No Place for a Child : Cuba as soul-killer.

THE only thing worse than being a typical child in Cuba is being Elian Gonzalez back home under the triumphant glare of Fidel Castro. Before his mother made her desperate escape, Elian faced the same deprivation and indoctrination as all Cuban children. Now, Castro rails against the evil imperialists who kidnapped the six-year-old he calls the island's "boy hero."

Although attorney general Janet Reno stubbornly insists that the primacy of family ties warrants Elian's return to his father, Cuba's dictator makes a mockery of parental prerogatives. He has pledged to "reprogram" the child so his attitudes don't disappoint the crowds in Havana who chant that Elian has become "the new patriot of the Revolution."

Reno is upholding the rights of a parent who has none. Cuba's top diplomat in Washington called Elian "a possession of the state," which is plainly true under Cuba's "Code of the Child, Law No. 16." The development of a child's "Com munist personality" is paramount, any influence contrary to Communism must be fought, and advanced schooling is predicated on a child's political attitude. The state may remove custody from parents found to be "hindering" their children's Communist formation.

The bright, happy little boy racing around that fenced yard in Little Havana will face the soul-crushing conformity of a totalitarian state. Because the school desk he left behind has reportedly been turned into a "national shrine," any deviation by Elian from what loyal young Communists must think would be ruthlessly suppressed. In the Soviet Union, a "Stakhanovite" was someone who was willing to overfulfill work quotas at the cost of his life. As a celebrated subject of the regime, Elian Gonzalez will have to be the most committed little Communist in Cuba, at the expense of his innocence.

And Castro's regime will be keeping close track. The Ministry of the Interior assigns infants an "Identification Card of the Child" that must be carried at all times, until age 16. In its 17 pages, which include residential addresses and schools attended, notations are made about the child's "political attitude." This is where a record would be made should Elian ever express positive feelings about his experience in Miami or kind words about his family there. Elian will have to adopt the view that his late mother's flight makes her a traitor and a despised enemy of the revolution.

Elian also has a Student Cumulative Dossier, where teachers make a record of his and his family's opinions and behavior. Elian would have gotten good marks for belonging to the Young Communist Pioneers, which he had joined before leaving Cuba. The group's motto is: "We shall be like Che." The schools' curriculum is saturated with the glories of the revolution. In the fourth and fifth grades, Elian's written compositions will concentrate on "Yankee imperialism" and "Cuba's enemies." There is also time for a kind of recreation that will counter the corrupting influence of Disney World: The schools have frequent exercises called "Military Games for Pioneers," in which the children play at attacking bridges, finding land mines, sneaking up on sentries, and throwing grenades through windows. At age ten, children head off to agricultural work camps for three months each year, where they work and continue their military games.

Juan Miguel Gonzalez might be freely choosing this stultifying regime for his son. He enjoys a relatively privileged status in an impoverished Cuba because he works at a tourist hotel that provides tips in precious foreign currency. Mr. Gonzalez is possibly a successful product of the relentless indoctrination his son would endure. Should he return to Cuba, with his son in hand, he will be the father of a national icon, with an exalted status he may relish.

If, however, it becomes apparent that Mr. Gonzalez's demands are not the product of his free will, Janet Reno would have to admit that her INS officials were duped when they visited him in Cuba. This gives Reno an obvious incentive to insist mulishly that Mr. Gonzalez is not being coerced by the long arm of Fidel Castro (who, after all, maintains control of Mr. Gonzalez's extended family in Cuba).

The attorney general's old friend, Sr. Jeanne O'Laughlin of Barry University, wasn't as easily persuaded. After hosting Elian's grandmothers at their reunion with the child in January, the Domin ican nun decided to oppose Elian's return to Cuba. During the visit, the grandmothers' Cuban escort remained in close telephone contact with Havana, and Sr. O'Laughlin noted the grandmothers' "trembling, furtive looks." Her conclusion: "I do not think that this child will be able to live without fear if he goes back."

Further, one of the grandmothers admitted that she had greeted Elian by biting the tip of his tongue and pulling his pants down for a genital examination. If a grandmother had so treated a child in a Miami day-care center, back in the days when Janet Reno was a state attorney, she would be in jail, the entire family would be under suspicion, and Elian would be in foster care.

Whether or not Juan Miguel Gonzalez is expressing his true wishes for his son, Elian might have a separate claim for political asylum, not dependent on his father's views. Grover Joseph Rees, a former INS general counsel, argues that "if a six-year-old could win an asylum hearing on the merits owing to his political opinions, that child would be Elian." Rees explains that Elian's claim has arisen since he left Cuba, because of the expectation that he will now be singled out for special treatment should he return. But the child is unable to file a claim, because Reno has decided that only Elian's father, acting on the child's behalf, has the right to make that argument.

The attorney general falsely insists that the rule of law dictates Elian's fate. In fact, it is the Rule of Reno that has declared that Mr. Gonzalez is not being coerced and that no other guardian can make an asylum claim on Elian's behalf. A short delay-to allow a court to determine what is in the child's best interests-wouldn't do irreparable harm to Elian. But irreparable damage waits for Elian if he is forced to return to Castro's island prison.