by Alan Turin
At 4:00 a.m. April 22, 2000, Madame Attorney General Janet Reno became convinced that negotiations with Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives had broken down.
Most people, unless in an emergency, put off irrevocable decisions in the "wee hours" so as to avoid making mistakes.
What emergency?
INS had revoked several days ago Elian Gonzalez's great uncle's custody and transferred it to his father. Was the child at risk of life or limb?
Only if an assault rifle went off accidentally. Fortunately, the Attorney General has assured us that the federal agent's finger was off the trigger, the safety was "on" and the muzzle was not directly pointed at him.
The Miami relatives accuse the attorney general of negotiating in bad faith. Prior to Holy Week, INS found two neighbors, who happened to live behind Lazaro Gonzalez, were illegal immigrants. They were arrested and INS took over that house.
From that vantage point INS could see an attempt to flee or observe a threat to Elian's person and intervene on such danger.
The house was used as a site for a diversion to draw attention from the front of the house. Perhaps the attorney general was merely being prudent.
Rather than analyze the flaws in the Madame Attorney Generals rationale, let us examine why she would order this precipitous action.
Most Americans, most Floridians, most "non-Hispanic whites" [74%] and most "African-Americans" [96%] in Miami favor reunification of Elian with his father.
But popularity alone would not motivate Janet Reno. There is the additional factor of the defiance of "the rule of law." What seems to have pushed her was the drumbeat by non-Hispanics that the Miami relatives were successfully defying the federal government.
For those in power, the reputation of slipping power is the erosion of power.
Consider a little further south the surprisingly calm treatment by Fidel Castro of the Elian pickup.
Reporters who covered the international hotels in Cuba, the fastest source of non-Cuban government censored news in Cuba, reported that Cubans there were disturbed by the images they saw on CNN.
The Cuban government is downplaying the Elian pickup and urging calm.
A victory for their side and they are showing restraint? Why? Is it too wild to suggest that the Cuban government doesn't want to remind Cubans about that to which Elian would be returned?
What runs Fidel Castro's treatment on this matter is "reasons of state."
That is the confluence between the Clinton administration and Fidel Castro.
Clearly, Elian could have been picked up by other methods that assured the safety of INS agents, Elian and bystanders.
What was required for the attorney general was something that would "encourage the others." What Castro doesn't need is showing the Cuban people similarities with his regime and Clinton's.
The dashing of hopes, particularly after so much agitation's by Castro, is the kind of thing that makes for restiveness.
The problem for stateside Cuban's is that hardly anyone agrees with the merits of their position here. Also, most are blaming the Miami relatives resistance for "making Reno do this."
The problem for stateside Cuban's and Elian is that the path that weakens Castro would have been to have fought in the Courts and not been defiant in the press.
In the aftermath the photos of the reunited Elian with his father showed two interesting issues. First, the reaction by INS spokesman on how much and quickly Elian took to his father after his ordeal shows a disconnect to the reality of family ties. These people have forgotten the ties that bind in families are strong. That they were amazed shows their own deracinated condition. Second, it is heartwarming to see the cultural left become born-again believers in "father knows best."
And all it took was the Big Nurse to show them the way.
Alan Turin, a Miami native and attorney by training, lives in south Florida with his wife Carolyn, a school teacher. Active in libertarian politics since 1976, Mr. Turin serves on the national committee for the Republican Liberty Caucus. Published in Chronicles and American Libertarian this item marks his first internet publishing.
