Special Service, RADIO HAVANA CUBA'S VIEWPOINT Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org Special Service, RADIO HAVANA CUBA'S VIEWPOINT TUESDAY, 21 DECEMBER 1999 In the wake of renewed demonstrations outside the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on Monday, the issue of IF Elian Gonzalez will be returned to his father and grandparents now seems to be WHEN. That was the sentiment expressed by Cuban President Fidel Castro in comments to the Cuban Parliament yesterday, December 20th. The Cuban leader referred to "when" the six-year-old will be returned, fully confident that the illegal retention of the boy will not be supported by any court in the United States. Both international and U.S. domestic opinion has been firmly on the side of Elian Gonzalez' family in Cuba and, in spite of threats to surround the house in which he now lives in Miami and prevent his departure, many doubt the boy will be allowed to stay in the U.S. In words that ring so very differently from those of the Miami anti-Cuba politicians and public figures that have fallen over each other for photo-ops with the child and statements supporting his retention in the U.S. against all international laws and bilateral immigration agreements, Fidel Castro said that when Elian is returned there will be no grand official welcome. There will be no bands, there will be no mass of reporters, there will be no circus, there will be no great victory parade. Instead, the boy will be quietly returned to his father and allowed to reinsert himself back into the family he was taken from by his mother and then kept from seeing by U.S. immigration authorities. Concerns over the psychological well-being of the child have been paramount in a country where the health of it's children take precedence above all. In Cuba, if a child dies for whatever reason, an investigation is carried out by the health authorities to determine the reason for his or her death. Child fatalities -- even in household accidents -- are rare here in Cuba, where every effort is made to save the victim. At the Juan Manuel Marquez Children's Hospital in Havana, which has a special trauma unit, of the 19,000 children seen last year only 21 of them died of their illnesses or injuries. The concern over Elian Gonzalez, who survived by clinging on to an inner-tube alone for two days and -- more traumatically for a six year-old -- one night, is very real. He was flung into the sea from an overturned boat. He saw his mother and others die a horrible drowning death. He was rescued almost dehydrated by strangers who don't speak his language. And he's been surrounded by people he doesn't know, promising him the earth, overwhelming him with stimulating experiences that most children would receive over the course of many months instead of days and getting him to make statements about his future -- a ridiculous notion for any sane human being to accept from someone his age. The obvious mistake made by the U.S. Immigration authorities... never known for their concern over breaking up families anyway -- ask any Salvadoran or Guatemalan political deportee -- needs to be quickly rectified. The situation should never have been allowed to reach this level. As the Cuban president says, the child just needs the space to be given back the life he knows. The family he no doubt loves and the culture he quite simply belongs to. Without fanfare. Without photo-ops and manipulation. It was all so very simple to avoid from the outset. ------------------------------------------------------- DECLARATION OF THE CUBAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY For more than 40 years, the Cuban people have heroically resisted the permanent and systematic aggression of the government of the United States. Washington's administrations have waged an economic war against Cuba since 1959 -- trying to cause diseases, shortages and suffering among the people, obstructing travel and normal communication between both nations, punishing its own citizens when they break their severe bans and, at the same time, disrespectfully and perfidiously manipulating migratory issues. Since January 1st, 1959, the government of the United States welcomed the thieves, torturers and embezzlers of Batista's tyranny, and the exploiters whose interests were affected by the revolutionary measures taken in favor of the people. It has encouraged the island's doctors, professionals and technicians to leave and go to the United States. Washington has carried out an insidious defamatory campaign which reached its highest and most repugnant climax with the so-called Operation Peter Pan that took more than 14,000 Cuban children away from their homes. It has also automatically admitted all those who reach U.S. dry land without first complying with migratory formalities, including those who used violence, hijacked boats or killed people in order to achieve their goal. Thus, the U.S. government "sanctions" that policy with the so-called Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, a law that only exists for Cubans, the reach of which now irresponsibly extends in a clear contradiction and violation of the migratory accords. The kidnapping of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez is the worst and most abominable expression of that policy. In a few hours, exactly a month will have passed since the tragic wreck of the boat in which Elian traveled to the United States without his father's authorization. It was another case of illegal trafficking of people encouraged, first of all, by officially- supported radio stations that broadcast 200 hours of daily programming against Cuba and, especially, by the already mentioned law and the tolerance of the U.S. Administration. Initially, Washington hypocritically tried to ignore the child's father's right to the legal custody of his son and the clear international, Cuban and U.S. laws in this respect. Elian was delivered to a Mafia that has kept him kidnapped in a strange environment and separated from his father and his grandparents, and also away from his school, his friends and his home. What is more, he is under mental and psychological pressures in what is a cruel and inhumane act that violates his personal integrity. However, U.S. authorities have delayed the possibility of reversing their mistake and are allowing time to go by without any consideration for either the pain caused to the child and to his family or for the serious consequences that this situation may bring to his well-being, his health and his personal integrity. Many specialists around the world, including renowned doctors, psychologists and experts from the United States, agree that the longer the child remains in that strange environment, the deeper the psychological damage will become. In spite of their just indignation, Elian's family has satisfied all the formalities requested by U.S. immigration institutions. Now, the United States has the obligation to immediately send the child back to the home from which he was illegally taken away. How much longer will they wait? What else is needed to put an end to the suffering of the child, the father and the family? Can this situation be beneficial for the noble people of the U.S. and for the millions of U.S. citizens who believe in the family and the protection of a child's personal integrity? The acts of a government that considers itself responsible cannot depend on the pressures of a terrorist Mafia or on corrupt individuals. The National Assembly of People's Power of the Republic of Cuba demands that Elian Gonzalez is once and for all sent back to his home and requests that all parliaments, governments, political parties, religious, social and non-governmental organizations and people of goodwill throughout the world also demand that the U.S. government releases this 6-year-old child so that he can go back to his father, to his home and to his nation. The Cuban Parliament is also issuing a special request to the United Nations Secretary General, to the President of the General Assembly of that organization and to the Director General of the United Nations Children's Fund -- calling on them to demand that the U.S. government immediately return the child, in accordance with international law. The National Assembly calls on the Cuban people to double their efforts in the fight for the liberation of Elian Gonzalez, who has become a symbol of the dignity of our nation. That the people raise their voices in every corner of the island and proclaim -- in one unanimous voice of men, women, children, young and old -- that they will not rest until this crime has been erased. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE CUBAN PARLIAMENT MONDAY, 20 DECEMBER 1999 HAVANA, CUBA -30- [c] 1999, Radio Habana Cuba All rights reserved Articles cannot be reproduced, reprinted or published in any system without the consent of RHC. 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