Taking off on the Cuban boy situation my question to you parents is this?
YOU are living in Cuba and YOUR child has an opportunity to live in the US…even tho he or she would certainly be in country of freedom and all the other positives (keeping in mind that we have negatives as well), would you give up your 6 year old child so that he could live in the US? I, for one, would not and could not. My wife or just me would do our best to improve the child’s mind even in our little shitty country wherever it may be…What would you do? Be as honest as you can.
If my child hypothetical Cuban child had relatives in the USA that he could live with and care for him and love him, I would absolutely want him to stay in the US, and would strive to join him there. If he were going to be a ward of the state, I would proabably be inclined to bring him home. Many people don’t have a really clear idea of exactly how shitty it is to live in Cuba.
I also have a hard time believing that the father is not being coerced by the Cuban government.
It may be selfish, but I would want my child to stay with me. If I were ever actually in that situation I may see it differently.
I don’t know anything other than living in the US. If I did live somewhere like Cuba I would maybe have a different take on it. I wouldn’t be dealing with the same circumstances I am now, so it is easy for me to say what I’d do.
Right or wrong I’d want my family to stay together and do the best we could.
We don’t “know” if the father is being coerced or not.
If he was not coerced and he chose to stay in Cuba instead of going with his ex-wife and his son, then certainly he does not want his kid in the U.S. If he IS being coerced, what kind of coersion? I doubt they’d stand him up against a wall. If I were being coerced, I might say, “Do with me what you will; but you’re NOT going to get my son too!”
Legally and morally, I think the father has every right to have his son returned to him.
I also think that the U.S. and Cuba should have normal relations. We have relations with China, who has a long record of human-rights abuses. When I hear about Cuba, I hear about poverty. I think that if we can talk to China, we can talk to Cuba. If we had trade relations with Cuba it would improve the lot of the people there and the Communist regimé would falter.
As a geographical location, I think the U.S. is the best place on the planet. But as a Nation I think we should stop being a bully and try to make friends with the world.
“If I am elected President, I promise to have a big beach party with all of the world’s leaders.”
That’s probably why we don’t give Cuba the same most-favored-nation trading status as China. (Well, okay, that plus the Cold War legacy of Cuba’s old alliance with the Soviet Union.) China has a reasonably large economy that the U.S. can benefit by trading with; Cuba does not.
In other words, it’s not about human rights or communism, it’s about economic advantage.
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
I think the father certainly has “first dibs” on his child, and if he wants his kid returned to him, I don’t think we have any right to keep him here.
On the other hand, while I’ve never been to Cuba, I have been to many deeply impoverished countries and the future of children who live there is bleek, to say the least.
I think the best situation would have been to bring the father here and let them both stay, but barring that, I’m afraid he does have to go back.
“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal
If I had reletives in the US who I knew would care for my child, I would definately send the kid. As someone else noted, the conditions in impoverished nations are really crappy. Parents in such countries are often willing to give their kid to someone (even a stranger) so that the child can have a chance at some sort of future. These people are not insane nor do they love their children less than we do here. But they are willing to take a chance because the situation they’re in is hopeless. Basically, it can’t get any worse, so try to give the child at least a chance for a better life.
“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal
I think the child belongs with his father…but it breaks my heart to know that his mother gave her life bringing him here…only to have him taken back again. That should say something for the conditions in Cuba…then again…if the father is this big time person…why did the mother have the child and not the father? Makes you think.
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
You wanna know something about me…ask me…not my friends…
In every news story I have seen regarding this boy, he appears to be comfortable and happy with his newfound family. This is, mind you, after surviving the trauma of floating around the ocean for a few days. Some of his older relatives know what it’s like to live in Cuba, and consider Elian’s possible return tragic. I studied Cuba briefly while I was in college, and am amazed at the way things are. Families are rationed things as basic as soap- one bar per month per family is not uncommon. Hospitals often lack even aspirin!
Elian’s father is dead against fleeing to the U.S. himself, as he is an avid supporter of Castro. The child should not have to suffer because of his father’s beliefs. It is incredibly selfish of the father to demand that the boy be taken from what little stability he has been able to construct after the tragic voyage from Cuba. For me, the joy and satisfaction of giving my child the best opportunity he could ever have would make the pain of not having him with me worthwhile.
Well, there’s also the little matter of jurisdiction. China’s crimes against human rights were perpetrated against Chinese citizens, and are therefore sort of outside US jurisdiction. The Cuban revolution, however, took property from US citizen and called it property of the Cuban government. The US called this theft, and declared that normal economic relations would not be restored until the property was returned.
Getting back to the OP, it would depend on exactly how badly off my child would be living in Cuba. Not everybody there is desperately dirt poor, you know. If I felt I could provide a decent life for my kid I would fight just as hard as Sr Gonzalez is to get him back.
My great-grandmother sent all her sons (six of 'em) from Germany to relatives in the United States to avoid the Prussian militarism in the latter part of the 1800s (my grandfather came to this country in 1881, I believe it was, at the age of 14). (No I’m not THAT old – had my grandfather been alive when I was born he would have been into his nineties).
Yes, it would be awful to be separated from my kids, but if I was living under a bad regime and felt that they would have a better life with relatives elsewhere, I think I would try to get them out. I believe a lot of Jewish folks in Europe did just that, didn’t they?
