Elian's father in the United States to reclaim son
By George Gedda, Associated Press, 04/06/00
WASHINGTON -- Juan Miguel Gonzalez stood on U.S. soil today and laid claim to son Elian, the 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor who sparked a four-month international tug of war over his fate. "I hope I will soon be able to embrace my son," he said.
Gonzalez said his son had been forced to live for 137 days with "some distant relatives who had never seen him before."
"I am truly impatient to have him returned to me as soon as possible and go back to Cuba together immediately," he said through an interpreter in a combative statement accusing U.S. politicians, journalists and Miami's Cuban community of exploiting the boy.
Elian's Miami relatives were stung by the remarks and did not believe Gonzalez wrote them himself, said Armando Gutierrez, speaking for the family in Florida.
As a first step toward reclaiming his son, Gonzalez will meet with Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Janet Reno, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said. Justice officials said Gonzalez asked for the meeting and that it not happen before Friday morning.
Holder said the government is eager to get father and son reunited soon. "It is simply the right thing to do," he said. "The father and his son need to be together."
In Miami, Elian seemed unaware of the new phase in the struggle over his future. He played on a slide outside his great-uncle's home and fired a toy gun as the usual horde of reporters and photographers took note.
The elder Gonzalez, arriving in Washington with his wife, 6-month-old baby and the top Cuban official stationed in the United States, lamented that Elian has "been paraded and exhibited in public rallies and by the media with a clear intent to obtain political advantage from this tragedy."
In a stark indication of the bitter custody fight yet to come with Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez and other Miami relatives, protesters shouted over the father's remarks at Dulles International Airport.
Their shouts, "Welcome to freedom," could be heard by Juan Miguel Gonzalez, but he did not acknowledge them.
"It's been an agonizing experience to see my son submitted to cruel psychological pressures aimed at influencing his personality already weakened by the terrible trauma," Gonzalez said.
The boy's Miami relatives felt Cuban President Fidel Castro, who saw Gonzalez off in Havana, put him up to making such harsh criticisms, Gutierrez said.
"They are a little bit upset that Juan Miguel referred to them as a distant family," he said. "I could tell you that Lazaro was almost in tears, because he felt that that is not his nephew. He felt that was not the person he knows."
While criticizing the relatives, Gonzalez expressed gratitude to average Americans, who he said have been in favor of reuniting him with his son.
It was not clear when such a reunion might take place.
"It cannot happen in one or two days ... that would be like Elian losing his mother a second time," said Linda Osberg-Braun, a lawyer for the Miami relatives.
Elian's mother died along with 10 others when their boat sank during a Thanksgiving crossing from Cuba to the Florida. The boy was rescued.
Speaking on NBC's "Today" show, she said the family would not give up their quest to get Elian political asylum. "They believe strongly that he will be harmed if he is returned to Cuba."
Lazaro Gonzalez says he and his family were willing to meet Elian's father at their home, but nowhere else. "We aren't going to take the boy anywhere," he said Wednesday night.
Outside the relatives' home, Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the anti-Castro Democracy Movement, mounted a police barricade.
"We have to be prepared to defend what is just," Sanchez said, using a bullhorn. "And also we have to be prepared to understand this family, support this family because they are facing moments of hard decisions."
Although some U.S. politicians have been eager to offer Gonzalez permanent residency and thought he might want to stay in the country once out of the clutches of Castro's communist government, the father did not appear to have anything like that in mind.
He said Castro has been "like a brother giving me advice and support through our long days of pain and uncertainty."
Gonzalez's trip was worked out by his lawyer, Gregory Craig, during a 24-hour visit to Cuba. Craig said Wednesday night that an Immigration and Naturalization Service statement on Monday met Gonzalez's demand.
The INS statement, as read by Craig, said, "Once Mr. Gonzalez arrives, the INS will begin transferring the parole care from Lazaro Gonzalez to the boy's father."
After his airport statement, Gonzalez was escorted in a police motorcade to the modest two-story brick home of Fernando Remirez, head of the Cuban diplomatic mission to the United States, in Bethesda, Md.
Cuban officials said they were waiving diplomatic immunity from the residence. By doing so, Castro said earlier, Elian's Miami relatives and their "supporting mob" could not refuse to surrender the boy on grounds that he was going to a residence considered to be Cuban territory.
Agreement on a peaceful transfer of the boy to his father may not be easy. Two days of such efforts earlier this week involving lawyers for the government and Elian's Miami relatives did not bear fruit.
Cuban-American protesters have threatened to form a human chain around the Miami home where Elian is staying to prevent him from being sent back to Cuba.
Elian's Miami relatives have asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to overturn a federal judge's ruling in late March affirming the INS decision to return Elian to his father.
Holder said his understanding is that Gonzalez is willing to stay in the country until the appeal is completed.
A Justice official, requesting anonymity, said the government can't stop the father from leaving when he wants. "But we could issue a departure control order to prevent Elian's departure. It's very rarely done, and that's not where we want to go."
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)
