Editorial: Let’s quickly end battle over Elian

Friday, March 31, 2000 | 9:34 a.m.

When U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore issued his ruling last week that dismissed the plea by Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives to get an asylum hearing, he urged all those involved to show compassion. Moore wrote that "each passing day is another day lost between Juan Gonzalez and his son, (and) the court can only hope that those on each side of this litigation place the interests of Elian Gonzalez above all others."

Sadly, though, a speedy resolution has been thwarted. Elian's uncle in Miami refuses to agree to surrender the boy if he loses the court fight, a decision that has protracted a dispute that should have been settled months ago. And while some Cuban-Americans in Miami have used Elian as a symbol to further their own political agenda, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro also has used the boy to whip up anti-American sentiment there. The time has come to end this nonsense, and with it the daily parading of Elian before television cameras, and do what's best for the child: Return him to his father in Cuba.

archive