My dislike for the Miami relatives grew as I saw them continually parading that little boy around for CANF's political purposes, and their lawyers' trashing of Juan Miguel one day and saying the next, "It's a family matter, come to Miami and we'll discuss it." I too would like to have seen more of a compromise solution, but given all the political agendas - Clinton/Reno's, Castro's and the CANF's, I very much doubt it could have been accomplished. For example, I don't see any ground for compromise in this letter to the editor of the LA Times. It seems to me that I was being asked to pick between "parental rights" and "freedom". In this case, I choose "parental rights."
* I and thousands of others have been fighting for Elian Gonzalez's right to freedom for the last several months. We have been defeated by Fidel Castro and the Clinton administration (June 29). But our defeat is nothing compared with the suffering of Elian since the illegal April 22 raid orchestrated by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno.
We have been blasted for standing up for Elian's individual and human rights, which we know trump his father's parental rights. We also know that Elian's father will not truly have custody of Elian because in Cuba, officially, the parent is the state. We are proud to have fought the battle and have not been weakened by the defeat but, instead, strengthened. We fought for truth and justice. We weren't waging a popularity contest. We gave Elian a taste of freedom. He was free for five months.
We pray that God will protect Elian and that the memories of his courageous and loving Miami family will comfort him in his moments of despair.
SANTIAGO MARTIN
Santa Ana |
