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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: 4/22/2000 Elian: the Mini-Series is almost over. No more regular photo ops of Elian staged
by his "caring" Miami relatives who pulled him out of school weeks ago. No more
video of Elian playing in the yard to the cheers of dozens of onlookers and the
scrutiny of 100mm lenses. No more TV opportunities of Elian mugging for the cameras
in a display as calculated as local cops staging a perp walk for local TV.
The TV executives who ordered the round-the-clock encampment across the street
from the house got the money shots they wanted--five minutes of video of INS agents
going into the house, seizing Elian, and taking him away. It's a toss-up as to who's
being the most hypocritical in all this--the crowds that packed Little Havana's
streets, or the broadcast moguls whose eyes lit up at the thought of a breathing Cuban
male version of Jon Benet Ramsey.
It's not surprising that the Miami exiles immediately ripped an American flag to
shreds, or blocked intersections holding signs reading "Clinton=Castro". The issue for
them has never been the United States. It's Cuba. Their focus was never the well-
being of an emotionally-scarred six year old. It's Fidel Castro. They had staged
weeks of agitprop political theatre starring Elian for the cameras.
One TV executive defended the 24/7 coverage by saying the story raises all sorts
of questions about relations between the U.S. and Cuba, and about parental custody
rights. Of course it does. But it also produced a ratings winner and a human drama
irresistable to a Sony or Ikigami. CNN's ratings, down 31 per-cent from this time
last year, will spike. Ratings for local and national TV will rise along with the
rates advertisers pay.
Think this isn't about goosing the Nielsons? Consider Diane Sawyer's new
low when she interviewed Elian and got the same scripted answers Jesse Jackson got
from American P.O.W.'s in Serbia. Or consider the home video hostage tape of
Elian given to Univision and broadcast by everyone else. The child declares he wants
to stay in Miami, punctuating his speech with arm gestures straight out of the
political candidate's handbook, glancing at his relatives behind the camera to make
sure they approve of everything he's saying.
This has also been a boon for talk radio loudmouths. Talker's Magazine, which
tracks this sort of thing for the AM flamethrowers, has listed the Elian saga as
the number one national and local talk radio topic for three months running. The
oligarchs who run the few broadcast conglomorates left standing will be able
to have the winter place in Palm Beach remodeled thanks to the ratings boost.
It'll also give them a few weeks more traction with the black U.N. helicopter
crowd who'll bleat about jack-booted thugs taking Elian away from his Nintendo and
programmed media ops in Miami.
Some facts before the air in Miami gets too fogged with tear gas: Elian's
father had joint custody. The first he knew the boy was missing was when he went
to pick him up from school. After he found out his ex had taken the boy on a boat,
he called his uncle in a panic, begging him to watch out for any trace of his son or
his ex-wife. That's how Lazaro Gonzalez, the father's uncle, knew Elian might be coming
to the U.S., and how he ended up with custody of the boy.
Elian's mother's boyfriend drove the fatal boat. He was a small businessman.
More specifically, he smuggled Cubans into the U.S. at a thousand bucks a head. This
was his third trip. One woman aboard screamed at him to turn the boat around in
the rough seas. She put her child back ashore because of the danger. Elian and
two adults survived when the boat was swamped.
The 11th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has ruled that Elian has
"standing" to apply for asylum. That means he and his father won't leave the United
States until custody is settled. Meantime, the dozen or so immigration lawyers
I've interviewed all agree that this opens the door for any refugee child to scrawl a
signature on a asylum application and have their case heard.
The argument goes that Elian should stay here because Castro's Cuba is a
repressive government we don't like. Fine. Children in Haiti face starvation, filth,
and violence every day. The dozens of Haitian children who float to Miami every
month could apply for asylum. China represses basic human rights. Serbia and Iraq
are run by bloodthirsty meglomaniacs. The racist government of Zimbabwe is
condoning the slaughter of white farmers. Large parts of Mexico and its federal
police are run by ultra-violent drug traffickers. Colombia is collapsing into a
hideous civil war between a corrupt government and the narco-guerillas. Vietnam is a
Communist dictatorship. Russia is largely run by gangsters and basic services are
collapsing. Afganistan is run by rabid Islamic fundamentalists.
In every one of those countries, and in dozens more, a case can be made that
life for refugee children would be far better in the United States than back home
with any of their surviving families. Anyone who supports the concept of a six year old
applying for asylum had better be ready to grant the same right to thousands of
refugee children who flood into the States every year.
Meantime, Elian is back with his father. And I suspect a parent who loves his son
is going to close down the photo ops. But since the saga drags on, maybe the
graphics departments can create a computer-generated Elian. After all, you gotta
have the pictures.
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