Elian Gonzalez Joins Communist Youth Group

[Munchkin03]

I thought all Cuban kids at a certain age had to join the Communist Party...why is this newsworthy, NYTimes? Why?

[nancyagd86]

This is newsworthy because this is the child who spent time in Miami with relatives and there was a HUGE custody battle between stateside family members and estranged father who remained in Cuba. (Mother died during the boatride between Cuba & Miami.) The whole thing blew up in the national media when Janet Reno, et al, stormed the relatives' home and took him away to deport him.
The prime reason was, supposedly, to keep him with his biological father, though estranged. We as a nation were basically assured by the father that he wouldn't be 'damaged' because of a return to Cuba.
Seeing this child, who would have thrived in the US under the love and care of relatives who had worked hard to make a life away from communism and the lack of infrastructure in Cuba, officially become a part of the communist party stings really hard. And, in most US citizens' opinion I would imagine, is certainly not what we envisioned for this child who was supposed to be brought up the way his mother would have wanted.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by nancyagd86

This is newsworthy because this is the child who spent time in Miami with relatives and there was a HUGE custody battle between stateside family members and estranged father who remained in Cuba. (Mother died during the boatride between Cuba & Miami.) The whole thing blew up in the national media when Janet Reno, et al, stormed the relatives' home and took him away to deport him.
The prime reason was, supposedly, to keep him with his biological father, though estranged. We as a nation were basically assured by the father that he wouldn't be 'damaged' because of a return to Cuba.
Seeing this child, who would have thrived in the US under the love and care of relatives who had worked hard to make a life away from communism and the lack of infrastructure in Cuba, officially become a part of the communist party stings really hard. And, in most US citizens' opinion I would imagine, is certainly not what we envisioned for this child who was supposed to be brought up the way his mother would have wanted.

Yeah, anyone who wasn't drunk back in 2000 knows the story of Elian Gonzalez. Most of us also know that this was bound to happen--that he would be become one of the Cuban propaganda machine's biggest "success stories." Did anyone think that he WOULDN'T become a part of the Party? I mean, really?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I thought all Cuban kids at a certain age had to join the Communist Party...why is this newsworthy, NYTimes? Why?

NY Times is just one of the many news sources I could've pulled this article from.