Political Hay, at Cuban Boy’s Peril

The more the politicians get involved in the fate of a 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor the murkier his future appears. Washington, Miami and Havana should knock off the political games. American law and justice require the return of Elian Gonzalez to his father and grandparents in Cuba, in line with the decision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Justice Department.

Few of the principal players are innocent of trying to make political hay out of this tragedy, in which Elian’s mother drowned in trying to smuggle him into the United States. Fidel Castro has paraded his professed concern before the TV cameras. Elian’s Miami relatives have intrigued to win support for keeping the boy in the U.S.

Now the child is being chopped into political pieces by some members of the U.S. Congress. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) has issued a congressional subpoena requiring Elian to testify before his committee. What is a 6-year-old going to tell the senators?

Meanwhile, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), along with some other members of the Florida delegation, want to make Elian an American citizen. If that happens, expect Castro to address carefully staged demonstrations where Cuban mothers and children in school uniforms recite prayers for Elian’s safe return.

President Clinton was right when he called on Congress, whose duty it is to uphold the immigration laws that it has approved, not to “put itself in the position of making a decision that runs contrary to what the people who have had to do the investigation have done.”

The INS ruled on Jan. 5 that the boy belongs with his father in Cuba. In a reasonable world, that order would have been carried out long ago. People playing for political gain are hardening relations between Washington and Havana and leaving a 6-year-old twisting in the wind. No good will come of this. Send Elian home.