Remembering Elian Gonzales

By GREGORY J. RUMMO
FEBRUARY 11, 2002

NORTHWEST SECOND STREET runs through a quiet block in Miami’s Little Havana. The language is predominately Spanish—no surprise—and occasionally you can hear the raucous call of a rooster over the animated conversations of old men taking walks in the morning. They discuss American politics or Fidel Castro and the old days when they lived in Cuba.

Without exception, all are thankful to be living in the United States.

This neighborhood hasn’t always been as quiet as it was on a warm, 80-degree day in February earlier this year when I knocked on the front door of one house in particular.

It was almost two years ago that 2319 Northwest Second Street was at the epicenter of events that rocked the world. From this plain white house, a little boy named Elian Gonzales sent out tremors that shook the foundations of another White House while emotionally draining and politically dividing Americans.

You remember the story.

Elian and his mother set out from Cuba on a daring journey across the Florida Straits in an inner tube, hoping to escape Fidel Castro’s oppressive Communist regime. Her dream was to come to America to join the other members of the family already living in south Florida. Elian’s mother drowned but miraculously, the boy clung to the rubber inner tube until being plucked from the ocean by Donato Dalrymple, the fishermen who rescued him on Thanksgiving Day in November 1999.

This was the prelude to the most heartrending custody battle the world has seen.

In January 2000, The 11^th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami Dade County issued a temporary protective order to Elian’s great uncle, Lazaro Gonzales. This was rejected by Attorney General Janet Reno. In a four-page letter written to the attorneys representing Elian’s U.S. relatives, Reno used what amounted to the nine major yoga positions to twist the INS statute to suit the agenda of her boss, Bill Clinton by declaring it was the Justice Department that had jurisdiction over Elian.

By now, the boy had become a political pawn of both the Clinton administration and Fidel Castro. Both wanted Elian returned to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzales, but his relatives in Miami wanted the boy to stay with them, where his mother had risked her life to bring him.

The stand off ended on Easter Saturday, April 22, 2000 when 151 heavily armed federal agents gassed the people who had been standing outside the Gonzales’ home for months keeping a vigil. Then they stormed the house at gunpoint, taking the terrified child away in the pre-dawn hours.

“It was a terrible scene,” Delfin Gonzales told us in Spanish as we stood together in the front entrance of the home where Elian lived for almost five months. The home has been turned into a museum filled with Elian’s toys and a myriad of memorabilia including photographs and artwork. Delfin, Elain’s great uncle, is the museum’s caretaker.

Elian’s bed still lies in the front bedroom. The swing set he was seen playing on during the network’s endless 24-7 coverage still stands in the postage stamp sized front yard. El parque del Elian (Elian’s park) has been carved into the wooden beam from which the swings hang.

In the back bedroom, a giant enlargement of the Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by Alan Diaz of the agent with his automatic weapon pointed in the direction of a screaming Elian, held in Donato’s arms covers an entire wall. The damage done to the door when it was kicked in has not been fixed and serves as additional evidence of the violence that took place—as if the photo is not enough of a reminder.

Eric Holder, the Deputy Attorney General appeared on Fox News a few hours after the raid that morning. Judge Andrew Napolitano accused the Justice Department of taking the child at gunpoint. Mr. Holder denied the charge. What he didn’t realize was that he was appearing on a split screen, the other half showing the Alan Diaz photo. “Not taken at gunpoint?” an incredulous Napolitano shot back. “Have you seen the photograph?”

Delfin explained to us that the family wanted Juan Miguel to stay in this country with Elian. But Delfin claims that Janet Reno threatened Juan Miguel and told him that the Justice Department would not support a request for asylum.

“Look at what the INS did to our flag,” Delfin said while shaking his head and pointing to the profanity—“F_ _ _ Cuba”—scrawled in indelible black ink across the flag’s white star. “They hated us.”

The family is not bitter towards Elian’s father, Delfin explained. The irony was that the relatives who cared for Elian were all from the father’s side of the family. But none of them have any use for Bill Clinton or anyone that was associated with his administration.

And it’s a safe bet that Janet Reno has no chance at garnering the Cuban vote if she wins the Democratic nomination in Florida’s gubernatorial race this year.

Few would argue that a little 6-year old boy’s rightful place is with his father. But kicking in doors under the cover of darkness and gassing innocent civilians in order to accomplish this end are tactics reminiscent of another era and from a different continent.

The family has not heard from Elian since he was taken from their home.n

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