Reno willing to come to Miami as Elian finale takes shape
By Alex Veiga, Associated Press, 04/11/00
MIAMI -- Pushing for a swift end to the Elian Gonzalez saga, Attorney General Janet Reno will probably get involved personally by meeting in Miami with the boy's relatives and Cuban community leaders on Wednesday, a Justice Department official said.
The Justice Department said such a meeting would not delay its efforts to reunite the boy with his father. The goverment planned to send the Miami relatives a letter Tuesday outlining how and when they are to hand him over.
Reno's possible return to her hometown -- where Cuban protesters have displayed signs depicting her with horns and blaming her for the Waco confrontation -- would come at a crucial time in the Elian case.
His Miami relatives have resisted her goal of reuniting the 6-year-old with his father this week, balking at handover plans and continuing to press their court appeals.
A senior Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Reno will probably go to Miami on Wednesday and talk with federal officials, community leaders and -- most significantly -- the family of Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian's great-uncle, with whom the boy has been living.
Arrangements were still being worked out, said the official, who added that any meetings involving Reno wouldn't alter the timetable being worked out for Elian's return.
One Justice Department official said there had been no discussion about having Reno present when Elian is transferred from his Miami relatives.
Miami Mayor Joe Carollo, who discussed the situation with the attorney general in Washington on Tuesday, said Reno was "very willing to meet Lazaro and any member of the Gonzalez family and wants to meet with community leaders in Miami."
In a statement issued after the meeting with Carollo and Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas, Reno said she "stressed that the transfer of Elian to the care of his father must move forward without delay."
Meanwhile Tuesday, the Miami relatives also offered to meet with Elian's father and bring the boy along -- but only in South Florida and only if they were assured Elian would not be taken during the reunion. The father is staying with a Cuban diplomat in Bethesda, Md.
At Lazaro Gonzalez's house in Little Havana, where Elian has been staying since he was rescued at sea while clinging to an inner tube on Thanksgiving, five of his Miami schoolmates and his principal stopped by to bring him a big card that read, "Elian we miss you."
Elian has been kept out of school recently because relatives said they feared he would be taken away. The boy smiled and waved goodbye to his classmates, then did a pull-up on the fence in front the house and monkeyed around for TV cameras.
In a letter distributed outside the home and addressed to a government-appointed psychiatrist, the family said it would be willing to meet Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, at any "neutral place in South Florida."
The letter said the conference could be "followed almost immediately by a meeting to include Elian." Armando Gutierrez, a spokesman for the relatives, said they wanted written assurances the government wouldn't try to take Elian at that time.
"Such meetings are essential and long overdue," Lazaro wrote. "While we cannot guarantee the ultimate outcome of discussions among the family members, they might well help matters a great deal and could not possibly make things any worse."
The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, a representative of the National Council of Churches who met with the father Tuesday, said Juan Miguel Gonzalez told her he would go to Florida if necessary to reclaim his son.
"He'll do whatever he has to do short of meeting with relatives," she said. "He does not wish to meet with the relatives until he has Elian in his arms."
The father's attorney, Gregory Craig, talked for nearly two hours with Reno and other top officials and refused to comment afterward.
But there were hints that Juan Miguel might be ready to go to Florida. Justice Department spokeswoman Carole Florman denied Monday night that he had agreed to go to Florida, but Tuesday she declined to comment on that subject.
The Miami relatives, pursuing another legal front, filed a brief in Family Court on Tuesday, asking for a full hearing to bar Elian's return to Cuba until his father's fitness is considered.
The brief said Juan Miguel Gonzalez "has engaged in abusive conduct" -- allegations the attorneys said the federal courts never considered. It also said Elian would be subject to "imminent indoctrination" if he returned to Cuba.
The father's attorneys have characterized such abuse allegations as desperate tactics. The U.S. government asked the court to dismiss the request, saying a state judge cannot overrule federal immigration law.
AP Writer Michael J. Sniffen contributed to this report from Washington.
Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, holds his son Hianny at the Cuban diplomat's residence in Bethesda, Md., April 11. (AP)
