Reno readies plan to transfer custody of Elian
By George Gedda, Associated Press, 4/8/00
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Janet Reno plans to arrange for the transfer of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to his father next week after receiving advice from outside experts on how the exchange can be carried out with a minimum of disruption.
But given the passions the issue has generated in Miami, it is not clear whether an orderly transfer is possible to Elian's father from Cuba.
Asked about a report in today's Washington Post of a contingency plan to remove the boy by force, Reno said late Friday that she knew of no such plan.
"I haven't seen such a plan, nor do I have such a plan that has been prepared," she said via satellite hookup during an ABC Nightline town hall meeting broadcast from Miami. "I want to work this out so force is not used, so that we do it in a way that is fair to all concerned."
On Friday, Reno invited the Miami relatives with whom Elian has been staying to meet Monday with two psychiatrists and a psychologist to determine how, not if, the transfer should take place. According to the plan, Juan Miguel Gonzalez would reclaim his child later in the week.
Reno's announcement that there would be no immediate custody change prompted Cuban-American leaders intent on maintaining the status quo to call off a plan to tie up roads leading to the Miami Airport.
The cancellation seemed to offer only a temporary respite in the custody dispute, as Reno sounded unyielding in her determination to move Elian out of his great-uncle's home in Miami and into the care of his father, now staying in a Washington suburb.
"The law is very clear," she told a Justice Department news conference. "A child who's lost his mother belongs with the sole surviving parent."
She declined to criticize the Cuban community in Miami despite its persistent efforts to thwart her efforts to arrange for Elian's eventual return to Cuba. During the town hall meeting, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, who earlier said local police would not be involved in any efforts to remove the boy, said under questioning by Nightline host Ted Koppel that local police would enforce the laws and help keep order in the community, if that is needed.
"I understand and respect with all my heart the deep-seated beliefs which the Cuban exile community feels on this subject," said Reno, who grew up in Miami and was an elected state prosecutor there for 15 years. "I wholeheartedly reject Cuba's system of government. Mr. Gonzalez and I do not share the same political beliefs."
Meanwhile, Florida's two senators -- Republican Connie Mack and Democrat Bob Graham -- said they had been asked by Elian's Florida relatives to intervene in hopes of setting up a meeting on Monday, either at the Miami home where the boy is now living or at a "neutral location" either in South Florida or the Washington area between the father and the Florida relatives.
The meeting is a separate issue from the father-son reunion strategy announced by Reno. "I believe we ought to let this family meet alone," Mack said.
In a fax sent to the senior Gonzalez's lawyer, Gregory Craig, Mack and Graham wrote: "We have been asked by the Miami family of Elian to assist in arranging a meeting with Juan Miguel Gonzalez and his wife. The Miami family of Elian would prefer to host this meeting at the home of Lazaro Gonzalez in Miami."
Reno spoke to reporters after meeting with Juan Miguel Gonzalez, his wife and infant son at the Justice Department.
Based on Reno's assurances, the father said he was confident that he would be reunited with Elian soon. At the close of the meeting, he hugged Reno and Doris Meissner, director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Reno clearly was touched by her encounter with Gonzalez.
"All you had to do was listen to him and look at him and see how much he obviously loves this little boy," Reno told reporters.
The public supports the father returning to Cuba with the boy, according to an ABC News poll out late Friday. Six of 10 thought the boy should go home to Cuba, and but people by a 2-1 margin thought the father's comments about politicians, journalists and the Miami Cuban-Americans exploiting Elian were scripted by the Cuban government.
Reno and Meissner have been among the staunchest allies of Gonzalez in his quest to retrieve his son, who was rescued from waters off the coast of South Florida last November. His mother drowned when their U.S.-bound boat capsized.
Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and his wife Nersy Carmenate, holding their six-month old son Hianny, prepare to board a Lear Jet for the United States early Thursday at the Jose Marti airport in Havana. (AP)
