A Homeland for Elian

by April Knutson, WAMM

Why should Elian Gonzalez go back to Cuba? First of all, he has a loving family there, including his father, who had a regular, ongoing relationship with Elian. He also has grandparents in Cuba. If we support family values, we must support the return of Elian to Cuba.

But, beyond family values, community and societal values demand that Elian be returned to his revolutionary homeland, Cuba.

Cuba has free, universal medical care. There are doctors, nurses, and free public clinics in every neighborhood. The Cuban medical system is the best in the "underdeveloped" world and the envy of doctors from the "First" world who have visited Cuba.

Cuban doctors have developed new techniques in several areas of medicine that U.S. doctors would like to study. Cuban doctors also display admirable solidarity with people all over the world, serving in Africa and Latin America. Recently, Cuban doctors launched a massive effort to deliver health care to Haiti.

Cuba has free, universal education--no tuition, even for University undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral study. Unlike the private college in Miami where Elian met with his grandmothers, a college that relies on private donors and high tuition fees, all Cuban colleges and universities, including the world-class University of Havana, are supported by the Cuban people as a whole and are free and accessible to all.

Cuba has no homeless people. There is no malnutrition in Cuba. In the United States, we have boom times and bust times, but for the poorest in the U.S. all times are hard times. Many are left out of the good times and nothing trickles down except more troubles and frustrations.

In Cuba, people share equally in good times and hard times. The Cuban people have created a system of careful rationing of food, energy, and other resources, so that no one has to live on the streets, no one starves, and no one goes without medical care or education.

But perhaps the most significant accomplishment of the Cuban Revolution is the eradication of the most dangerous disease of the human body and soul: racism. Everyone who has visited Cuba remarks on the absence of racism--no apartheid in neighborhoods, no discrimination in jobs or housing, no feelings of inferiority or superiority based on the color of one's skin.

While Cuba is not a perfect society, it is harmonious and united--a community that will nurture Elian in so many ways that the United States, as currently governed, is incapable of doing.

April Knutson first presented this speech at a public rally on Saturday, February 5, 2000.