Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : About that Cuban boy, Elian -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: average joe who wrote (3002)	4/26/2000 7:25:00 PM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

Here's one that gives the history of the Clinton regime's 180 degree turn against Elian: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON ELIAN By ERIC FETTMANN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "LET'S bear in mind, these people left Cuba because of the terrible economic, social, political, legal and security conditions that led and have led thousands of Cuban citizens to seek to flee their homeland. And the reasons for that are self-evident. "When they are prepared to take the extraordinary risks and go around the safe, orderly and legal [immigration] process, it is a function of the terrible deprivations they live under in Cuba. And considering how many tens and hundreds of thousands have preceded this particular flight, I think the blame lies squarely on Cuba's shoulders for creating the conditions and refusing to reform the country and denying the human rights and economic conditions to these people." The subject, of course, is Elian Gonzalez, and the desperate flight to freedom that cost the lives of his now-forgotten mother and nine others who slipped to their deaths from a leaky boat in the Atlantic Ocean. But whose words are these? Was it the usual propaganda from Miami's Cuban-American community? No - the speaker was James Rubin, official spokesman for the U.S. State Department. And the date was last Nov. 29, two days after Elian was miraculously found alive floating on an inner tube, dehydrated and suffering from skin burns, after having watched his mother drown before his eyes. A look back at what Clinton administration officials and journalists alike said in the earliest days of the Elian affair shows that the Clintonites and many in the media are brazenly rewriting history. It also explains why Elian's Miami family and their supporters (while themselves guilty of rhetorical overkill) feel such a sense of betrayal. From the start, news coverage of Elian was sympathetic to his remaining in the United States, as his mother intended. And being placed with the family of Lazaro Gonzalez was seen as a strikingly healthy development - by both the media and the Clinton administration. "There is no provision to remove Cuban nationals to Cuba, and that being the case they would be offered the opportunity to reside here in the United States," said Mike Sheehy, deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agreed, paroling him into Lazaro's custody, a decision ratified by the Justice Department. On CBS, where Dan Rather now demonizes the Cuban-American community, anchor John Roberts last Nov. 26 was hailing Elian's resilience as, just one day after being rescued, "the child has left the hospital for a new life in a new country." "Not only did the boy survive, Elian is thriving," noted ABC's Ron Claiborne. "He seemed healthy and happy as he played at his relatives' home in Miami." The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported: "By nightfall, Elian, who at first looked overwhelmed, was more comfortable, giving reporters a thumbs-up sign" and eating "pizza, which he requested." Two days later, Juan Miguel went public to demand his son's return - and refuse the Miami family's earlier request that he come to Florida to help Elian adjust. Also going public was Fidel Castro, who angrily denounced the Clinton administration for having "kidnapped" Elian - language that both official Washington circles and major journalistic circles now echo. The reversals are striking. At first, the Clinton administration expressed its "highest concern" for "the health and welfare of this young boy" - and added that "the disposition of this case might ultimately be decided by the courts." This admission that the case would wind up before a judge is one reason why the family feels betrayed - because the Clintonites have since worked furiously to keep Elian's fate out of the court system. Even the INS at first suggested that a state court should decide custody and invited the Miami family to file a request for political asylum, which they did. But then Castro threatened to send a new wave of refugees hurtling towards Miami - and from that point on, the Clinton administration was determined to seize Elian from his cousins and send him back to Cuba. In the process, Miami's Cuban-Americans were slandered as outlaws, unlawfully seeking to thwart the "rule of law" and inflicting "psychological abuse" on young Elian. And, in a particularly outrageous twist of reality, many in the media began romanticizing Cuba, praising Castro's "sincerity" and belittling America's advantages. That's a far cry from last November, when ABC (much like the other networks) was noting that "an American court might very well presume that growing up in the U.S. is a better life than growing up in Cuba." That politics would ultimately dominate Elian's fate was sadly inevitable. And both sides - repeat, both - have used and misused him. But the politicization of the Elian Gonzalez story began with Fidel Castro. And the victory here is entirely his: Elian likely will return to Cuba, while Fidel's understandably zealous foes in Miami have been smeared as lawless fanatics. That's not the way it looked last November. And it's not the way it should be ending today. nypost.com