Posted by
Billy email MADBillyD@aol.com on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 11:30:46 PM
His teacher in the small Cuban city of Cardenas describes him as modest, down-to-earth and a role model for his classmates. "Elian Gonzalez is very humane, supportive, and takes on each task with maturity," he said, adding proudly that Elian won first place in the last municipal swimming competition.
Those qualities, I'm sure, have come in handy for this young Cuban boy who eight years ago became the symbol of a power struggle between the communist government of Fidel Castro and Miami's Cuban exile community. The boy was allowed to return to the island nation with his father months after his mother died while crossing the Florida straits.
Elian has once again made headlines as he became, at 14 years of age, a member of the Young Communist Union of Cuba. As he was sworn in with some 18,000 other young Cubans, he said to Fidel and Raul Castro on behalf of the group, "You can count on us; we will never let you down."
Those words must certainly be hard to swallow for the family who was at the center of the custody battle with his father in early 2000.
(The above is part of a column written by Maria Elena Salinas. It is sad to see what has happened to a boy who for sure would have had a different life if Janet Reno and Bill Clinton had not ordered a midnight raid on a peaceful family who were preparing for Easter. I am still hoping and praying that soon Cuba will become a free nation. Read all of the above column Elian Gonzalez back in the headlines.)