Published Thursday, May 11, 2000, in the Miami Herald 

Demonstrators seen coast-to-coast

BY ANA ACLE

From Miami to Jersey City, D.C. to L.A., hundreds of demonstrators marched to federal courthouses, waved Old Glory, sang the national anthem, shouted ``God Bless America!'' and listened to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.

Their cause: to keep Elian Gonzalez in America.

``Americans to Keep Elian Free'' exercised their civil liberties Wednesday with rallies in 15 major U.S. cities and even down under in Melbourne, Australia.

``This is an American issue,'' organizer Mark Da Cunha, 29, said in Miami. ``It involves individual rights which should concern all Americans.''

An Atlanta federal appellate court will consider today whether the boy can pursue asylum against the wishes of his father. Rescued alone off the South Florida coast, Elian lost his mother in a deadly voyage to the United States. His Miami relatives filed the asylum application.

The idea to hold ``American'' nationwide demonstrations sparked quickly through the Internet from CapitalismMagazine.com where Da Cunha, of Freeport, Bahamas, serves as publisher. Da Cunha was joined by organizers at California's Ayn Rand Institute and others who felt their voices weren't being heard.

``Cuban Americans have not been very successful in getting their message to non-Hispanic Americans because they were using too many signs and slogans in Spanish, and they were waving the Cuban flag, confusing the message,'' said Steve Bosson, 45, a bilingual salesman in Miami.

Waving the Cuban flag is not meant to portray solidarity with Castro's regime or show disrespect to the United States, said Rolando Espinosa, president of Cuban Educators in Exile.

``We've been misinterpreted,'' Espinosa said. ``We still love our homeland, but we support Americans.''

Among the signs in the Miami crowd: ``Oh Say Did You See By The Dawn's Early Light The Abuse of Elian's Human Rights,'' ``In Cuba the REAL Parent is the State,'' and ``Born in the USA? Defend the Constitution of the USA.''

Seized from his Miami relatives' home by federal agents, Elian is living in seclusion in Maryland with his father. The court ordered he not be removed from the country through the appeals process.

Bosson criticized the raid: ``If the executive branch of the government is able to step on the Constitution and sacrifice even one person's life, for whatever reason, and the American public allows it to happen, then we become a country without the principles for which this nation was founded.''

In Los Angeles, more than 300 people demonstrated outside the West Los Angeles Federal Building, waving signs and both U.S. and Cuban flags.

Organizer Scott Holleran said: ``Elian Gonzalez is forever etched in history as Anne Frank is etched in history.''

In Jersey City, 200 people rallied near the Statue of Liberty to hear Fidel Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, and Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez.

Fernandez, who fled Cuba seven years ago in disguise and with a fake passport, now lives in Spain. ``This tragedy would not have happened if Cuba was free,'' Fernandez said. ``I know all too well the drive to escape the suffocation of repression.''

In Atlanta, 60 demonstrators chanted in front of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building.

``All we are asking is that Elian have his day in court, and that the judges investigate whether the father is able to speak freely,'' said Jack Coello, a Cuban-American lawyer who lives in Atlanta.

More demonstrations are expected in Atlanta today.

In Washington, D.C., a few dozen gathered outside the Department of Justice.

David Crawford, 13, of Silver Spring, Md., attended the demonstration with his parents and held a sign that read: ``In Cuba, This Would be Illegal.''

Herald staff writers Frank Davies and Andres Viglucci and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright 2000 the Miami Herald.
Republished here with the permission of the Miami Herald. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the written approval of The Miami Herald.