Jose Martí, beloved poet, revolutionary, militant, political theorist, activist, philosopher (etcetera, etcetera you get the point the man is a legend), once declared in his 1889 children’s publication La Edad De Oro/The Golden Age that Los niños son la esperanza del mundo/Children are the hope for the world.
On July 6th, 2015, Elián González, child- and now 21 year old man- of a more bitter relationship between the United States and Cuba, appeared for the national Cuban television, national Cuban press, and later for ABC with this statement bearing striking similarities to that of Martí’s:
La juventud es el presente y el futuro de Cuba/The youth are the present and the future of Cuba
Growing up in Miami, as a daughter and as a granddaughter of Cuban refugees (although immigrant could be an appropriate term, I think leaving a country as a political exile warrants this specific moniker), the name Elián González has been an integral component to the unique modern culture borne from the Cuban-American exile community, particularly for those members of the 90s-2010s who either sought liberty in the US themselves or had parents or grandparents flee the island.
The famous painting of Elián González as El Niño Cristo/Elegua (the Santero equivalent of The Christ Child) with La Virgen del Cobre/Cachita (the Santero equivalent of The Virgin of Charity of El Cobre) with the hands of God extended towards the six year old as he clung for his life on a raft surrounded by dolphins and a floating head of Bill Clinton, became an image as recognized as the logos of Goya and Café Bustelo, and Bacardí.
But, of course, so did the haunting photograph of the six year old being threatened and removed by armed force of his relatives’ home in Miami due to a custody battle between the US Supreme Court, the González family, the father of Elián, and Fidel Castro himself.
Confused? Below are relevant links, as well as sources, but the essential CliffNotes guide to this political affair- for it was more a question of politics than immigration law- would go something like this:
Elián González, at 6 years old in 1999 was found floating off the shore of Miami clinging for dear life on an inner tube by fishermen. The child had been fleeing with his mother, along with other refugees, who unfortunately- like many of the Cuban balseros/rafters– did not make it. In fact, the 6 year old watched his mother drown, quite literally and metaphorically, for a better life in the United States for herself and for her son. After being rescued by fishermen- and by dolphins, true story- González was shortly handed off to relatives that lived in Miami for about six months before the Cuban government and the US government threw their pent-up Cold War rage at one another, leaving the child in a tug-of-war, with the faces of his relatives and his father on either end of the rope. In the end, González was shipped off to his father, and many- including my grandmother- wept and prayed for what some of the more conservative Cuban-American political exiles inhabiting Miami called a shameful atrocity on liberty, wagging disapproving polished acrylic-nailed fingers at the Clinton Administration, and of course at the Castro’s.
Caught up on this real-life telenovela/Spanish soap opera yet? Good. Let’s get to the point here:
The hope of most Cuban-Americans, regardless of their thoughts on socialism or communism (it is through experience and informed assumption that most conservative Cuban-Americans will deem socialism a pure evil, while other more liberal/moderate Cuban-Americans- such as myself- see the upsides of certain socialist reforms, but cannot stomach dictatorship) had placed a certain amount of fé/faith on the figure of Elián González. Yes, we knew that the way the United States acted towards an innocent, traumatized, confused child was … Unseemly, but in our hearts bleeding a red, white, and blue of both the US and Cuban flags, we longed for the return of our Cuban Messiah as one who preached democracy, freedom, a better life for the Cuban people without dictatorship, without human rights abuses, without total domination of the United States (but at least some acknowledgement of the benefits of a political system with basic freedoms, and multi-parties).
It is with great sadness that I announce that, as of July 6th 2015, I am positive that our Cuban Messiah has yet to come, and Elián González was only a false alarm.
Remember that inspiring quote about children? Well, González was referring to the X Congreso de la Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas de Cuba/10th Congress of the Union of Communist Youth in Cuba. Look, I get it, Marxism isn’t- in theory and in writing- anything close to awful, but in practice, communism has been pretty… awful. Featured in this article are links to human rights reports on Cuba and, the dictatorship that has upheld Marxist ideology has been, you guessed it, objectively pretty awful.
In truth, I pity González, and I cannot be angered by his “decision” to side with the Castro regime, as this decision was most likely made with little-to-no self-imposed will.
As a child with American citizenship, American rights, and American liberties, I am not the subject of indoctrination or spoon-fed propaganda.
Cue eagle screech and my triumphant pose in front of The White House.
Okay, so the United States is not perfect, and we have our fair share of issues- particularly social issues- but at least we are not brainwashed by a repressive government into disagreeing with the sentiment behind our own mothers’ death, and publicly announcing said disagreement in order to win favor and special benefits from said repressive government. While we are given the option of pledging allegiance to what our flag stands for, and what we hope our flag will represent for generations to come (a true separation between Church and State, better education, immigration reforms, racial/ethnic pardons and restitution, gender equality, healthcare reforms, etcetera), there are those who live in nations where allegiance to ones government is bulldozed into hearts through coercion, threats, pamphlets, and empty promises.
As the embassies of Cuba open in Washington DC, and as our embassy opens within Havana, let us remember that, as privileged liberated children, we have been granted the ability to be la esperanza del mundo/the hope for the world. Whether your heart is in activism for the LGBTQ community, for the People of Color community, for Haitians, for Israelis, for Afghanis, for Syrians, for Venezuelans, for Ukrainians, for Americans, for Cubans, let the recent celebration of our Independence and stories like Elián González remind you that, the fight for what you want may be strenuous, may be wrought with sorrow, but it is one that we have the constitutional right to achieve domestically, and it is one that we have the vision to achieve internationally.
#Murica
PS: I understand there are students from Haverford College that are not from The United States of America, but even so, I hope you relate to this article or at least empathize with the sentiment behind it. Also if you’re into freedom, bald eagles, liberty, or dolphins, you may be into this.
Relevant Links & Sources:
http://yusnaby.com/elian-gonzalez-reaparece-ante-las-camaras-junto-a-maradona/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli%C3%A1n_Gonz%C3%A1lez_affair
http://abcnews.go.com/International/exclusive-interview-elian-gonzalez-us/story?id=31113975
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/elian/etc/eliancron.html
http://yusnaby.com/elian-gonzalez-si-cuba-dejara-de-ser-socialista-seria-como-haiti/
http://www.biography.com/people/eli%C3%A1n-gonz%C3%A1lez-9542365#profile
www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/05/18/elian-gonzalez-interview/27556017/
www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/the-elian-gonzalez-saga-10-years-later-exiles-mira/nL6MF/
http://www.savethewhales.org/Dolphins_Rescuing_Humans.html
https://www.hrw.org/americas/cubawww.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/americas/cubawww.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/americas/cubawww.newsweek.com/missing-cuba-thaw-basic-human-rights-322234http://www.ibtimes.com/cuba-human-rights-violations-persist-political-dissidents-face-beatings-arbitrary-1792700
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2000/04/19/elian-gonzalez-and-the-hand-of-god/