The story of little Elian Gonzalez has become familiar to so many of us, especially in the United States and Cuba. The 6-year-old Cuban boy survived his mother and stepfather as they all tried to illegally enter the United States. His family and both countries continue to fight for the right to determine his future. That still uncertain, one thing is beyond debate: his mother and stepfather were willing to attempt to risk death for the hope of reaching America and making a life for him as an American.
Elian Gonzalez and his family were only a few of the scores of Cubans that have braved the waters with so little protection on overcrowded, unsafe boats to make the trip to a country that is so close, yet so distant. Recently, others have made trips that rival this, all for the hope of a better life here in America. For many, the price has been their own lives.
In early January, 18 Chinese nationals were discovered in a 40-foot can. They had traveled for almost three weeks in this tiny space to come to America. Three of them did not survive, with the remaining 15 traveling in their coffin. Food and water ran short on the trip. They arrived dehydrated, malnourished, unable to stand the sunlight and traumatized. These men, desperate to reach the United States, volunteered to endure weeks of travel in a dark, airless tin can with some two feet of space per person. Last year, some 300 Chinese stowaways promised smugglers as much as $50,000 each to pack them into shipping containers heading for the United States.
A young Haitian man told a Miami reporter of how he got involved in the human smuggling business. After spending $15,000 (a phenomenal amount in Haiti) to transport himself, his father and his sister to America, he now repeats the journey with others in order to repay his debt. He is called a "coyote," responsible for finding willing and desperate passengers for the trip to America. Once on the flimsy homemade vessel, it was his job to decide which passengers would be forced below deck into the cramped and dirty lower hold. He also decided who would have the opportunity to come up for air. The hundreds of people packed in the tiny quarters created a mess of food, clothes and pots used as bathrooms. Over the four days, he says he saw at least 10 people die of suffocation or jump overboard to their death to escape the conditions. For the others, they saw this as their only opportunity and worth the misery.
It is difficult to imagine what it must be like to force oneself into a tiny space with 17 other people and to live in that space for almost three weeks. Harder still to imagine is how to survive when three of you die and you must travel with the bodies. No room to move, no more food or any bathroom. There is no chance to change your mind and go home. And these people have worked so hard and paid so much to be put through this suffering.
The prospect for these and other people is not good, even the best scenarios are grim. Most will not be granted asylum, many will hide themselves in the U.S., working in terrible sweatshop conditions. Many will die in tiny boats and tin can coffins.
The streets here are not paved with gold, nor are the opportunities endless. And it is unfortunately not true that all one requires to achieve the "American Dream" is hard work and a strong will. Yet, the allure of America runs deep. Images of American culture enters people's homes all over the world through television, film and the Internet, captivating the imagination and giving false impressions of the United States and what it offers. Still, the images of cell phones for every person, money, good education and most importantly, opportunity are far from fictitious. Americans might look with more appreciation at the comfort of their lives if they understood the lengths to which many have gone in search of it
