All about a boy

摘要

Cuban-Americans are not the only ones to blame for the stand-off over Elian Gonzalez. So is paralysis in Washington. To anyone but the most frenzied Castro-hater, any decision at all in the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez would be better than the current struggle. The six-year-old has been trapped in a tug of war between his father, his relatives, the courts and federal agencies for nearly five months. The battle has gone on so long not just because of the bloody-mindedness of Miami's Cuban-Americans. Nor can it really be blamed on any intrinsic legal complexity: American and international law are both clear—the boy should go back to his father. Rather, the case remains unresolved partly because almost every party has an interest in letting it drag on, except Juan Miguel Gonzalez and—though this is obviously debated— Elian himself. All the other parties—the attorney-general, the Justice Department, the Clinton administration, and Fidel Castro-have an interest in procrastinating.