This week Elian Gonzalez will celebrate his sixth birthday in the house of kinfolk he scarcely knows. The boy’s great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez, a 49-year-old house painter, fled Cuba in 1983 and has been awarded temporary custody of the boy. Last week the INS formally granted Elian permission to remain in the United States.
His father threatens to travel to Florida to retrieve his son. If he does, Dad will meet a changed kindergartner. Relatives and well-wishers have showered Elian with toys. Affluent Cuban-Americans have offered to cover his medical bills and private-school tuition. Elian can only hope the generosity continues after the publicity fades.
