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Havana house ready for Elian's "readaptation"
Updated 9:48 PM ET April 17, 2000
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban state TV showed images Monday of a seaside house in Havana ready to receive 6-year- old castaway Elian Gonzalez if the custody dispute over his future ends with his return from the United States.
The large house, with a swimming pool, has been prepared as a residency and school for Elian, his closest family, 12 schoolmates, and some teachers, during a "transition" period of at least three months, child experts told Cuban state TV.
"This will be the place where little Elian Gonzalez adapts to his new conditions of life after his return to the fatherland," a reporter said, against images of freshly painted and well-equipped bedrooms and classrooms inside the house.
State TV said the house would be used for Elian's "readaptation" if he returns soon with his father under one of two options being proposed by Havana to resolve the five-month- old custody battle.
Another option, which Washington does not seem too keen on, is for Elian's teachers and schoolmates to travel to the United States to create a Cuban-style atmosphere for him there while he lives with his father and awaits a final court appeal.
Both scenarios pre-suppose a prompt reunion between Elian and his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who traveled to Washington 10 days ago to try and break the impasse over his son's future.
Elian is still living with U.S. relatives in Miami, where he has been since his dramatic rescue at sea last November. Elian's mother and 10 other Cubans died when a boat full of illegal migrants capsized trying to reach Florida.
U.S. government efforts to speed a father-son reunion have been thwarted by the Miami relatives' legal struggle to keep custody of the boy.
After Elian's "readaptation" process, whether in Washington or Havana, the boy will return to his provincial hometown of Cardenas, on Cuba's northern coast, state TV said.
The Havana house was ready to receive Elian and would provide the "most adequate medium for him to adapt, and to make a transition from these difficult moments he has experienced," said a teacher preparing the building.
The house appeared a good deal grander than the humble cottage on a pot-holed street in which his father lives in Cardenas.
The feud over Elian has pitted President Fidel Castro's communist government -- backing
the father -- against its arch-enemies in Florida's large, Cuban-American community. The
U.S. anti-Castro groups back the Miami relatives' position that Elian should not be sent back
to communism.
"The house appeared a good deal grander than the humble cottage on a pot-holed street in which his father lives in Cardenas."
. . .they are helping Elian with his 'transition' to what. . .poverty?
Maybe they intend to plant a 'new life program' chip in his brain as well. . .or just 'brainwash' the old way.
SHAME on America for mandating Elian's return to Paradise. . .
If Castro's Cooba is such a great place, why is "readaptation" even necessary?
**This will be the place where little Elian Gonzalez adapts to his new conditions of life after his return to the fatherland," a reporter said, against images of freshly painted and well-equipped bedrooms and classrooms inside the house.**
The fatherland??? How Hitlarian!!! Ah, but the mainstream media will never pick up on that, even if they were able!
Hail, Hail, the gang's all there, ready to get to work on little Elian!!!
Believe me instead of seeing this article for the nightmare it is, there will be some who will claim it's proof sending Elian back to Cuba, won't be such a bad thing for Elian after all!!
Three months of re-adaptation, in a specially furnished apartment? I guess they need the time to take one shirt or toy away every day until he is back to "normal". Three months of hearing your mother called a traitor. Poor Elian.
I misjudged Castro!......He's actually a swell guy, I guess!!......These perks are the reward to a "lucky" little boy who would've otherwised been blown away into the Atlantic by water-cannons aboard Cuban gun boats had he been caught escaping......Expect the press to push this Clinton/Castro "good faith" effort for MAXIMUM effect.
Believe me instead of seeing this article for the nightmare it is, there will be some who will claim it's proof sending Elian back to Cuba, won't be such a bad thing for Elian after all!!
This reason is why i am staying off Elian threads so much. With what has come out about that scumbag and the people around him and you still have to listen to wailing about "the father's right." Sheesh!
According to the three psychologists who have examined him (all three paid for by Elian's Miami family)this child has both Bereavement and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The child is going to a situation he will have no primary caregiver. His father is reported not to have seen him much in a three year period, did not attend his birth and did divorce his mother before he was born. The father allegedly also did not contribute to support. His stepmother has another boy about 6 in Cuba and a new son with the father. There is no evidence the stepmother has any kind of relationship with Elian.
Basically, then, you have a situation of a serously troubled child who is being sent to an institution. Bet on father dropping out of picture except for photo-ops. Also bet on Elian having very serious emotional problems on his return. Without Maryslesis (sp?), the present surrogate mother and the rest of the Miami family he will repeat the trauma of losing his biological mother. No doubt, Castro and his doctors will focus on political ideology rather than the mental disorders and a reasonable support system.
This is just a way of telling us that Elian is going to a Castro style mental ward. He will be under total control of a total institution designed for the welfare of the state and not the welfare of the child. Don't anticipate an early release or a favorable outcome.
If I was the INS I would not be focusing on a reunion with father. The big worry should be a reunion with mother. This child is scripted for suicide in one form or another.
"readaptation center", re-education center, no difference. This child is going to be destroyed.
It's completely frustrating, Cutexx. They don't want to see the truth!!!
**Three months of hearing your mother called a traitor. Poor Elian.**
Elian's lot is truly devastating!!!
Castro is a psycho-killer who controls the lives and actions of all Cubans. Castro will have Elian fully brainwashed within that "three-month" period of readaptation.
No doubt about it!
Is this truly a lousy outcome for poor Elian? Of course it is. How sad. This is America? No, this is Clinton's "government" acting like the ruthless thugs they've always been.
There can be no legitimate reason under these extenuating circumstances, to send anyone back to live under a totalitarian communist dictatorship!
Here's a little something from Human Rights Watch.
Over the past forty years, Cuba has developed a highly effective machinery of repression. The denial of basic civil and political rights is written into Cuban law. In the name of legality, armed security forces, aided by state-controlled mass organizations, silence dissent with heavy prison terms, threats of prosecution, harassment, or exile. Cuba uses these tools to restrict severely the exercise of fundamental human rights of expression, association, and assembly. The conditions in Cuba's prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture. In recent years, Cuba has added new repressive laws and continued prosecuting nonviolent dissidents while shrugging off international appeals for reform and placating visiting dignitaries with occasional releases of political prisoners.
This report documents Cuba's failures to respect the civil and political rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as the international human rights and labor rights treaties it has ratified. It shows that neither Cuban law nor practice guarantees the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration. Cuba's obligation to respect the declaration arises from its incorporation into the United Nations Charter, rendering all member states, including Cuba, subject to its provisions. The UDHR is widely recognized as customary international law. It is a basic yardstick to measure any country's human rights performance. Unfortunately, Cuba does not measure up.
This is merely to counter the images of Disney World and cell phones. Like it or not, Elian's fate will be decided in a court of law. His American relatives are already going through the appeals process. I think Elian becomes a US citizen if he is still in this country on Thanksgiving Day, as he will have been here one year. That is another factor that the DOJ has to deal with.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
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