With six-year-old Elian Gonzalez's temporary U.S. residency set to expire tomorrow, the debate over the Cuban boy's future continues to rage across the country — and the University campus is no exception.
Many professors and students said they believe Gonzalez should be returned to Cuba for a variety of political and personal reasons — primarily the rights of the boy's father.
"For good or for ill, we've always accepted the authority of biological parents, and I don't understand why we didn't do so six months ago," said sociology professor Miguel Centeno, who is a Cuban immigrant.
"The saddest thing is the stereotypical response of American culture. We take this kid who's undergone a terrible ordeal, and we buy him a Nintendo," he added.
History professor Jeremy Adelman, who teaches HIS 304: History of Modern Latin America, noted the role the press has played in the issue. "It's just the noisy people on both sides who get the headlines," he said. "Not all Cuban Americans agree with the public opposition against reuniting Elian and father."
Sophomore Bryce Rogow, a Princeton in Cuba participant, said he believes the influential anti-Castro lobby in Miami has perpetuated the debate over Gonzalez.
"They are one of the most powerful lobbies and hard-core anti-Castro," Rogow said. "They are so passionate that even though most Americans favor Elian's return, they drown out other opinions."
Adelman agreed. "They are using the child as an ideological weapon. That's objectionable," he said.
"The whole point of dismantling communism is to live by more humanitarian rules," Adelman explained. "The Miami faction is no better than the communists in using a little boy for their ideological cause. They're the flip side to the same coin."
Centeno said he believes the controversy over Gonzalez is indicative of the complex relationship between Cuba and the United States. He described the two countries as having a "poisoned atmosphere."
"This was merely a spark in a room full of gas," Centeno added.
He noted that the Elian case has become such an important and heated issue because of the mixture of volatile political elements.
"You've got a group of Cuban Americans in Miami which looks for these kinds of things and reacts in this way," Centeno said. "You've got politicians in Florida, Congress and now the vice president who are willing to use this as an issue. You've got a media who will report on anything as long as it means an extra ratings point, and you've got a photogenic little boy."
Most students said they agree that the father's claim should be the key factor in deciding the boy's future.
"The father has a fundamental right to be with his son," said Graves Tompkins '02, one of the students who participated in the Princeton in Cuba Spring Break trip.
Freshman Laura Hunter agreed. "I think he should be returned to his father. It's been made a political issue when it should be a personal issue."
'Cruel'
Centeno said he believes that the United States has overstepped its bounds with the Gonzalez case. "It isn't the job of the U.S. to make these judgments," he said. "I think this poor child has gone through a traumatic psychological trauma. The humane thing would be to return him to his father. What has been done in the last few months by the U.S. is cruel."
"It's the greatest of possible insults to suggest that Cuban parents cannot care for their children adequately," said Sam Spector '03, who also traveled to Cuba during Spring Break. "Elian will live a normal life in Cuba. He won't experience extreme poverty. He will receive full health care and would only lose the comforts and luxuries of the U.S. that are of less importance."
Sociology professor Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, who has done research on Latin American culture, also noted that the Cuban government has used this issue to "increase a sense of national cohesion."
"Basically, this is yet another example of the political genius of Fidel Castro," she said.
In addition, some students and faculty noted that both the Cuban and American governments have aggravated the situation.
Tompkins said he believes that Castro uses this type of situation to foster anti-American sentiment that strengthens his regime by reinforcing the existence of a common enemy.
The United States should "grow up and let Cuba be Cuba, let it solve its own problems and not interfere with Cuba and be obsessed by it." Centeno said. "If the U.S. ever let Cuba be Cuba, the life expectancy of Castro's Cuba would be weeks. He thrives on this stuff. He loves it."
According to Adelman, the United States-Cuba relationship is two-sided.
"It goes both ways. Cuba has to let the U.S. be the U.S. Fidel couldn't continue to blame all his problems on U.S. foreign policy," he said.
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