I've spoken before of the massive moral failure of American conservatives during the Elian Gonzalez saga seven years ago. In that case then five year-old Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives held him de facto hostage for six months and refused to give him back to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez.

Some of you may remember the nightmarish video released by the Miami relatives in which Elian defies his father and tells his father that he wants to stay in the United States, as a male voice was heard off-camera directing the boy. In a 2005 60 Minutes interview Elian said that while in the U.S., the Miami relatives were "telling me bad things about [my father]", and "were also telling me to tell him that I did not want to go back to Cuba and I always told them I wanted to."

After putting up with six months of the Miami relatives' nonsense, on April 22, 2000 the federal government went in, got Elian out, and returned Elian to his father. The event is pictured above.

In case anybody could ever have any doubts on my stand on this, I stand with Juan Gonzalez, Janet Reno, Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro, against Miami relatives Lazaro Gonzalez and Marisleysis Gonzalez, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas (who defied federal authorities), the Cuban-American National Foundation, and the Cuban exile community. I'm not interested in left or right on this issue--I support anybody who stood for reuniting Elian and his father, whether on the left or right.

As for those who shrieked that Clinton "used force," he only did so because he had no other choice. The force used was measured and appropriate, and the Miami relatives have nothing to complain about.

There were some prominent commentators who did stand up for Elian's right to be with his father--these include feminist firebrand Martha Burk and conservative talk show hosts Mike Gallagher and Larry Elder. Both family law attorney Jeff Leving and Mike McCormick, Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, were involved in the case at the time and played an honorable role.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Family Law, Fatherhood, Fathers' Rights/Noncustodial parents' rights, Parental Alienation/PAS, Children's Rights, Sexism, Misandry, Parental Kidnapping, Immigration. You can trackback from your own site.