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elian

Unless you're been under a rock (or somewhere other than North America), you've probably heard of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy.

My take: He should be sent home to his family.

So here's this boy. His mother drowned while taking him to the US. His father, still in Cuba, wants him back. The Immigration and Naturalization Service ruled that Elian should be sent back to his father. A Miami judge overturned that ruling pending a hearing on what harm might come to the boy if he goes back to Cuba, an act that she had no authority to make. The United States is also violating a treaty that it ratified through the United Nations, specifically the Convention on the Rights of the Child. According to that agreement, the US must fight against the illicit transfer of children.

And it's not as if he's going to live in extreme poverty in Cuba. His father is fairly well-off. Sure, Cuba is run by a Communist regime, but child custody cases are decided on family ties, not political. His father is in Cuba, as well as all four of his grandparents.

Just for the sake of argument, let's say that the situation was reversed. Let's say that a communist woman takes her son and defects to Cuba, where she believes that her rights as a worker will be protected. She dies on the trip; her son is rescued and taken in by distant relatives in Cuba. The boy's father, in the US, wants the boy back. He doesn't want his son being raised by those Communist pigs.

Do you think, for even one moment, that the US would stand by and say, "Well, he's where his mother wanted him to be. Let him stay."

Hell no! The US would be all over that little island, possibly even going so far as to invade to get the damn kid back.

Send the kid back.

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