The Other Side Of The Elian War
At the school in Cardenas where Elian Gonzalez used to attend, little children say the boy at the center of an international tug of war is their friend. They used to study and play with him.
But as CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston reports, that's not why the parents of some of the children there were willing to allow their kids to go to the United States with Elian's father's entourage, to travel so far from home and stay for weeks, perhaps months.
At a recent government-sponsored roundtable, the true reason emerged.
Said parent Hansel Orlando Munoz Pedrosa, "The commandante says it is our obligation."
Of course, she means Fidel Castro.
Pinkston reports that is something every child is taught in Cuba, along with math and reading (Cuba's 96 percent literacy rate is comparable to America's): a feeling of obligation to Castro and the communist and socialist principles he espouses.
In Cuba, no one publicly criticizes the government.
One man, asked about Cuba's pension payments, responded, "It's not good to go into details. It's not good to talk too much. Talking too much is bad."
It was not surprising that no one interviewed suggested that Elian should remain in America.
"His life here will be better. We feel good here," was one response.
Asked if they would consider making the trip, many replied, "I wouldn't go, this is my country."
That may be because Castro provides free education and health care, subsidized food, clothing and drugs. But there are trade-offs in the country where Elian grew up: government control covers everything from jobs to wages to the purchase of a car.
Few say they mind, but every day, outside the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, you will find a long line of Cubans who do want to leave applying for visas for temporary travel, or coming to pick up papers to leave for good.
None of them get the attention Elian has. Castro is following the case personally.
Thursday, the ruling Communist Party's daily, Granma, sharply criticized the 6-year-old boy's Miami relatives, who are backed by Florida's powerful Cuban-exile community, for escalating the confrontation with U.S. authorities by not surrendering the child this week as ordered.
"They are looking for a political Bay of Pigs," the newspaper had written.
As news trickled in about dramatic events unfolding on the other side of the Florida Straits, Cubans were shocked to hear that Elian's Miami relatives had allowed a Spanish-language channel in Miami to broadcast a videotape of the boy telling his father, and Attorney General Janet Reno, that he doesn't want to return to Cuba. It smacked of manipulation, Cubans told CBS News.
The video was shown repeatedly on Cuban state TV.
Millions of Cubans have participated in marches, rallies and other protests across the island, and state media—the only information outlets available here—has talked of little else for months. Streets are adorned with "Free Elian!" banners and pictures of the boy and his empty school desk in Cardenas.