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Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez has been at the center of an international firestorm since he was rescued from an inner tube in the Atlantic Ocean on Thanksgiving Day -- one of only three Cubans who survived a daring escape attempt from Cuba. Another eleven people, including the boy's mother and step-father, died in their flight for freedom.

After initially granting the three Cuban survivors asylum, the Clinton-Gore Administration has reversed course, directing the Immigration and Naturalization Service to return young Elian to Cuba. The boy, Clinton-Gore Administration officials argue, deserves to be with his father.

But there are serious questions about whether Juan Gonzalez even wants his son to return to life under the Communist dictator Fidel Castro. Elian Gonzalez's family, with whom he currently is staying in Miami, assert that his father knew and approved of his wife's and Elian's escape attempt. Juan Gonzalez, they claim, was even planning on following them to the United States at a later date. "I have lost nothing (in the United States)," the boy's father has been quoted as saying.

But when Fidel Castro learned of the child's escape, he cleverly realized that he could use the issue to arouse anti-American sentiments within Cuba, and gain a propaganda victory over the United States. Juan Gonzalez -- no doubt under immense pressure from Castro and reportedly facing threats to the life of his newborn child in Cuba -- called for his son's return. But if he is truly serious about missing his son, why then has he declined to come to the United States to meet with the child he cares so deeply about?

The answer is simple: Castro won't let him. Castro wants to maintain the distance between father and son as a way of eliciting greater support for his cause. Even more important, he is fearful that Juan Gonzalez may join his son in defecting to the United States once he arrives on American soil.

Unfortunately, the Clinton-Gore Administration has fallen for Castro's ploy -- hook, line, and sinker. Now, the United States of America -- represented by the Clinton-Gore Administration -- is actively working to send a young child back to a life of communist tyranny.

Initially, President Clinton cryptically stated that "there is a legal process for determining... what would be best for the child." But after a Florida court ruled that it would decide who would receive custody of the child -- not a bunch of bureaucrats in the Immigration and Naturalization Service -- the President reversed course. Because the legal process of the courts did not rule as the President wished, Attorney General Janet Reno ruled the court had no jurisdiction in the case.

In all of the debate over the fate of Elian Gonzalez, few have stopped to think about what the six-year old boy wants. Last week, Senator Robert Smith met with the boy and his family members in Miami. He learned that Elian wants a life of freedom. The boy wants to remain here in America.

Certainly, Elian Gonzalez's father deserves to make his voice heard. But if he truly wants custody of his child, he should come to the United States. He can he speak his true desires on free soil, without fear of incurring Castro's wrath. Let's give the father a chance to speak out before we sentence his son to a life of squalor and oppression under Castro's communist regime.