ELISABET’S CHOICE © 2000 ABIP

April 09, 2000

by Agustín Blázquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton

The recent opinion polls in which about 60% of the American population favors the return of 6-year-old Elián González to his father in Cuba, for people aquatinted with Cuban reality, reveals how badly informed are the people of this country.

Do Americans have access to information about why Elisabet and thousands of Cuban mothers and fathers have decided to escape Cuba with their children? Or to send their children out alone, as in Operation Peter Pan? For any parent of any country, their reasons must be compelling and powerful!

The choice of the majority of the American people that Elián should go to his father in Cuba is based on their personal experiences and beliefs. But, experiences and beliefs that form the American opinion have developed in an environment in which the parents have all the rights about raising their own children. That is not the case in Cuba. And that crucial piece of information has been denied to the Americans by the media and even by our own politicians who have failed to properly explain those facts. And when the best interests of a child are at stake, that is an unforgivable crime.

President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton know it. As well as Janet Reno, Doris Meissner, Madeleine Albright and many other officials and politicians who have been silent on this issue. As the attorney of Elián’s father, Gregory Craig (paradoxically paid by the Methodist Church!) should know about laws in Castro’s Cuba. All of them, with their conduct, are fostering a concealment where the best interests of this child are being ignored because of a political settlement with the despicable tyrant that Elisabet wanted to get her son away from.

According to recent academic research of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (as amended on August 1, 1992) [www2.cuba.cu/gobierno/consti.htm], conducted by Maria Werlau, with legal background information provided by Alberto Luzarraga, I am submitting some of the information critically important for anyone forming an opinion about the fate of Cuban children. Lacking this basic information is what has made the majority of Americans unable to understand why the overwhelming majority of Cuban Americans feel so strongly about what would be in the best interests of Elián González and what his mother died for.

Quoting here from Werlau’s work, she brings forth the pertinent Articles of the Cuban Constitution: Article 39: "Establishes state control over culture and education sustained on ‘Marxist ideals’ and for the communist formation of children and adults. It specifically declares that artistic creation is ‘free’ as long as its contents ‘are not contrary to the Revolution.’" Don’t miss the use of the word "formation". The government assigns to itself the "formation of children and adults." So brainwashing is dictated by the Constitution. Effectively this deprives all parents in Cuba of the right to have a choice of education for their children. And Article 62, "Criminalizes opposition to the edicts of the Constitution: ‘No rights granted by this Constitution and the laws can be exercised against the existence of and objectives of the communist state. The infraction of this article is punishable.’"

About The Code of Childhood and Youth, Law No. 16 of June 28, 1978 [www.lanuevacuba.com/codigo1.htm], she explains that it is "binding for all minors, their parents and teachers." Article 3 says, "The communist formation of the young generation is a valued aspiration of the State, the family, teachers, political organizations, and mass organizations acting to foster in the youth the ideological values of communism." Article 5, "Society and the State watch to make sure that ‘all persons who come in contact with child and youth in their educational process constitute an example for the development of a communist personality and stimulates citizens to obtain merits in performing this task." Don’t miss "communist personality". Article 8, "The society and the State ‘work for the effective protection of youth against any influence contrary to their communist formation.’"

Article 9, "Educators have a crucial mission in the formation of the communist personality. They must be carefully selected, well prepared and capable of teaching by example." Article 10, "It is the duty of the working class . . . to educate the new generations in communist ways." Article 20, "The school is the basic educational institution, contributing decisively in the communist formation of those schooled." Article 23, "Upon completion of primary schooling, young people may continue their education at pre-university centers, vocational schools, or other specialized schools, on the basis of their academic achievement, political attitude and social conduct." I wonder how Americans would like to turn their children over to an educational code like this.

But there is much more, Article 33, "The State grants special attention to the instruction of Marxist-Leninism due to its importance in the ideological formation and the political culture of the country’s young students." Article 40, "The formation of vocational interests in children, from their pre-school education to secondary education, constitutes a basic foundation in the adequate orientation towards the professions the country demands." Article43, "Every young person is obligated to employ his/her creative capacity, aptitudes and knowledge in benefit of the New Society."

Article 68, "Prescribes that children and young people prepare for military education and active military service by subscribing to ‘principles of proletarian internationalism and combative solidarity.’" It is a fact that from elementary school, children are taught to assemble and disassemble AK-47 rifles. What do American parents think about this? That first-hand early training may account for the willingness of Elián’s father to come to the U.S. with a rifle "to get rid of I don’t know how many people," as he threatened on American television on January 13, 2000.

Article 83, "State entities for culture ensure that ‘the artistic creation encouraged in children and youth is one that expresses the revolutionary vision of the world, fraternity, human solidarity, the internationalist spirit and love for the ideals of the working class.’" This is to prepare the new communist indoctrinated generations for Castro’s international missions abroad to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. Perhaps little Elián will return to the US in that capacity in his adult years once his "combative solidarity" has been firmly instilled.

Children cannot escape from politics in Cuba, Article 90, "The promotion of athletes to higher categories takes into account not only their athletic achievements but also their social and political attitude." Article 101, "The State’s entities maintain appropriate relations with the Union of Communist Youth, mass organizations and other social factors linked to them, for the purpose of sustaining a coordinated effort in the development of children and youth."

As this code clearly delineates, the state, not the parents have all the rights over the children’s education and personality development. The worse indictment against Castro and his crimes are his own laws. There is no way out but to get the hell out of Castro’s paradise. That was the choice Elisabet made for her son. She wanted him to grow up in a country like America where he would be free and able to forge his own destiny. That is what the American people must understand to begin to comprehend this complex issue.

In her work, Maria Werlau included articles of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that, in 1989, was ratified by 177 countries. Article 3, "states that in all actions the child’s best interests’ shall be a primary consideration." Article 12, "states the right of the child to express an opinion and to have that opinion taken into account, in any matter or procedure affecting the child." These two articles are especially relevant in Elián’s case, because it exposes how the Clinton Administration, using Janet Reno’s "Justice" Department has violated them. If these rights and others are being institutionally violated in Cuba it is no surprise, but in this country, it is outrageous. And that the majority of Americans are going along with this injustice is even worse.

In fact, 6-year-old Elián González has been treated worse than a common criminal by denying him due process. Elisabet’s choice did not count on the U.S., under Clinton, to be so cruel to her beloved son.

Agustín Blázquez, Producer/Director of the documentaries COVERING CUBA and CUBA: THE PEARL OF THE ANTILLES