Elian’s tale has dramatic ending

In the end it took only three minutes, as long as the entire ordeal should have taken. But instead, the three-minute raid on April 22 that reunited Elian Gonzalez with his father followed five months of drawn-out discussions.

The result, as most Americans would agree, was the right one. And although it was unfortunate it had to happen the way it did, the Attorney General Janet Reno made the right decision. Elian is where he belongs – with his father, Juan Miguel.

The photograph of a horrified Elian, with a federal agent holding a semiautomatic weapon just a foot from his face, will no doubt forever be ingrained in the minds of Americans and Cubans alike.

But the saga had continued for too long. Elian ceased to be seen as a child and became nothing more than a political pawn. He never should have been held hostage as long as he was.

A 6-year-old is too easily manipulated by adults, which is the likely scenario Elian faced at the home of his Miami relatives, including cousin Marisleysis Gonzalez.

The situation was completely out of hand. There was little chance the boy’s Miami relatives were going to voluntarily give him up and negotiations for a peaceful reunion had failed.

Elian had been turned into a symbol, one that was different for each of the groups involved.

Cubans saw him as a symbol of the righteousness of American democracy and the vile nature of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s regime.

For some in the United States, the boy was associated, although wrongly so, with post-Cold War relations. And there were also those whose ethnocentric view of America’s superiority provided them the fodder to champion the case for Elian to remain in the United States.

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