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He was the young boy whose mother risked everything to bring him out of the control of Fidel Castro, and somewhere in the escape, she lost her life. His father’s struggle to bring him back to Cuba caused months of debate.
Attorney General Janet Reno, with present AG Eric Holder as her right-hand man, was criticized for the “guns drawn” manner in which he was taken from his Miami-family’s home. In the end, despite the ideology of Communism versus Freedom, he was reunited with his father, as he rightfully needed to be ( Brazil should have returned Sean Goldman to his father in the same manner recently, without the several year battle).
Today, a decade after the international custody exchange, Elian Gonzalez, under the watchful idea of the Castro regime, is now 16, and an active member of Castro’s Union of Young Communists.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_cuba_elian_gonzalez;_ylt=AmFIzUfAzXCfopCu4Ji5O.LlWMcF
When Elian Gonzalez left Cuba with his mother, he knew he was going on an adventure. That 90 mile trek across the Florida Straits would cost his mother her life, and catapult the six year old into an international custody case. When all was said and done, including the “seizing” of the child from his relative’s home by gunpoint, Elian was returned to Cuba to his father, where he rightfully belonged. It can be argued as to what his life would have been here, in freedom, but one can also argue that because of the focus on Cuba at the time, the family of Elian has been rewarded for their allegiance to their homeland.
Today, a five year ordeal for David Goldman may finally come to a close, and his son, Sean, now 9, be returned to him by the Brazillian courts. Goldman’s wife, whi was from brazil, had travelled to Brazil to visit family. Once there, she filed for divorce and custody of her son. She then remarried, and then she died in childbirth last year.
What followed the death of Mr. Goldman’s ex-wife has been a nightmare for him and his family. The family in Brazil sought to keep the boy in Brazil, and away from his father. New Jersey legislators and the State Department have been actively involved in trying to get the mmatter resolved.
Mid day yeasterday, the Brazillian courts ordered that Sean Goldman be delivered to the custody of the American consulate within 48 hours (enough time for an appeal to be filed). A happy David Goldman has immediately headed to Brazil, arriving there earlier today, cautiously hoping for a holiday season reunion with his son.
Sean and David Goldman in Brazil 02/09, the first time they had been together since 2004.
Related: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31079844/
Update: This afternoon, the Brazillian Supreme Court issued an injunction on the transfer of sean Goldman.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091217/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_us_custody_battle
From the moment that President Elect Barack Obama announced his appointment of Eric Holder to be Attorney General, there has been a flurry of dissent about the former Clinton appointee, and the controversies that have dogged him since the Clinton administration. As his confirmation hearings begin today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, his confirmation may not be off track completely, but the Republicans, and some Democrats, are not going to give Holder an easy ride through the process.
Holder’s involvement in key problems in the Attorney General’s office during the Clinton era include:
- The controversial pardon of fugitive financier Mark Rich, and questionable contributions from Rich’s ex-wife.
- The pardons of the FLNA and some of the Weather Underground (the same group that Bill Ayers was involved with)
- the decision to seize 6-year old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint from his uncle’s Miami home to return him to his father in Cuba
- ties to embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Judicial Watch has actively campaigned against the confirmation of Eric Holder, contacting the Senators, and taking out a full page advertisement to urge the same.
In his opening remarks, Eric Holder used the story of Governor George Wallace’s refusal to permit Holder’s late sister-in-law admittance to college in Alabama during the civil rights movement, and then her actual admission to the University of Alabama. (If we are to rejoice in the election of Obama as a biracial President, is it not time that we cease using past history that will continue to create racial division). As the statements and the questioning has started, Holder has acknowledged some of his Clinton actions as possible mistakes, and he has also defined waterboarding as torture. (The Obama administration needs to tread lightly in that area, because our national security can be undermined with the utterance of a few misguided words).
Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee, criticized both Holder and Sen. Leahy in his opening remarks, and basically guaranteed that this process was not going to be an easy one. Quipped one member of the Obama transition team “Hope you brought your dinner!!”
Related stories: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011403112.html?hpid=topnews
