make their way through the U.S.
courts.
The INS, like the Justice Department, said
yesterday it had no interest in what Elian wears.
"What Elian wears on a day-to-day basis is up to
his father, Juan Miguel," said Maria Cardona,
spokeswoman for the INS. "It is not something the
U.S. government monitors." She did not address the
question of whether propaganda sessions were
appropriate under U.S. supervision.
But Mr. Eig rejected that position. "For INS
officials to disingenuously say, 'Oh, it's just a school
uniform,' when the meaning of the particular uniform
is clear as an agent of revolution, of communist
propaganda - I just think it's a horrifying thing," he
said.
Cuban-American exiles reacted to the
photographs with anger.
"This is an 'in your face,' by Fidel Castro," said
Jose Cardenas of CANF. "Fidel is saying, 'Not only
do I have the boy back, but even in the United States
I get to dress him up in a Pioneers uniform.' "
Cuban diplomats scoffed at the accusations that
Elian is being brainwashed. They said the scarf is part
of his school uniform.
"Children go to school in uniform - just the way
they do at private schools in the United States. I
don't see what the problem is," said Luis Fernandez,
spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington.
On Tuesday, lawyers for Elian's Miami relatives
filed a 25-page document in response to a motion
filed by Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who wants to replace
them as his son's representative.
"Irrespective of [his father's] wishes, Elian will be
doing agricultural work such as cutting sugar cane in
the fields, to further indoctrinate him and separate
him . . . for extended periods to break down the
bond between parent and child and cement the bond
between child and state," the lawyers wrote.
* This article is based in part on wire service
reports.
All site contents copyright ¸ 2000 News World Communications, Inc.
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