LETTERS: CUBAN EXILES RELY ON DIFFERENT RULES

To the editor:

Chickens seem to be coming home to roost with regard to the immunity from ordinary rules that the Cuban exile community seemingly enjoys. Through the long history of this nation's obsession with Fidel Castro Ruz, one of the ways we have tried to embarrass him is by passing laws whose object is to put living in revolutionary Cuba in the same category as living in a burning house. I dispute that view, but if it were true I believe there is a compelling case to be made that there are places where life is much worse. However, most people from places like Haiti who try to gain entry to the United States are treated like filth in stark contrast to the Cubans, who by law are practically wined and dined and treated with kid gloves by the Coast Guard and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Now that the Cuban exile community has become accustomed to the expectation of that special treatment, it should surprise no one that the U.S. government has the choice of either approaching the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez Brosons with hat in hand or sending in the National Guard in force in order to allow the repatriation of the child. Those who have read my letters in the past will know in what distaste I regard the prospect of conservative political control of this nation. Nevertheless, if the Clinton administration does not get that child back to his dad and out of the hands of the vampires who hold him, I will refrain from voting for president in this coming election.

It disturbs me very much that many of the national media, through ill-chosen phraseology in their coverage of the Elian matter, appear to be taking the side of the nasty forces that seek to keep young Gonzalez in this country with extended family, away from his own country and immediate family. I hope others interested in journalistic accuracy will jump down the throats of these arrogant, willfully mendacious national media.

DONN S. MILLER

Tamms, Ill.