I don't live in a Cuban neighborhood, so my family wasn't all that into the Elian situation. I do remember the morning that the Feds so ceremoniously stormed the house my dad woke me and my brother to say how sick the whole thing was. And he didn't just mean the removal, he meant everything. It's under my opinion that a few hundred radicals (and the politicians who were playing this game of chess) were the ones who caused all the controversy, and not so much the entire Cuban American community, as you'd believe.
On the other hand, we did all stay home from school and work that Tuesday when a city-wide blackout was proclaimed, but that was because it was an accepted free day.
I remember another large protest going on near my grandparents' house in Little Havana. We ended up piling in the car to basically mock the protesters, shouting out funny slogans in Spanish as we honked the horn. I don't remember anyone who was so firmly rooted in keeping him here. It's none of our business and everyone made that kid to be a pawn in some sick little war.
In the end, I think you'd find a lot more people who were genuinely there to be there in support of anti-Castro sentiments, and not really there for Elian motivated issues.
I thank you for bringing the Elian issue up, however, because it does shine another light on why the dominant Cuban exile groups hate Democrats so much.
Example:
"Fidel, this is your house."
IMO, he would have had a much better life in the United States. But the way his "family" here in the U.S. was toting him around as a pawn, taking him to Disney World, and coaching him on what to say didn't do him any favors.
On another subject:
I'd like to introduce the "wet-foot, dry-foot policy" in this thread and see if anyone else is aware of it and what your opinions you might have on it.
I personally think it's disgusting and it only encourages rafters from crossing the shores. But I guess if people are
that desperate to leave the country that they are willing to risk their lives on it (and whatever freedom they had left if they are caught by police) then it says something awful about Cuba. Much more than anyone would
tell you on the streets. Just saying...
All my family got here legally, FYI.