Brainwashing in store for boy

BY ROBERT NOVAK

SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

When U.S. marshals forcibly removed Elian Gonzalez from public view and placed him behind locked doors at Andrews Air Force Base, he drew closer to the grasp of the Castro dictatorship's psychiatric wing.

Even a U.S. senator, Bob Smith of New Hampshire, could not gain admittance to the military installation for himself and the boy's Miami relatives Saturday night. But Greg Craig, the Washington super lawyer paid by undisclosed donors to represent Juan Miguel Gonzalez, in a moment of candor revealed that Castro diplomats from the Cuban Interest Section were present at Andrews when Elian arrived.

Will Cuban psychiatrists be at the air base and later at the Wye conference center before the May 8 federal court hearing determines the boy's fate? That is Castro's clear desire, and Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida expressed to me fear that Elian would be "brainwashed on U.S. soil." Two things are certain: Desirability of life in Cuba will be drummed home to him the next two weeks, and Communist psychiatrists will join in the mind-adjustment once he arrives there, if not before.

This is the background of the dawn raid in Miami. Contrary to Justice Department claims that the Florida relatives defied the law, the highest federal court to hear the case last Wednesday roundly rejected Attorney General Janet Reno's arguments. The extraordinary opinion by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not only enjoined Reno from removing the boy from the United States until the hearing, but turned down her plea to hand Elian over immediately to his father.

However, the court did not prohibit such action, and Reno peremptorily broke off negotiations with the Miami family and sent in paramilitary agents. Had she not, there is little question that Elian on May 8 would have professed his desire to stay in Florida--a legitimate aspiration for a 6-year-old, says the 11th Circuit.

Thus, considering the Clinton administration's overriding desire for better relations with Castro, it was necessary to seize the boy. The optimum time was the Saturday of Holy Week, when members of Congress are scattered to the winds.

It probably will not require an expert Communist brainwasher to turn around a child's preference, but Castro has revealed his intentions. Cuban officials, telling the Associated Press that Elian has been "psychologically abused," declared that "psychologists would help him recover" once he is in Cuba.

The original visa application for Juan Miguel listed six psychiatrists and psychologists to come here. Any number of practitioners can be slipped into the country without fanfare--and presumably beyond locked gates at Andrews or Wye. In any event, the Castro regime has announced they will be assigned to his retinue in Havana.

The mere mention of "Cuban psychiatry," in the scandalous Soviet image, is chilling. When the World Psychiatric Association in 1983 condemned the Soviet Union for using psychiatry to punish dissidents, Cuba joined the Soviets in leaving the organization in protest. The Cubans never returned (though the Russians did) and they still follow the old Kremlin model.

An affidavit filed in the current federal court case by Marta Molina, a Cuban psychologist, said Elian upon his return "immediately will be taken into seclusion to re-indoctrinate him in the ways of the Communist ideology." Based on her treatment of Cuban children, Molina predicted "the indoctrination and silencing of his thoughts and memories of the United States will lead to depression and psychological confusion."

Castro's propaganda apparatus last week unveiled the air-conditioned government "guest house" (with swimming pool) where Elian will live in Cuba. A dozen classmates, taken from their parents, will live with him. Will Greg Craig demand that they be reunited with their fathers, or will Cuban psychiatrists suffice?

END

ROBERT NOVAK

Robert Novak's new book is Completing the Revolution: A Vision for Victory in 2000. Novak appears on CNN's "Capital Gang" at 6 p.m. Saturday and "Evans, Novak, Hunt and Shields" at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.

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