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Guestbook Archives
March 25-31, 2000

Name: Dr. Alan Sabrosky
E-mail address: alansky@usa.net
Comments: The Federal government's positions on this case are appalling, but unsurprising. Elian's family, friends and neighbors in Miami's "Little Havana" need to take a leaf from the civil rights struggle, practice civil disobedience on a massive scale, and refuse to succumb to dictates to let US authorities return Elian to Cuba. That, after all, is the type of position African-Americans (and others) took forty-plus years ago, refusing to obey laws & rulings that were both legal and immoral. If enough people take this position, they will win; somehow, I can't see Clinton ordering Marines into Miami to force this boy's return.
Saturday March 25th 2000 10:45:36
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Name: Elsa M. Geilin
E-mail address: visarro@aol.com
Comments: What can I do to help?
Sunday March 26th 2000 12:23:28
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Name: anita
E-mail address: ald@digisys.net
Comments: To Lupe: Dear Lupe, you have made several references to Castro and one I'd like to bring to your attention. You either did'nt see it or have forgoten it completely but there was a live and complete viewing of the Pope's visit to Havana last year on t v. It was stated on that program (which was in Latin & translated to english by a London translator) that the Pope's visit was at Castro's invitation. It was a very beautiful, well attended ceremony with a very admiring and attentive Castro at his side thru' all of it. He was so anxious to help John-Paul, his hands slightly extended toward him, palms up and yet not daring to touch, at all times. He was obviously admiring and devoted. Soooo, you know what that does?? Makes me wonder abt the credibility of other statements you make. No, I do not know what religion he is. You do not either. So you should'nt extend to the public what is in his heart and mind (unless he tells you personally). If he did that it would be a testimony. Right?
Sunday March 26th 2000 01:38:00
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Name: Keith
E-mail address: kvalenza@aol.com
Homepage URL: http://elian.8k.com
Comments: It has been brought to my attention that a group of people who subscribe to a mailing list are calling for a ten o'clock prayer tonight for Elian. Here is the message I received: "I am asking everyone to offer a prayer tonight, Sunday, March 26th at 10pm Let's ask Heavenly Father for support, but mostly that his will be done. He is our Father and knows best. It is now in his hands !!" Great idea. Count me in.
Sunday March 26th 2000 06:27:10
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Name: Lupe
E-mail address: Lupe28@aol.com
Comments: ?Hi Anita, Unfortunately I did know Castro, my father was one of them, and had a high Government position. Also, Castro has many times picked me up and carried me at an office he had at the time in "La Caba�a" when I visited with my father. I hope you read my previous post where I explained a bit about one specific situation that I will never forget. Now there are at least two reasons for the Pope's actions. The Pope is a loving figure, without discrimination, he actually had good hopes for changes after his visit, just like in his homeland. Also, Cuba's bishop, Jaime Ortega, said the Pope fell in love with the Cuban people, and he can't bring himself to tell him the actual truth (don't ask me why?) Castro's religion is a form of Santeria, there is a lot I could tell you about his religion and the Elian case, but is so idiotic and barbaric that Anglos would not be able to understand. Castro took over and closed all of the private and CATHOLIC schools beginning in 1961. Then the nuns and priests were forced out of the country. So you see, I am someone that lived it, and can speak. I have to thank my father for realizing what Castro's revolution really was early on, and for making the decision to get my mother and I out of Cuba ASP. He couldn't leave legally, his life was at stake, but he joint us six months later. I will give you another of Castro's evil actions. When my father Castro, Raul, Almeida and Camilo all of them friends, returned to Habana from Sierra Maestra, years had gone by without these people seeing their families. Fidelito, Fidel's son (by the way, he has many bastard children and Fidelito is the only one from a marriage,) at that time lived in Tarara, Castro dropped by (Castro always went years at a time without seeing or talking to his children) to see him, and Fidelito's little dog started barking at him, this man who was a big man in his youth, with his big boots kicked the dog and killed it, in front of his son, great wellcome home gift! I'm sorry, I do not have any respect for killers of children, women, men and animals. You can believe me, or not, that is your prerogative. As for me I lived it, and you must live in communism to know communism!
Monday March 27th 2000 01:25:37
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Name: Peter
E-mail address: Me2Cuban@aol.com
Comments: "GOOD BOOK" The Boston Globe: Monday, January 26, 1998 Of the beauty and tragedy of Cuba By Alisa Valdes Once a reporter for The Economist and The Asian Wall Street Journal, Christopher Hunt now passes his days finding humor, alcohol, and book material in unlikely situations. Take, for instance, his 1995 book about motorbiking down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Hard to top for irreverence? Not really. Hunt's new book, "Waiting for Fidel," is a chatty, bittersweet encore. Able to sneak himself into Cuba for a $20 bribe at the Havana airport, Hunt crisscrosses the island, asking everyone where he can find Fidel Castro - to give him a high five. Most are stunned by the request. Indeed, many are afraid to speak the communist dictator's name, preferring to stroke imaginary beards in pantomime. But the search leads Hunt to adventure. He shares rum with despondent members of Cuba's writers' and artists' union; retraces Castro's hike up the Sierra Maestra with a zealous, helpful revolutionary; waits in line, like the rest of Cuba, for hours and hours for everything from a newspaper to a bus; watches foreigners frolicking at Varadero beach, as miserable Cubans sigh from the sidelines; talks with a man who gave Castro food during the revolution and now has none. He even has a Santeria medium predict he will fall in love in Cuba. And then he does. All this, and much more, is retold in ripe, original language that conveys both the beauty and the tragedy of Cuba without sentimentality. "Unlike Cubans, foreigners flipped the name [Fidel Castro] like a Frisbee at a picnic," writes Hunt with characteristic descriptive flair. It's tough to find a writer in contemporary nonfiction with a better knack than Hunt's for vivid, surprising description. In a Havana bar, he encounters the American actor who once played Grandpa Munster. "An old and pale man crash-landed beside me ... Next he opened the top of a track suit. The striptease ended with a giant sigh, which jiggled a jelly-belly covered but not disguised by a tennis shirt." While it sometimes seems Hemingway's macho ghost is spurring Hunt along - evidenced by his initial inability to see rampant prostitution as anything but a convenient parade of wanton female body parts - he nonetheless uncovers some hard truths about Cuba. Where he was expecting to find a hostile, militarized state, he found instead a bored nation filled with patient, frustrated, and needy souls. Where he once feared he was diving into the enemy's nest, he realizes during a drunken joy ride with jaded Havana police officers that most Cubans would prefer a good pair of Nikes and a Madonna CD to another lesson in Marxism. Toward the close of the book he deftly condenses post- Soviet Cuba into the following terse phrases, precisely conveying his adopted Cuban exhaustion: "Yellow men, watchful cops, stranded Cubans. Beat-up trucks, rust-bucket cars, makeshift buses. Unfinished overpasses, empty eateries, fading slogans." It's as if at the end of it all the energy to write has been drained from his spirit, just as the Cubans he's met have been slowly drained of hope. His description of people is no less exacting. "A man paused to check his wristwatch," Hunt writes, observing a Havana street corner at 3 a.m. "A mongrel broke stride and nibbled tattered fur before making a quick, self-conscious exit. A teenager gripping the tail of a fat, flat fish ambled by. Twice ... When not excavating her nostrils, a flabby woman scratched her ribs by sliding painted fingernails under a white halter." Hunt's undertaking with this book was risky - risky because of the nature of his topic (travel to Cuba is forbidden by US law) but also because if done improperly, the book might be sluggish with rhetoric or dulled by outdated cold war politics. As a cultural outsider, Hunt also risked reducing complicated social and historical issues into entertaining stereotypes and sound bites. However, Hunt's compassion - and his understanding of his own place in the world - allow him ultimately to succeed in capturing the essence of modern Cuba more than any other American writer to date. Does he find Castro? We'd never give that away. But the hunt for this dictator fades into the background with Hunt's most important epiphany, which occurs as he waits by the side of a road, with dozens of Cubans, for a truck to take them to the town of Cienfuegos. Once the truck arrives, people who have waited at least eight days for a bus begin fighting for a spot. "I watched the wrestling from the sidelines. I wasn't going to get on that truck. In fact, I wasn't going to get on any truck bound for Cienfuegos. Not because there wouldn't be others. I suddenly realized that the Cubans had no choice but to grapple for places. I could afford not to fight."
Monday March 27th 2000 08:23:40
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Name: Keith
E-mail address: kvalenza@aol.com
Homepage URL: http://elian.8k.com
Comments: URGENT! URGENT! URGENT! URGENT! In case you missed the news...Castro has made a veiled terrorist threat on this country. Here is the account from the Associated Press: In reaction to the interview with Elian on ABC news"...news of the interview drew a sharp reaction from Cuban President Fidel Castro, who in a Sunday speech to student leaders called the event ''monstruous'' and ''sickening.'' ''You cannot do this without the authorization of the father,'' Castro said. Castro also said that many people in Cuba had written to him to suggest that he authorize the dispatch of a commando team to stage an armed assault and ''rescue'' Elian from his Miami relatives. News accounts from Havana did not say whether Castro discarded or is still considering the idea." The fact that this was even mentioned should be considered a threat...so much so that the family has withdrawn Elian from school to not only protect his life, but the lives of other students and teachers. Any NORMAL administration would have reacted to this threat. But not the Clinton/Castro administratioh. I urge all of you to contact your Congressmen and senators regarding this threat to our shores. Remember, this is the same Castro who pointed nuclear missiles at us during the Cuban Missile Criss. Castro's rhetoric should not be dismissed. Are there any MORE reasons why Elian should stay in this country?
Tuesday March 28th 2000 12:02:48
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Name: Black Helmet Man
E-mail address: blackhelmetman@hotmail.com
Homepage URL: http://home1.gte.net/saxposse
Comments: My issue on this whole situation is that there is National law. When you are part of this country this law applies to everyone. No matter race, sex, color or religion. In elians case I feel sorry for him being so young. However there is a law. That law states that if you are not a legal immigrant, then you will be sent back to where you came from. Elian is an illegal immigrant, the law applies to him even at the age of 5. Besides the fact Elian has a father with whom he belongs with. Not relatives but his birth father. His father is his care taker, not uncles or cousins but his father. There is also the little quote at the beginnig of this page that baffles me... how did it go... "You wouldn't send a child back to Nazi Germany would you?" There is a ditinct difference between Nazi Germany and Cuba. For starters the obvious... Nazism and Communism. Two entirely different forms of government. The second difference is children are being slaughtered in Cuba. Children aren't being thrown into ovens or being left to starve. Elian obviously has a father to care for him. He belongs back in Cuba. Our government will be in a sorry state if they allow him to stay. National Law is National Law. You agreed to it either the day you were born in the United States or the day you pledged your citizenship for the first time in America. Black Helmet Man
Tuesday March 28th 2000 01:08:28
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Name: Bobby
E-mail address: tainted39@aol.com
Comments: This page is only prolonging one boy's agony. A boy needs his birth parents. No matter what a person agrees with idelogically the boy should be with his father. Cubans in our country are a contradictory lot. They left Cuban so they would not be communist puppets but now they are the Republicans' puppets. Go figure
Tuesday March 28th 2000 04:58:15
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Name: ~Zurama~
E-mail address: Zuramart@aol.com
Homepage URL: http://members.aol.com/zury16/zurama.html
Comments: God Bless you Keith, for this wonderfull website and for helping us spread the word about why little Elian should not and must not be sent back to a life without freedom and hope.~Heaven help Elian~ ~ZURAMA~ Freelance Artist Fine Art/Pet Portraits Zuramart@aol.com http://members.aol.com/zury16/zurama.html ART BY / ARTE DE ZURAMA
Tuesday March 28th 2000 08:03:35

Name: Elizabeth R. Stewart
E-mail address: calcomtom@msn.com
Comments: Iam in full support of Elian staying in this Free contry of ours. My prayers are with him and his relative in Miami so that all will be resolved to his advantage....
Tuesday March 28th 2000 11:27:12
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Name: Lupe
E-mail address: Lupe28@aol.com
Comments: ?There seems to be a misunderstanding by some people in regards to the Immigration Law for Cuban citizens. Cuban Citizens always enjoyed instant status in the USA for many years. A few years ago, the law was changed to "wet feet, dry feet," that means if they reach USA land they can stay. Elian touched land. The law doesn't say if you are 5 you will be sent back to Cuba. The other point I need to make revolves around the USA Constitution, everyone has the right to due legal process, killers, rappers, terrorists, they are all given as long as they need and as many appeals as necessary to trial their case, even though we all know they are guilty (O.J.and CLINTON are good examples.) Why is Elian being discriminated against? Maybe you would like to find out. Remember a few months back the 9 delinquent Cuban prisoners that had hostages on a stand off here in the United States? If you know anything about Castro and his totalitarian dictatorship, you know he has never taken back any of the scum he has forced upon the USA, he is not accountable to anyone and does what he wants when he wants. Do you remember that this time he took them back? Clinton made a pact with Castro, Castro would take the prisoners and Clinton would send Elian to Cuba, thus, making both presidents happy. Since then, things have gotten extremely complicated, and out of hand. Our present president doesn’t have any morals or values and Reno, as everyone can see, is a very stern person. We all know that she lacks humanity, a conscience, a heart, and also a family of her own. Reno proved to the world what I am saying when she without blinking an eye had children, women and men killed at Waco, Texas. She is used to sacrificing human being without remorse. At this time she is quite sick, and not even because of her own situation she can feel for other human beings. At this point in her life, she could have acted with responsibility, done what was legally right for that child and then resign, she doesn’t have long. Wouldn’t it have been better for her to have helped someone, one time in her life? She would have enjoyed her lasts years feeling good about herself. But no, she chose to sacrifice one more child! You say, >>>>“The second difference is children are being slaughtered in Cuba. Children aren't being thrown into ovens or being left to starve.”>>>> Please explain what is the difference between slaughtering children and burning children after the gas chamber? TWO DIFFERENT METHODS, ONE SAME CRIME! Is it that a Jewish child is better than a Cuban child or a child from any other country? Elian’s father is under house arrest, everyone knows this, he is not allowed to speak privately with anyone. If Elian is sent back, Castro already said he is going to put him in a hospital to “DE PROGRAM” him from the harm done by the imperialists pigs. Do you know what that means in Castro’s Cuba? You also said, >>>>Our government will be in a sorry state if they allow him to stay. National Law is National Law>>>> Our, government, our country, will be in a sorry state if they send him back without “DUE LEGAL PROCESS” to “CASTRO’S CONCENTRATION CAMP.” Simply, because “FREEDOM” and what the USA has always stood for has been fatally wounded for everyone in this universe! By the way, on Tuesday, March 28, on the "Good Morning America" show, Elian told Sawyer that he didn't want to go to Cuba and that his father used to hit him, so much for the fit father notion! Know how we found out? Castro, himself said it.
Wednesday March 29th 2000 04:12:26
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Name: Julio Suarez
E-mail address: suarez1@erols.com
Comments: My prayers go out to Elian and his family. I hope a miracle occurs so that he can stay in the US and grow up happy, safe and most importantly, free! Elian, Que Dios te Bendiga!
Wednesday March 29th 2000 04:11:01
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Name: Rachel
E-mail address: Rcasas9059@aol.com
Comments: My prayers go out to little Elian and his family. To uproot this child NOW who lived through such a traumatic experience is not only shameful but immoral. I know that we are a nation who believes in restoring biological ties. And I, too, believe that this is the way it should be. However, there are extenuating circumstances as all of us well know. And this is just one of them. If Juan Miguel loved his son so much, why hasn't he come here? The fact that he doesn't want to "risk" coming here and not be able to see his son, according to him, is his worst nightmare. I hate to tell him, but the worst thing that could happen to ANY parent is that their child suffer the kind of trauma this child suffered. If he were acting as a truly, loving parent this man would allow his son to heal, emotionally, as Elian has been doing and he himself come here to be with him to offer him support, love and stability. However, he has repeatedly said he will not come here if he can't take him back with him to Cuba. All I can say is if this had happened to any one of my children I would have gotten on the FIRST PLANE out (Oh, wait a minute, you can't do that in Cuba!), taken an inner tube, dinghy or anything else that floats (that's more like it) just to see my son. I know that all of us that have written here whether pro or con, would do the same thing as me if it were their child.
Wednesday March 29th 2000 07:04:00
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Name: Prodos
E-mail address: prodos@prodos.com
Homepage URL: http://www.prodos.com
Comments: I am an internet radio presenter based in Melbourne, Australia. My show is a strong supporter of Elian remaining in the USA. The INS should stick to its original job of keeping terrorists and criminals out of America. If it was Castro who was washed up on the shores of America then, yes, it would be withing its brief to throw the murderer back to the sharks. But Elian, like all children, deserves to grow up in a free country and to have a chance to make something of himself. Clearly he is a good lad and an intelligent lad. Clearly his mother was a brave and good woman who knew that it was better to die fighting for freedom than to continue living as the cannon fodder of a dictator. It would be an ugly day and a tragic day if Elian were handed back to a psychopathic killer like Castro. America's blindness is staggering. Bill Clinton's callous indifference is a shameful disgrace. Why doesn't he go one on one with Castro? Why does he permit Castro to set the agenda and rub America's face in the mud? A tin-pot dictator is making a fool of the world's freest most prosperous nation. Shame on you Clinton! If the INS wants to unite Elian with his father then bring the father and his new family to America. Let them live there. I belive that Elian's father WOULD like to live in America. I spoke to Ninoska Peres on my show recently and she confirmed this - read the transcript at: www.Capitalismmagazine.com/2000/january/interview_cuba.htm With friends like the INS who needs enemies like Castro! Best Wishes Elian! PRODOS
Thursday March 30th 2000 01:36:49
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Name: Frank A.
E-mail address: arduinif@interaccess.com
Comments: It is time to end this. All the politics must be set aside, all the hatreds and history (rational and irrational) must in the final analysis be ignored. There is only one just outcome possible. Elian must be returned immediately to his father. Whether a result of Congressional action, court decision, or civil disobediance, for Elian to remain in this country is to formally establish the United States as a sponsor of international political kidnapping. It is to bankrupt our traditional moral stance as supporters of the family, as respectors of the rule of law. It would be a disaster to our own efforts to retrieve American children kidnapped by non-custodial parents and taken abroad to nations where political oppression is the rule. It would abandon the moral high ground to a communist nation and an aging dictator who is not long for this world anyway. It is impossible to believe any more that Elian's American family has the best interest of this child in mind. Their behavior remains shamelessly opportunistic, focused more on their hatred of Castro than on their love for Elian. The damage they have done to this poor boy is immeasurable, they have robbed him of the love of his father, shamelessly bribed him against his own father with toys and trips to Disneyworld, and used his image and idea for the most base political purposes. And they have unreasonable cannonized his mother as a heroic figure, when in fact she cruelly and irresponsibly came within hours of killing the boy. I am ashamed for them. As a father, as the grandson of immigrants, as an American patriot who has served in our armed forces, as a conservative Republican, I implore the Justice Department, the INS, and the Federal courts; Send Elian home to his father, now.
Thursday March 30th 2000 02:59:31
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Name: DGould
E-mail address: DGould@crdus.jnj.com
Comments: I have been torn over this issue for the last few months. On the one side I felt that it was wrong to keep the boy from his father. On the other side, I could not see sending him back to the terrible conditions in Cuba. For the last few months, sending him back was "winning out" in my mind. Then this evening, it hit me. If a boys father was wrongfully imprissioned, would you send the boy to jail to be with his father? In my mind, Cuba is prison in every way. No freedom of speach, you can't leave when you want, horrible living conditions, not enough food, disease, poverty. Thus I now believe sending this boy back to prison is not the right thing to do and we should allow him to stay. If it is so important for the father to be with the boy, why doesn't Castro let the father and family live here. Within a month, they would have every necessity needed, donated from people around the world.
Friday March 31st 2000 02:40:30
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Name: maya
E-mail address: e9125816@student.tuwien.ac.at
Comments: I think this poor boy belongs to his father and his father should decide where they both should live.we should support the values of the family and not of the money that elian�s relatives in the US can offer him. and don�t EVER forget that: ONCE A REFUGEE- ALWAYS A REFUGEE. just let this poor boy live his life and with his REAL family- and that�s his father and his grandmothers and not some kind of rich relatives that he never had seen in his life.they should be ashamed of their behaviour. they should let the boy go free and not castro. and after all- don�t ever forget the story of american children (betty mahmoody�s story)who disapeared for example in iran with one of their parents and they can never go back.because of the iran-justice. is it the same? USA=IRAN!?! RENO=KHOMEINI!?! so think about how do you act on this topic! at least there is a father who WANTS to take care of his child and not to let him go...i�m angry and disappointed.just let the poor boy be with his family....
Friday March 31st 2000 12:26:32
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Name: Ivette Poveda
E-mail address: PovedaIM@aol.com
Homepage URL: http://hometown.aol.com/povedaim/index.html
Comments: I think the poor kid should stay in Miami with his family and I don't want him to go back to Cuba to be with his father.
Friday March 31st 2000 06:54:25

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