| Washington, D.C. (AP) April 5, 2000 - Hermes
was able to get the real reasons why Elian Gonzalez must return to Cuba.
In a series of interviews with important and influential people inside
and outside of the government, Hermes can now provide this information.
President Clinton: This young boy represents all those children who have been separated from their fathers much as I was as a youth. It already has been pointed out that I suffered immeasurably from being raised by two women. I can appreciate what Elian is going through because I suffered it too. He needs a father in his young life, lest he make mistakes as an adult. I know about that too and have suffered as my minister can attest. As you all have forgiven me, let us forgive Elian's mother and send him home to his real mother, Cuba Vice-President Gore: Elian must return to Cuba and grow up at his father's side much as I did as a child with my father, Senator Gore of Tennessee. In Cuba he will grow in strength working in the tobacco fields as I did beside my father. A boy learns the meaning of life when side by side he and his dad plant, cultivate, weed, and chop tobacco. His life will be forever changed as he stares at the tobacco leaves hanging in the drying shed. And although I am totally against the use of tobacco, we must respect the culture of this democratic nation. Viva Cuba. Rev. Jesse Jackson: Now you all know There wouldn't be a blow If this boy came from Haiti. There wouldn't be no flack If this boy was black. He'd just might be dead At the hands of Giuliani. Better he live in Consolacion del Sur Than that miserable town of Decatur. Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton: The only place in the world where the concepts in my book, 'It Takes a Village', are being tried is in Cuba. Not since the city-state of Sparta has such a wonderful melding of State and youth resulted in a new person, a new invention, a new bronze man imbued with dedication to the State and Diversity. This is why Elian must return. He must be given the opportunity to share in the miracle that is being generated only eighty miles from our shores. The State has replaced the family as the basis of society and although his father will be working in the new society, he really isn't necessary. Indeed, I know from personal experience that this is so. Did I need a father who didn't need me? No. I was able to gather that tiny village in college. We all were left to our own resources. We did it and we don't need any man to give us our meaning. Consider what would happen if Elian stayed in the United States. He would go to school, then to college, meet some sexy Chica from Ocala, marry, have his way with her, and produce a passel of kids just like him. America would be all the less for it. When he returns to Cuba, Cuba will be all the more for it. Rep. Maxine Waters: We are talking here about a father's right to his son. Not an American father with their bourgeois ideas but a progressive father who knows what is right in the light of socialist thinking. American men can not claim the rights of fatherhood because they suffer from homophobia, sexism, and racism. Nay, they revel in these sins against the poor, downtrodden, and marginalized. Fidel Castro is the greatest living saint of compassion, concern, and hope for them. Fidel, our leader, never give in to the fascists. Never give in to those who would take poor Elian and drain him of those ideas that have made Cuba a shining example to the world. Never give in to those who live in their fancy houses in Miami, living off the backs of the poor and the blacks. Comandante, save us from this capitalistic ghetto. Save us for the socialist future. Attorney General Janet Reno: What we have here is a simple case of the rule of law. Just as in the other cases in which I have been involved, the rule of law is paramount. Take, for example, the Waco incident. There the rule of law was observed to the greatest degree. You see, the results are not the important thing. It is whether the rule of law was followed or not. In this case we have scrupulously petitioned the courts to send Elian home to his father because the rule of law says that we must do it. It doesn't matter what kind of a country Cuba is or what kind of life Elian will have there. What matters is the rule of law. It doesn't matter that his father has been coerced by Castro. What matters is the rule of law. It doesn't matter that his father hadn't seen him for three years and took no active part in his upbringing. It doesn't matter that his mother died trying to get him to the United States. It doesn't matter that Castro is a communist dictator. You see, what matters is the rule of law. John Rocker: I've learned a lot about myself and my relationship with others since the incident that I'd rather forget. I am from a small town and I didn't realize that there are so many other people in the world who are so different from me. I learned that they are good people too. Why just he other day I helped a blind, deaf and dumb, handicapped, minority person of dubious sexual persuasion cross the street. Now I have been asked to comment on the Elian Gonzalez boy and what should happen to him. He seems a nice enough fellow. I've seen him playing in the yard like other American kids and I like that. But there are a bunch of guys around him that I don't like. I mean who do they think they are. They come to my country, take over a great city like Miami, so that anyone from Georgia who goes there needs a translator to get a cup of coffee. They don't even write their signs in English like God intended. I'm really getting tired of them. It's as bad as the New York subway on the way to Shea Stadium. Have you ever ridden on that subway line? Well it' s something else. It would make a normal person throw up. But there aren't very many normal people there. Anyway, send the kid back and and the rest of them foreigners too. |