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By Liz Quirin

Elian Gonzalez at Home in Cuba 10 Years Later: Has Anything Changed?

It was deja vu all over again. Ten years ago I sat across the table from Juan Miguel Gonzalez to talk to him about his son, then 6-year-old Elian. Last week I logged on to my computer and saw the photo of what I could only imagine was some 16-year-old heart throb or new star on the block, only to discover, here was the youngster more or less grown. You remember all the hoopla about the child that was found on Thanksgiving Day in 1999, floating on an inner tube after a boat with his mother and others had capsized and she had drowned?

Elian’s Miami, Fla., relatives refused to return the boy to his father in Cuba, handing Fidel Castro enough easy propaganda to keep him fired up for months. As the battle over Elian raged, I was already scheduled to go to Cuba with the Illinois Conference of Churches to report on the delivery of medical supplies and the interaction of Cuban churches with their U.S. counterparts. Meeting Elian’s father was accidental to the trip — not to me of course because American journalists weren’t sitting across the table from Juan Miguel.

Aside from the heartfelt plea for his son’s release and the genuine courtesy he showed to the group gathered with Cuban politicos, including Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s National Assembly — a post he continues to hold today — it was propaganda as usual.

Elian Gonzalez’s story, reinforced by photos of a raid to recover the boy in Florida and return him to Cuba, gives no clue about the lives of ordinary, everyday Cubans who suffer under a repressive political regime. The Catholic church in Cuba struggles to meet the spiritual and temporal needs of its citizens. Unfortunately, the news coming from Cuba has changed little over the years. The Catholic hierarchy visits the island, participates in liturgies, and that’s important; the cultural and religious exchanges go on. Add to that a Vatican envoy has visited and reported on his time in Cuba with the hierarchy, and important politicos, including a meeting with President Raul Castro (Fidel’s brother).

My concern remains with the Cuban people, those who will meet neither cardinals nor presidents, those who continue to eke out a living, hoping to feed and shelter their families in a country that espouses and teaches Communism to its youth. As high-level visiting continues with and among church officials as well as political advisors on both sides, an embargo continues to encircle the island, keeping more than commercial businesses at bay.

An often seen bumper sticker — “If you want peace, work for justice” — could be a rallying cry for our own people who reach out to help everyday Cubans while everyone awaits real, religious and social change for the Cuban people. We pray for that change, ready to embrace our brothers and sisters in Cuba.