CUBA: Elian's homecoming: when the people heard the news
HAVANA, June 30 — My phone rang a few minutes after noon. It was my neighbour. "The Supreme Court ruled that Elian can come home!", she blurted out.
The ordeal would soon be over. Picked out of the Florida Straits by the US Coast Guard in November and held ever since by his right-wing relatives in Miami, six-year-old Elian Gonzalez would now be allowed to travel home with his father, Juan Miguel.
The first person I met on the street was Klennia Gonzalez, 29 years old. She had just heard the news.
"I felt really happy at the news because when this struggle began, I was pregnant and didn't really know what was happening, but now that I have a baby daughter, four months old, I see how important it is for Elian to be with his father and his whole family", she told me. "I'm happy, and I hope he'll be able to go back to his community and school and everything."
Amado, from Santiago de Cuba, in Havana to visit family, felt this was a triumph for both the US and Cuban governments because, "After all the absurd and unjust legal manoeuvres, I think that justice nevertheless triumphed". Like most Cubans, Amado had been waiting for this news. "I expected this. And I felt good about it too because the North American people were able to show they can be guided by justice and the truth, too."
His very-pregnant niece was washing dishes in the kitchen of their second-floor apartment. Jesse is 26 years old and has a degree in computer sciences. "The news about Elian has been a great joy to us because despite everything the Mafia, the Cuban American National Foundation, tried to do, it couldn't obtain its objectives. In this case, it was truth and justice that came out on top", she assured me.
"Who do you think must have been the happiest when they made the announcement that Elian could return?" I asked. Her response was unhesitating: "Elian's father must have been the happiest, and Elian himself. But most of all his father. And his family here in Cuba. And the Cuban people."
It did not occur to her to say "Fidel Castro" or any political leaders, although the spin in Miami has been that this has been a political battle waged by the Cuban leader, who would see it as a political triumph over his arch-enemies.
Anibal is a 57-year-old pilot, home recuperating from a recent operation. He said, "I was expecting it. I haven't moved from in front of the television since this morning. I knew there would have to be important news today because we were all awaiting the Supreme Court decision. Imagine, what great news!". He grinned, leaning over to give me a hug.
Anibal said he agreed with the popular Brazilian theologian and author Frei Betto. "We have to thank Elian for a number of things that have happened in this country now. Elian showed us the great potential we have. After 40 years, we knew something of our people's capacity for sacrifice and struggle, but through this we learned of the extra potential we had hidden away."
"It's not just about judges' decisions", he emphasised. "It's our struggle that showed them that they had to let him come home. It's not they who decided; we made them do it through our struggle, we forced them to do it.
"My personal opinion — and not everyone may agree with me — is that the US government never wanted to return Elian, despite the statements by Clinton and the state department. They said 'yes' on the one hand, but at the same time they were giving the Mafia the opportunity to do everything they wanted. Because if the US government didn't want this to happen, it wouldn't have."
The beauty parlour is only two blocks away. I popped in to see what Sandra, my hairdresser, had to say.
"The best thing that could happen today is that Elian comes back to Cuba. I wish the whole population of Cuba could go out to welcome him. I would bring everyone here in the beauty parlour with me, no problem", she laughed.
"Today, a lot of people came in and said, 'Hey, Sandra, Elian is coming back after 4 o'clock today!'. And I yelled, 'That's great, that's the best news!', and everyone was jumping for joy. Everyone was so pleased. It was news we'd been waiting for for so long."
Gabrielito, 11 years old, is one of the kids on my block. He came bursting into my house after school.
"I think this is a great success of the Cuban people over the US", he said. "I think Elian must be very happy. This news was one of the happiest we've had during the whole revolution!
"If I were Elian, I would have felt very sad being with that infamous group of relatives. And coming back, I would be happy because I'd be able to play with my friends and be able to live happily ever after with my family.
"The news raced through the school, and everyone was happy and excited — I guess like the rest of the country. I was having lunch, and the physical education teacher came out and said, 'Elian is coming home! He's coming back at 5pm!' and we all began talking and shouting.
"The teachers were in the middle of checking our tests and they came out asking, 'What happened, what happened?'. When we told them, they were overjoyed. They went back to marking the tests with big smiles on their faces but one of the teachers said, 'How can I grade tests when I feel so choked up?'. I think we're going to get better grades because of it", he grinned.
BY KAREN LEE WALD