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Charles Jaco has written opinion and commentary pieces for dozens of magazines and newspapers. Each week, read and comment on a fresh on-line version. The discussion page enables you to share your view points world wide. If you would like to make a comment go to the " Join the discussion" link below. If you would like to view past editorials visit the Editorial Archive.
Editorial: 3/31/2000 Cubans in Miami don't call themselves "Cuban-Americans." They call themselves
"Cuban exiles." Webster's defines "exile" as "one who has left or has been driven from
his or her country." That sums up the Miami Cuban's attitude--Cuba is their country,
not the United States.
The implication is that the U.S. is a parking lot where they sit, engines running,
until the day Fidel Castro dies and they can return to their real country. Their one
article of faith is a simmering hatred for Castro. The exiles handle political
disputes the same way they would handle them in Cuba: through threats, intimidation,
and if need be, violence.
Just ask the Cuban talk show host in Miami who made the mistake 15 years ago of
urging a dialogue with Cuba. He does his show now from his wheelchair, necessary
because a car bomb blew both of his legs off below the knees. Or ask the female
Cuban attorney who made the same mistake. Her office was vandalized and her family was
threatened until she had to move and set up her law practice near Orlando. Or ask
the concert-goers who attempted to attend a Miami gig by the popular Havana band
Los Van Van. They had to walk through a mob tossing rocks, bottles, eggs, and rotten
vegetables to get inside.
Oddly enough, though, the Cuban political leaders around Miami are taking a page
from American history in their fight to kidnap 6 year old Elian Gonzalez. 27 mayors
have told the Federal government that the local police departments won't lift a
finger to help Federal Marshals take Elian back to his family in Cuba. The mayors
went even further, hinting darkly about violence and urging thousands of exiles to
take to the streets.
Rewind the tape to 1957 and Arkansas Governor Orvill Faubus defying Federal
troops and Federal courts. The Supreme Court had declared state-ordered school
segregation to be illegal. Faubus crowed "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow,
segregation forever." Or 1963 when Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in the
schoolhouse door to prevent the Federally-ordered integration of the University
of Alabama.
Federal law and international laws are clear. If a custodial parent of a
refugee child dies, then the child is returned to the surviving parent unless it can
be proven that parent is unfit. From everything we know, Elian's father has been
kind and caring toward his son. So have the four grandparents in Cuba. The first
Elian's father knew about his son's leaving was when he went to pick up Elian
at school and found his ex-wife had snatched the kid.
None of this makes any difference to the Miami true beleivers. The issue for
them is not the health and welfare of a confused and emotionally-scarred six year old.
The issue is Fidel Castro. Then, there's Vice President Gore, who has done the
impossible by setting new standards for political cowardice. He now says Elian
should stay here. This was not an issue for Gore until new polls, surprisingly,
showed him running dead even with George W. Bush in Florida. And no one wins Florida
by saying American policy toward Cuba is outdated and idiotic and that this little boy
belongs with his father. The issue for Gore is not Elian's well-being. It's
Florida's rich subtropical harvest of electoral votes.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Jeb Bush showed that the Democrats have no monopoly
on poltical double-think. Florida's governor says that not one law enforcement
agency in the Sunshine State--not the Highway Patrol, not the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement--will give Federal authorities any help if it comes to enforcing
the law. Had he decided otherwise, then his brother's chances of carrying Florida
had all the future of a snowman on Miami Beach. Like Gore, George W.'s issue is
not what's best for the child. It's winning Florida.
And Elian? Nobody cares much. But if he stays in the United States, all the
politicians will care in the 2012 elections. That's when he'll be old enough to vote.
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