OK, I've gotta get my opinion in on this thing. For those of you living under a rock or in a different country (though people in Bhutan have probably heard of this one), Elián is this little Cuban boy found clinging to an inner tube off the coast of Florida in late November, now a huge controversy. I think he should be returned to Cuba.
His father lives there and wants him back. Yes, his mother died bringing him here but the boy should be with his one remaining parent. If his mother survived, fine, he can stay here but he should be with his dad now. It's not like the man was bad to Elián or anything. It's known that the two had a good father-son relationship. Also, so what if his dad is a card-carrying Communist. That doesn't make him evil.
So what if it's Cuba we're sending him back to? The US is being pretty damn high and mighty about the better life thing. Materially, of course he'll have a better life here. Cuba's poorer than poor. But that's not what counts. The boy has plenty of family in Cuba and, actually, Cuba has an excellent health care program and probably a decent education system. He'll do fine.
If the boy came from any other country, he'd be home by now, regardless of how much family he has here. We're just trying to show off and be a pain in Cuba's butt. Who cares if Cuba's communist? No, I don't agree that communism is a good economic system. It's proven that it's done nothing but fall flat on its ass. Besides, Cuba won't be communist for much longer. Castro's getting pretty old and once he's gone, the country will more than likely become capitalist. One last thing - has it ever occured to somebody that some people just might be happy as clams living under communism?
Well, I can't be the judge as to what's best for the boy as I don't know the family he's staying with, etc. but that's my opinion.
Wednesday, January 26, 2000