At Miami home, protesters say father's arrival `begins the battle'
By Ian James, Associated Press, 04/06/00
MIAMI -- Word that Elian Gonzalez's father had arrived in the United States from Cuba sparked defiance in the crowd outside the 6-year-old's Miami home.
"From here begins the battle," said Bienvenido Comas, a 27-year-old convention coordinator, as a group of about 25 people gathered near the police barrier outside the boy's house.
Juan Miguel Gonzalez arrived at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., with his wife and their 6-month-old son -- Elian's half brother.
Gonzalez said he hoped to "soon be able to embrace my son" and said "It's been an agonizing experience to see my son submitted to cruel psychological pressures."
Gonzalez had said he would be willing to travel to the United States, but only if he could be assured that he would be able to take temporary custody of the boy from one of Elian's great-uncles in Miami, Lazaro Gonzalez.
After it became clear the Elian's father would soon be on American soil, Lazaro Gonzalez came outside Wednesday and addressed the crowd. He said he and his family were willing to meet with Elian's father at their Little Havana home, but nowhere else.
How the reunion will happen must still be decided. The Miami relatives and government lawyers have talked for days about the details, but little progress has been reported. More talks were scheduled for today.
Ninoska Perez, director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said after leaving the home this morning that the family told her Elian was asleep.
As the news that the plane carrying Elian's father had departed Havana, Luis E. Sanchez, a 39-year-old trucker, said "Why should he be going to Washington? He should be coming to Miami to see his son."
On Wednesday, a larger crowd fell silent as Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the anti-Castro Democracy Movement, prayed that Elian's father would feel "the love of all the community, which only wants to see this family united."
"We have to be prepared to defend what is just," Sanchez said. "And also we have to be prepared to understand this family, support this family because they are facing moments of hard decisions."
The community has been in an uproar for months over the custody fight. At one point, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas said he and the mayors of 22 nearby towns would not help federal authorities take the boy by force from the home, though they promised to help keep the peace.
There have been dozens of emotional protests since Elian was rescued off the Florida coast in November during a crossing that claimed the lives of his mother and 10 others.
Anti-Castro groups have called on the city's 800,000-strong Cuban-American community to prepare to form a human chain around the house to protect Elian.
One visibly angered supporter, Ted Cressy, vowed to hold out until Elian was granted permanent residency in the United States.
"They will never take Elian from this country," Cressy said. "I'll never see Elian in Cuba because I'll be dead first. And if it's not physically dead, it'll be mentally dead."
Juan Miguel Gonzalez (R), father of Elian, the six-year-old Cuban castaway at the center of a custody battle in Florida, and his wife Nersy Carmenate holding their six-month old son Hianny, are about to board a Lear Jet for the United States early Thursday at the Jose Marti airport in Havana. (AP photo)
