Cuban President Fidel Castro has unveiled an audacious but very constructive proposal to break the logjam preventing the reunification of Elian Gonzalez with his father.
On March 29, Castro announced that Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, was willing to go to the United States immediately and remain there until the Atlanta appeals court ruled on the appeal lodged by Elian's great uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, provided that the child is placed in his father's custody.
Juan Miguel would be accompanied by his wife and Elian's six-month-old brother, as well as by what Castro described as the minimum number of people necessary to begin reintegrating Elian into Cuban society. These would include a dozen children from Elian's classroom, teachers and medical and psychiatric specialists. They would set up a small schoolroom at the official residence of the head of Cuba's diplomatic mission to the United Nations, which is a large house used for diplomatic functions.
The Cuban leader said the proposal had been carefully prepared, discussed with the people involved, and Cuba was ready to implement it immediately. It was unclear from his remarks whether it had been broached with the US authorities.
This audacious initiative destroys with one blow the remaining pretexts that had been used to prevent Juan Miguel from regaining custody of his son. It allows the appeals process to proceed to a conclusion without removing the child from US jurisdiction. And it gives the lie to those who say that Juan Miguel is, in effect, being held hostage by the Cuban authorities and is not free to speak his own mind.
With Juan Miguel's wife and both children in the US, it will be impossible to argue that he is being blackmailed or controlled by the Cuban government.
At the same time, the proposal allows the various parties a face-saving way out of what has become a total impasse. Elian's Miami relatives would get their "day in court", which is what they claim to want. The US immigration service would get to immediately apply the essence of its January decision, which is that the child belongs with his father.
Castro reiterated that the three-ring publicity circus that has surrounded Elian should come to a stop. He said that when the boy finally returned to Cuba after the appeal was over, there would be no marches or welcoming rallies; it would be strictly a family affair without publicity.
BY GILBERTO FIRMAT