December 6, 2007, - 11:29 am
Not Again: Meet the New Elian Gonzalez
By Debbie Schlussel
Remember Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban 7-year-old who was seized by armed INS agents in 2000 and sent back to a life in Cuba? His mother fled Cuba in a makeshift boat so that she and her son could be free. Sadly, our governmnet made sure that didn’t happen. Thanks, Janet Reno.
Unfortunately, instead of recognizing that this was a case of a life of freedom versus a life under tyranny, many father’s rights groups–with whom I usually agree–painted this as a father’s rights case. It was anything but.
Now, a similar case has been resolved in favor of the Cuban father . . . yet again. But, this time, there isn’t the fanfare that there was with Elian, and yet again, a young Cuban child–this time a girl–will be returned to Communist tyranny, despite the wishes of her mother.
In 2005, a Cuban mother and her son and five-year-old daughter emigrated to the United States. After that, the mother became suicidal, and the children were cared for by former sports agent, Joe Cubas and his wife Maria. They adopted the boy, but were unsuccessful in adopting his half-sister, the girl at issue in this case. That’s because her father, Cuban farmer Rafael Izquierdo, came here and fought for her custody, with the Castro government paying the tab.
Sound familiar? It’s the same old story, with a similar ending. On Tuesday. The Cubas’ were forced to settle with Izquierdo, who will get sole custody of her and return her to repressive Communist CastroLand.
The only improvement upon the Elian Gonzalez case is that Izquierdo and his daughter must remain in the U.S. until 2010, when she will be seven. Hopefully, by then, they will have acquired a taste for freedom and will not return.
Tags: Castro government, Cuba, farmer, former sports agent, Janet Reno, Joe Cubas, Maria, Rafael Izquierdo, United States
wishfully, prior to 2010, castro’s body temperature will be that of the six foot soil temperature in cuba.
louielouie on December 6, 2007 at 11:59 am