Urgent action required for Cuba:
Help return kidnapped boy to his father

by Joan Coxsedge
President, Australia-Cuba Friendship Society 
(Melbourne)

On November 22, Cuba's Coast Guard detected — within its jurisdiction — a 
vessel carrying a group of people to Florida. Efforts to persuade the boat 
people to abandon their journey failed and, in compliance with normal 
conduct in such circumstances, the vessel was escorted into international 
waters. In addition, an immediate message was sent to the US Coast Guard 
Service patrolling the area, giving them the details.

On November 25, Cuba learned that the US Coast Guard had rescued three 
survivors of a shipwreck near the Florida coast and that a five-year-old 
boy, Elian Gonzales Brotons, was one of them.

The boy had been taken on board by his mother and her boyfriend without any 
authority or consultation with the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez Quintana 
(divorced) from Gardenas, Matanzas Province, or with the child's 
grandparents, with whom he has a very close, loving relationship.

The two people responsible for illegally taking the boy both perished in 
the shipwreck.

Ignoring its own laws, international law and normal procedures for such 
cases, the US Government, in cahoots with the powerful right-wing Miami 
Cuban/American lobby, are trying to keep the five-year-old in the United 
States, where his closest relative is a great uncle.

While nationals of other countries are quickly deported when they illegally 
enter the US, Cubans are immediately granted residency in compliance with 
the "Cuban Adjustment Act", thereby undermining immigration arrangements 
entered into by both countries.

This has given rise to a new phenomenon, the illegal smuggling of people by 
unscrupulous individuals for payments of US$8,000 to $10,000 per person, on 
boats which are often rickety and overcrowded. Many have perished.

So far, despite two verbal notes from Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
and a letter from the child's father, delivered to the US Interest Section 
in Havana and sent to the US State Department in Washington, US officialdom 
has chosen to ignore all their requests.

What you can do

Fax US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on 0015 1 202 261 8577 and US 
Attorney General Janet Reno on 0015 1 202 307 6777 to demand the immediate 
return of Elian to his father in Cuba.