In the midst of the madness are a child and his father, neither in control of the grotesquery swirling around them. They're both bewildered, and they're both being used. A boy watches his mother and stepfather die, then clings alone to an inner tube until he is somehow spotted, a bobbing speck off the Florida shore. Back in Cuba, a father is told of the miracle rescue. Soon the politicians loudly weigh in.
Demonstrators take to the streets.
On either side of the Straits, the scenario looks curiously similar. Because it is. In Miami and Havana alike, the debate over Elian and Juan Miguel Gonzalez is about politics, not a tragically broken family. It's about Fidel Castro, and those in exile who have waited 40 years for his downfall. Although Elian's parents were separated, by all accounts Juan Miguel Gonzalez has stayed close with his son.