[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 5 (Monday, January 31, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H68]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ELIAN AND FREEDOM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, there are those who doubt the argument 
that returning Elian Gonzalez to Cuba actually means returning a 6-
year-old boy to the Castro regime. There are those who question the 
importance or relevance of the sacrifice that Elian's mother made to 
ensure that he would live in freedom. There are still others who would 
question Elian's ability to express his own desires and to help 
determine his own fate.
  However, those who have lived under totalitarian rule do not doubt. 
They know what it means to live in fear, in fear of persecution, in 
fear of arrest, in fear of torture and even death because of one's 
belief. They have suffered enslavement and subjugation by Communist 
regimes which not only stole their present but destroyed their future 
by exerting absolute control over their children's lives. Someone once 
said, it is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it 
taken from you.
  I ask those who seek to oversimplify this case by advocating Elian's 
immediate return, without a court hearing and without following U.S. 
law, not to make that mistake. I ask them to hear the pleas of the 
members of organizations such as the Americans for Human Rights in 
Ukraine, who are appealing to Congress to act in Elian's case.
  They write: ``We know from recent past experience that Communist 
regimes are dangerous to the health and spirit of people under its 
control.'' For this reason, this group has asked us ``to use our good 
offices to help a little boy to live in freedom.''
  I ask Members to listen to Vietnamese-American refugee advocate Hai 
Tran, who reminds us of how many Vietnamese mothers wiped off their 
tears and sent their children away to a seat on that rickety boat so 
that they might have a future, how many Vietnamese mothers and their 
children died at sea in search of freedom away from that bamboo gulag. 
Because he knows the value and the sanctity of freedom, Hai Tran 
believes it is Elian's right to life and liberty here in the United 
States.
  I ask those who support INS's unilateral decision to return Elian to 
Cuba to heed the questions proposed by Susan Rosenbluth in her 
editorial for the newspaper Jewish Voice and Opinion. She writes, 
``Imagine a Jewish father in Addis Ababa circa 1983, or Moscow circa 
1987, or Damascus circa 1990, or Tehran right now.
  Imagine the boy's mother finds a way to escape with the child. In the 
midst of the plan, something goes wrong and she dies, but miraculously, 
the little boy makes it. When he wakes up, he finds himself in Tel Aviv 
surrounded by his family, but the father is still in the country where 
dictators have the last word. Would the boy be returned to whatever 
totalitarian nightmare his mother had rescued him from?''
  Susan Rosenbluth continues, in the Jewish Voice and Opinion, ``If our 
hearts know the right answer for the hypothetical Jewish child in that 
story, then we must understand that Elian Gonzalez, the little boy 
whose mother died trying to rescue him from Cuba, belongs in the U.S., 
and that if his loving father could speak freely, that is what he would 
say, too.
  After focusing on these statements, it is difficult to discount the 
importance of considering the environment that Elian would be exposed 
to in Cuba. It becomes readily apparent that a forum must be provided 
where the mother's wishes and ultimate sacrifice are also evaluated. 
This can only take place, justice can indeed only be served by allowing 
a court of law to hear the case.
  The INS disagrees because it is applying Cuban law to the case. 
Congress, however, must be guided by U.S. laws and international 
standards requiring due process.
  President Harry Truman once said, you know that being an American is 
more than a matter of where your parents come from. It is a belief that 
all men are created free and equal, and that everyone deserves an even 
break.
  That is my belief, and I know it is my colleagues', as well. I ask 
that we live up to our commitment to uphold and protect the rights 
endowed to all human beings, and that we search our consciences before 
making a summary judgment to send Elian back to Castro's Cuba.
  We have an opportunity to make a difference in this little boy's 
life; to demonstrate, through our actions, our adherence to the 
principles that are the rubric of our democratic society; to send a 
message from our resolve on behalf of oppressed men, women, and 
children everywhere. Let us not squander it.

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