Thursday, December 9, 1999; Page A44

                  THE RUSH to make a symbol out of Elian Gonzalez--the 6-year-old
                  Cuban boy who was rescued at sea after the boat in which his mother and
                  several other people sought to flee Cuba sank--politicizes the child's
                  tragedy and should have no place in discussion of his future. Fidel Castro
                  has threatened mass demonstrations if the boy is not returned immediately
                  to his father in Cuba. Meanwhile, Cuban exiles have made him a poster
                  child for anti-Castro activities. Footage of Elian dressed in a Cuban
                  American National Foundation T-shirt and surrounded with toys is a
                  not-so-subtle way of demonstrating that he is better off here with some
                  more distant relatives than with his father in Cuba. Lost in the politics is the
                  question that ought to decide the matter and that, we would hope, the
                  courts in Florida will focus on in considering it. As President Clinton put it
                  yesterday, that question is "What would be best for the child?"

                  Whether it is better to grow up with one's father in a tyranny or with
                  extended family in a democracy is not a question that lends itself to
                  decision on the basis of strict principles. It can be answered only on a
                  case-by-case basis in light of all the relevant facts. Our own sense is that,
                  for a 6-year-old who has just lost his mother and been stranded at sea for
                  more than 24 hours on an inner tube, the personal is more important than
                  the political. Reunification with his father seems as if it should be
                  presumptively the desired outcome. And if the boy's father wants to live
                  with him in Cuba, that is his decision.

                  But that's a big if. The fact that his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, says he
                  wants the boy returned to Cuba--given the incentives any Cuban has not to
                  embarrass his government internationally--is not necessarily conclusive.
                  Before Elian Gonzalez is returned because of his father's presence there, it
                  should be clear that his father would not prefer to come to this country to
                  be with his son. Some procedure has to be devised to make sure that the
                  interests of family reunification don't cost young Elian the freedoms for
                  which he has already paid so dearly.

                           © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company