Castro Should Free Elián's Father from Cuban Totalitarianism by Chris Wolski -- Capitalism Magazine

Castro Should Free Elián's Father from Cuban Totalitarianism

by Chris Wolski (February 1, 2000)

Since even parents have no rights to physically imprison their children, Elián Gonzalez's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has no right to have his son be returned to live in a totalitarian police state, said the chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute.

"It is not the U.S., but Fidel Castro who is violating Juan Miguel Gonzalez's rights by keeping Cuba's borders closed to those who wish to flee his dictatorial rule," said Peter Schwartz. "Castro should permit the father to leave Cuba permanently and unconditionally along with all his relatives, so that none can be held hostage against him. He can then live here, or in any free country he chooses, and take custody of Elián. The rights of both father and son would thereby be upheld."

Sending Elián to Cuba, said Schwartz, is just as immoral as returning a young black boy of 1850 to the Southern plantation from which he fled -- or to shipping a young Jewish boy back to his father in 1940's Nazi Germany.

"The standard for deciding such cases should be the principle of individual rights," Schwartz maintained. "And that principle prohibits anyone from consigning a six-year-old to a life of slavery."

The author is a contributing writer to Capitalism Magazine.

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