Granma Daily
June 28, 2005
The first battle
by NIDIA DÍAZ

A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela.
Edited by Walter Lippmann
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/06/28/nacional/articulo07.html
GRANMA front page:
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/06/28/plana.jpg

A shout of EXTRA paralyzed the country.

Cuban television reported the news. At 12 noon of June 28, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court had denied the request for interdiction presented by the lawyers of the Cuban American Mafia as a last result to prevent the return of Elian González to Cuba

It was then 12 noon and 10 pm. Two hundred and sixty six days had passed since the Cubans, as one, began the battle for the liberation of the kidnapped child. A combat with Fidel at the head, as he has always done, since half a century ago!

That was the first victory of this unprecedented political battle that we wage today. The first Battle of Ideas that we began December 5, 1999 to rescue the little boy from Cardenas, and against the murderous Law of Cuban adjustment, that the Miami counterrevolutionary Mafia and their ultra right U.S. allies thought that they could grab a member of a Cuban family.

Once again, they made a mistake.

Days before November 25, news reports informed that a child had been found on the coast of Florida, tied to a tire, weak and with eyes lost in infinity, filled with that darkness that enveloped him in this unbelievable trip.

Two days later, the Naturalization and Immigration Service of the United States granted custody of Elian to his distant relatives and, thus, became an accomplice of a new and cowardly policy against the Cuban Revolution.

Once again, we were not alone.

As never before the U.S. public and international public opinion came out strongly against this injustice that was nothing more than a violation of the father's parental rights.

The kidnapping of Elian was, undoubtedly, an act of terrorism by the extreme right of the United States, in cohesion with the Miami Mafia. The child was prevented from talking to his father; he was psychologically tortured, his freedom was cut back during his meeting with his grandmothers; his privacy violated presenting him to the media like a war trophy.

The Cubans, however, did not falter in the battle. Never before had a people battled so strongly.

Not a single day was lost, nor an hour or a second. And in that passing of time in battle, new voices rose up, new intelligences, adding their voices to the historical collective demand of this people.

We Cubans learned more about laws, history, psychology, foreign policy … we learned that victory is achieved with the ideas we defend.  We learned, with Juan Miguel, that love cannot be bought, that principles are not sold. We learned, through Fidel, that those who can put a price on a child could never win a battle.

They were 266 long and tense days

It was 7 hours and 39 minutes on the evening of June 28, five years ago, when Juan Miguel with Elian in his arms, walked out of the small eight-seater plane.

Hearts burst in joy; justice took on a human face. The unity of Cubans with Fidel and the Party was seen in all its dimensions. In the midst of the joy on the return of Elian, we learned that the battle was just beginning. Other sons and other parents again call for our solidarity: Five years after the victory of the return of Elian, Five Cuban Patriots are unjustly imprisoned in U.S. jails for fighting terrorism. They trust us; they trust the success of our battle for their return.

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