Political pawn

All this hoopla has very little to do with Elian Gonzalez's well- being or his future and more to do with a 50-year-old obsession with Mr. Fidel Castro. SRIDHAR KRISHNASWAMI on the Cuban castaway's case.

WHEN ELIAN Gonzalez grows up to be a young man and looks back on when he was six years old he will have some difficulty figuring out which was worse: the trauma of the shipwreck in the Atlantic or being dragged through the political mud in the streets of Florida. But over time the young Cuban will understand that all this hoopla has very little to do with his well being or his future, and more to do with a 50-year-old obsession with someone called Mr. Fidel Castro.

Talk about third-rate politics played out in an election year in the United States: Elian would have hardly made one or two lines in major newspapers if he had been from any country other than Cuba. But with the rightist anti-Castro elements in full strength in Florida and the politicians, national and local, out to score a few cheap points keeping in mind the vote bank, the ingredients for high drama are all well laid out. Or is it a circus?

Elian is nothing but a pawn in a big game that involves not just nations but also political forces that dot the landscape of the U.S. The Clinton administration, as perceived in many quarters, made the correct decision to re-unite Elian with his father in Havana; the Castro Government saw this as a political windfall to get even with the anti-regime Cubans who have fled the country and are now well settled in Florida; and the Cuban exiles delare that they will go the last mile to prevent Elian from either being re-united with his father or heading back to Castro land.

That the anti-Castro forces were willing to go to any extent to prevent re-union is evident from their insistence that the six- year-old go through a psychological evaluation - that is on the relationship between him and his father who has remarried and has a second son. The sickening part of this ongoing drama is that a truly bizzare environment has been created around Elian, something he hardly understands.

It is not just the anti-Castro exiles in Florida who have whipped up this frenzied atmosphere where people have gone on radio talk shows threatening the President and the Attorney-General with dire consequences if Elian is handed over to his father and taken back to Cuba. Much of the blame should also be laid at the doorsteps of politicians, national and local, who have shown one more time the extent to which they will stoop to get a vote.

It is hardly comforting that Elian has so many prominent personalities lined up behind him with the only ``villians'' being the President, the Attorney-General and the Immigration and Naturalisation Service. The right wing Republican clatter on Elian was only expected, including from the party's presidential candidate, Mr. George Bush; so too was that from pragmatic Democrats who saw something and anything to be gained by signing on to the bandwagon.

Not to be left out was Mr. Albert Gore, sitting Vice-President and the Democratic Party's nominee for the presidential elections of November 7. Seeing the possibility of windfall by way of getting the State of Florida in November, Mr. Gore broke ranks with his President and the administration and argued for Elian's remaining in the U.S. Whether Mr. Gore gets Florida this November remains to be seen but his stance earned him a good deal of contempt for it only reinforced the issue's political nature.

One of the issues that will be played out in the next few days is not whether Elian reunites with his father but how this re-union comes about. Justice Department officials have made the point carefully and yet bluntly that the letter of the law will be applied; and privately the word has been passed around that Federal Marshals would indeed be used to enter the home of Elian's relatives if this was the only way to get custody of the boy. And as a sop to the relatives of Elian, the Justice Department has said that it will make sure that Elian and his father do not leave the U.S. until an Appeals Court has had its last word on the case, expected sometime in May.

The sad part of this re-union is that some in the media have gone to the extent of setting down norms for evaluating the love between a father and his son - whether Elian rushes towards his father on seeing him or walks slowly and hesitantly. In talking so much about the ``interests'' of Elian, the various groups and actors have become so wrapped up in their own causes that the larger picture is no longer in sight.

In a sharp commentary in The Washington Post, Richard Cohen says, ``Some people believe Elian Gonzalez was sent to America for a purpose. They believe that in the sea he was ringed by dolphins who protected him from ravenous fish. They say that in his room an image of the Virgin Mary has appeared. I too think Elian was saved for a purpose, although it is not a religious one. It is to make fools of politicians''. And the first on Mr. Cohen's list is Mr. Gore ``looking like a caricature of a pandering politician'' followed by Mr. George Bush, the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, the Conservatives and Mr. Castro.

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