Yahoo! April 4 11:13 AM ET
Cuba Prepares Elian's Dad for U.S.
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer.
HAVANA, 4 (AP) - Inaugurating a stage built in front of the American mission in Cuba, 3,000 university students joined Cuban President Fidel Castro and Elian Gonzalez's father for a festive rally calling for the return of the 6-year-old boy.
Shortly after the rally began, news began arriving from Washington that the State Department had decided to approve visa requests for Elian's father, stepmother, baby half-brother, and cousin, as well as a pediatrician and a kindergarten teacher.
``We want Elian! Down with the lie!'' protesters chanted after a ceremony inaugurating the ``Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Permanent Stage.''
The massive concrete and steel construction, located across from the U.S. Interests Section alongside Havana's coastal highway, evidently was built for future protest gatherings.
The park that once stood on the site has been the scene of a long series of marches, rallies and televised roundtables held almost daily since Dec. 5 to call for Elian's return.
Although some have wearied of the continual protests, the gatherings have been effectively used to keep the public updated on events in the case, to rally Cubans behind Castro and against the Miami exiles, and to involve the nation's children and youth in the national fight for Elian.
Monday's gathering was a celebration of sorts coming amid reports that the U.S. government was working with Elian's Miami relatives on a plan to turn the 6-year-old boy over to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, when he arrives in the United States.
The U.S. State Department said the visas for Elian's father and five others could be issued as early as today, clearing the way for Gonzalez, 31, to visit the United States for the first time since his son was rescued off the coast of south Florida four months ago.
The 22 other visas requested by the Cuban government were being reviewed, the department said in a statement.
For months, Gonzalez refused requests by Elian's Miami relatives to go to the United States to claim the boy. His changed stance was being characterized here as a sign of his flexibility.
Under the plan, Gonzalez and other members of the delegation would stay in Washington at the homes of Cuban diplomats while awaiting the results of a federal court appeal by Elian's Miami relatives, who have temporary custody of him and are seeking to block his return to Cuba.
Gore Says Elian's Dad Must Be Clear
By Glen Johnson, Associated Press Writer.
PHILADELPHIA, 4 (AP) - Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) said today that Elian Gonzalez's father should be allowed to take his son home ``if the father says on free soil that he believes the son should go back to Cuba with him.'' Gore said a family court should be involved.
Gore, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, denied that he changed course last week when he broke with the administration by saying the 6-year-old should be allowed to remain in the United States with permanent residency status while his custody case is heard in family court.
On another subject today, Gore proposed adjusting Social Security rules to give women credit for up to five years away from paying jobs to raise children.
He also proposed allowing widows to retain more of their late husbands' Social Security benefits.
Campaigning at a community center in Philadelphia, Gore said, ``Social Security is a lifeline for millions of American women but there are ways in which Social Security treats women unfairly.''
As for the Elian Gonzalez case, the Clinton administration's Immigration and Naturalization Service has said the boy should be turned over to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, so the father can take him home if he desires.
``I said more than four months ago he should be given a visa, along with his wife and new baby, and come here and stand on free soil and say what he really believes about this case,'' Gore said on NBC's ``Today,'' making his first comments on the subject since his campaign released a statement
last week.
Pressed about whether Elian's Florida relatives should surrender him to his father if he comes to the United States, Gore said: ``If the father says on free soil that he believes that the son should go back to Cuba with him, that of course, is likely to be determinative, and will be
determinative, but he has to be allowed to say that free of the intimidation.''
Gore cautioned, however, that a family court also should be involved instead of simply allowing the INS to made a ruling to send the boy home.
``This court's guiding objective should be the best interest of the child - not diplomacy, not politics, not immigration precedence,'' Gore said in a later statement distributed by his campaign. ``And this court should provide a forum where Elian's father can speak free from intimidation by
Fidel Castro. Giving Elian, and his father and family, permanent resident status would allow this matter to be handled in family court and would allow his father to express what is in his heart.''
``I believe a ruling by a court of this kind, with these guarantees, would be respected by all parties,'' Gore said in the statement.
Elian was plucked from the Atlantic last November after his mother and 10 others drowned while trying to flee from Cuba.
Over the past four months, he has been staying with relatives in Miami's Little Havana section. The case has turned into a major diplomatic challenge for the United States and Cuba.
Political analysts have questioned the motives behind Gore's statements in the case, noting that he is in a close election battle with the presumed Republican presidential nominee, George W. Bush (news - web sites).
The Gonzalez case has inflamed South Florida's Cuban-American community, and Democrats there have warned of repercussions if the administration takes the boy away from his relatives.
Gore was in Philadelphia today to announce proposals that he said would make sure that women - particularly homemakers and widowers - get their fair share under Social Security.
Currently, Social Security payments are based on average earnings over 35 years of work. Because many women leave the work force for several years to raise children, the typical woman works 27 years - effectively penalizing her when it comes to Social Security payments.
Giving them credit for up to five years raising children would increase Social Security benefits by about $600 per year, Gore's campaign estimated.
The vice president renewed his criticism of Republican rival Bush's five-year, $483 billion tax cut plan. Gore said such a tax cut would leave no money to improve the Social Security system. Bush counters that he would ensure that all future Social Security payroll taxes be spent solely for that
purpose.
Gore was to attend Democratic fund-raisers today on Long Island.
Fund raising is interlaced throughout Gore's full schedule this week. On Monday night, his intimate, $50,000-per-person dinner in Atlanta brought the Democratic National Committee $1.5 million. The money chase will lead Gore to Annapolis, Md., on Wednesday, Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday and Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday.
Efforts Made To Reunite Elian, Dad
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON, 4 (AP) - With new hope that a long-running custody standoff may be near a conclusion, Cuban diplomats are preparing for the arrival here of Juan Miguel Gonzalez as negotiators attempt to work out the details of how he will be reunited with his son Elian.
The State Department issued a visa to the elder Gonzalez Monday as the Justice Department dropped a threat to revoke Elian's right to remain in the United States. It was unclear today where or when the father would meet his son, who has been living with relatives in Miami since he was rescued
off the Florida coast more than four months ago. Officials said one possibility was that Elian's reunion with his father would take place in Miami.
The relatives planned to ask the federal government today to allow a panel of psychologists to determine whether the boy should be returned to Cuba.
``We have got to keep trying to reach out to what we believe are people (the Immigration and Naturalization Service) that want to act honorably and want to do the right thing,'' said Kendall Coffey, an attorney for the Miami relatives.
Marisleysis Gonzalez, a cousin who has been helping care for him, said she still has not told Elian that his father is coming for him. The last time she mentioned the possibility, she said, the boy cried through a weekend and the father did not show up.
``As a precaution, I will not tell him until everything is certain.'' When someone mentions that his father might be coming, she said, ``All he asks me is 'please don't let them take me.''' She was hospitalized today after becoming ill following an interview.
The fate of the boy continues a prime topic for U.S. politicians.
Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites), who has taken heat from some fellow Democrats for advocating permanent residency for the boy, said today that the father should be allowed to return the son to Cuba ``if the father says on free soil that he believes that the son should go back to Cuba
with him.'' Gore insisted on NBC's ``Today'' that his position has not changed.
However, he said the boy's fate should be left to a family court - not to the INS.
Sen. John McCain (news - web sites), R-Ariz., who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination, told ``Today'': ``The ideal arrangement would be dual citizenship, where the young boy as he is growing up can decide which country he wants to live in.''
In granting permission for Juan Miguel Gonzalez to come to the United States, the State Department also granted visas for his wife, their infant son, a male cousin of Elian's, a pediatrician and a kindergarten teacher. All would initially come to Washington and remain at the home of Fernando
Remirez, Cuba's top diplomat here.
The State Department said it was reviewing visa requests from 22 other Cubans, of whom 12 were classmates of Elian. One request was from Ricardo Alarcon, who is president of the Cuban National Assembly and a top adviser to President Fidel Castro on U.S. issues.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, asked today why the six were chosen, said, ``The point was to try to make it a group that was useful for the child. We have to keep the interest of the child central here.''
Almost two-thirds of Americans approve of the decision to send the boy back to Cuba to be with his father, according to a Gallup Poll released today. Just over half of those polled said the Clinton administration is making its decision based on what it feels is in the best interest of U.S.
relations with Cuba.
The Justice Department had threatened to order Elian's deportation by today unless his relatives in Miami agreed to accept the outcome of pending court decision on whether the boy should be remain in the United States or be reunited with his father in Cuba. He has been staying at the home of his
great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez.
But Robert Wallis, the Immigration Service's director for the Miami district, said Monday, ``Revocation of Elian's parole tomorrow has been superseded by the expected arrival of Juan Miguel Gonzalez in the United States. Once Mr. Gonzalez comes, the INS will begin transferring parole care from
Lazaro Gonzalez to the boy's father.''
Wallis added that the transfer of temporary custody ``does not mean that the child will be immediately removed from the home of the great-uncle. Instead it is our hope to begin a smooth and orderly process that will create as little disruption as possible to Elian.''
Lazaro Gonzalez said Monday night, ``If the father comes or not we don't know, but he is welcome here. Don't ever doubt the Gonzalez family has their door open for their family.''
But the sense of conciliation did not extend to some in Miami who believe it would be a travesty for Elian to be returned to a communist country.
Outside the great-uncle's home, protesters practiced forming a human chain and vowed they would stop at nothing to keep the boy from returning to Cuba.
``They would have to go over the bodies of all of us Cubans who are here,'' said Maria Gonzalez, 70, who is not related to the boy. ``They would have to kill us all.''
Many protesters stamped their feet as Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Miami-based anti-Castro group Democracy Movement, used a bullhorn to call for Cuban-Americans to come to the home to protect Elian. The Miami area has nearly 800,000 Cuban-American residents.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush met with safety officials to determine how to respond to possible unrest if Elian is removed from the Little Havana home.
Despite Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas' statement last week that local authorities would not assist the federal government if it attempted to remove Elian, the county police department said it is ready to respond to protests.
Gonzalez's Cousin Taken to Hospital
By Mildrade Cherfils, Associated Press Writer.
MIAMI (AP) - Elian Gonzalez's cousin Marisleysis was taken to a hospital today after she grew faint during a round of early morning televised interviews.
After she finished an interview at La Carreta, a Little Havana restaurant, she turned pale. She put her head in a friend's lap and then hurried into a bathroom.
Paramedics took her out of the restaurant on a stretcher, and she was taken to Coral Gables Hospital, where she was in stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Laura Hernandez said.
She gave no details, but family spokesman Armando Gutierrez said she had been vomiting and hospital personnel were trying to feed her.
Marisleysis' father, Lazaro Gonzalez, visited his daughter at the hospital, then emerged to criticize the federal government's handling of the dispute over Elian.
``The government is going to destroy this family,'' he said. ``We are only trying to protect this child.''
Earlier this year, Marisleysis Gonzalez was hospitalized for exhaustion. Friends have said she often spends days in bed, too tired to move.
Elian's mother drowned in November while trying to bring him to the United States; the boy was rescued off the Florida coast.
Marisleysis Gonzalez and other U.S. relatives have been battling with the boy's Cuban father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to keep him in their custody. The U.S. government and the courts have backed the father's efforts.
Marisleysis Gonzalez, a loan processor in her early 20s, had arrived at the interview at about 6:30 a.m. today, after conducting a news conference for local television at 11 p.m. Monday.
During the interviews, Gonzalez challenged Elian's father, who is her cousin, to come to her house and to talk to her about why he wants to take the boy back to Cuba.
She said she had not told Elian that his father might be coming to the United States as soon as today. She said the last time she told Elian his father might be coming, he cried the entire weekend, and then the father didn't come.
``As a precaution, I will not tell him until everything is certain,'' she said. She said that when someone tells Elian his father might be coming, ``All he asks me is 'Please don't let them take me.'''
Cuban Boy Is Afraid of Father -Miami Relatives
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez, at the center of an international custody dispute, is afraid of his father and does not want to return to Cuba with him, said the child's cousin and her lawyer in Miami on Tuesday.
After four months of bitter wrangling, the boy's father could arrive in the United States from Cuba as early as Tuesday to pick up his 6-year-old son who was lived with Miami relatives since being rescued from the seas off Florida last November.
``All he has done is cry and tell me 'promise you will not take me, promise you will not let him take me,''' said Elian's cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, in an emotional interview with CNN.
After doing a round of morning television interviews, Marisleysis Gonzalez, the boy's 21-year-old cousin, was seen being taken away in an ambulance with an oxygen mask over her face.
The State Department announced on Monday that visas had been approved for Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and five others from a list of 28 Cubans who applied for permission to travel to the United States to take the boy home. His mother died in the disastrous migrant voyage last November
along with 10 others and Elian's father is his sole surviving parent.
U.S. immigration authorities have said that if the boy's father does come to the United States the Miami relatives, who say he should not be returned to a childhood in communist Cuba, must be prepared to give him custody of his son.
Marisleysis Gonzalez said in an interview with NBC's ''Today'' show that she wished Elian were happy about the prospect of seeing his father.
``He feels that now he has lost his mother who was probably the one who sheltered him and gave him love and now she is not around. He is afraid of knowing what's going to happen when he is left alone with his father,'' the boy's cousin said.
She told CNN Elian's father had threatened to kill her family. ``Why would he want to refer to wanting to kill us when the only thing we have done is take care of his son, waiting for him to come to this country?'' she said.
Attorney Kendall Coffey, who represents the Miami relatives, said the child had expressed fear toward his father.
``There are issues concerning the traumas the child has suffered, issues concerning the mother he has in his life now (Marisleysis) and his father's ability to deal with a traumatized child in a positive nurturing way,'' he said.
Elian's father's American lawyer, Gregory Craig, has strongly denied accusations his client is an unfit father, calling the allegations ``outrageous.''
Marisleysis Gonzalez appealed to the father to come to her family's house in Miami and said the protesters camped outside the home who want Elian to stay would not hurt the father.
``Trust me, nobody will do anything to him,'' she told NBC.
One possibility is that Elian will be handed over to his father in a less-politically charged atmosphere, such as in Washington, D.C.
Asked whether she would be prepared to escort Elian to Washington to help with the handover, Marisleysis Gonzalez said she would do this if Elian wanted her to but that she hoped his father would come to Miami.
``I think my cousin for once should be a man about it. If he loves his son so much... come to my house, come to the house where your son has lived for four months and has had what you haven't been able to give him, love and shelter,'' she added.
Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites), whose view on the case goes against President Clinton's, told NBC he was pleased the father was coming to the United States.
``One of the unknowns in this equation has been what the feelings are of the father,'' he said.
Last week, Gore said he supported a proposal by Congress to grant permanent residency status to Elian's Cuban family so they could live in the United States. Clinton has said he wants to keep politics out of the custody battle and that the boy's father has legal authority over the child.
Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Elian's Father To Stay in Md.
WASHINGTON, 3 (AP) - Barring a change in plans, the father of Elian Gonzalez and his family will stay at the upscale home of Fernando Remirez, chief of Cuba's diplomatic mission in Washington.
Aides said Remirez, his wife and two children will leave their home in suburban Maryland and go elsewhere to make room for the Gonzalez family.
The house, adorned with a patio and ample back yard, was described as a four-story structure in a pleasant neighborhood not far from an area in which block after block of cherry blossoms made their annual appearance recently.
Joining Gonzalez will be his wife - Elian's step-mother- and their infant son. They are expected to be accompanied by a male cousin of Elian's with whom he has close ties, Elian's pediatrician and his kindergarten teacher.
Elian a Target for Indoctrination
By David Crary, Ap National Writer.
MIAMI (AP) - Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives contend he faces intensive indoctrination if he returns to communist Cuba. Some American experts say he already has experienced a form of brainwashing in Florida that could undermine his bond with his father.
``Yes, this child has been indoctrinated, though the word suggests a purposeful manipulation,'' said Ken Dachman, a Chicago child psychologist who has been involved in the case. ``I don't think it's purposeful. I think it's an unfortunate consequence of the family's passion to keep him here.''
Concerns over indoctrination have arisen on both sides of the Florida Straits. Cubans on the island worry that Elian is being turned into a toy-obsessed capitalist; Cuban-Americans in Miami fear the 6-year-old boy would become a communist propaganda tool if he returned to Cuba.
As part of their effort to keep Elian in the United States, his Miami relatives have been denigrating the boy's Cuban father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. Dachman and other experts worry that Elian's trust in his father will be undermined by such tactics.
The relatives, on the other hand, say a grim fate awaits Elian in Cuba.
In an affidavit prepared on their behalf, Dr. Marta Molina, a Cuban-born psychologist, said the boy would be taken into seclusion in order to be reindoctrinated in communist ideology. He would be pressured to erase any positive memories of his stay in the United States - a process that could
lead to depression and psychological trauma, she said.
``He also will be told that his mother was a traitor ... because she left Cuba illegally,'' she wrote.
Thus far, the Cuban government has not criticized Elian's mother, instead describing her as a decent woman pressured by a boyfriend to leave Cuba along with Elian. The mother and 10 other people drowned in November when their boat sank. Elian, clinging to an inner tube, was rescued and placed in
temporary custody of the relatives in Miami.
Terry McCoy, a professor of Latin American studies at the University of Florida, said Elian has experienced American-style indoctrination while in Miami.
``We don't like to think about it as brainwashing, but it has been our own version of indoctrination into our consumer culture, our preoccupation with material goods,'' McCoy said. ``It was symbolized by his early trip to Disney World just a couple of weeks after this terrible at trauma at
sea.''
Dachman, who was involved in initial custody proceedings on behalf of one of Elian's Miami relatives, said he has been skeptical about some of the sentiments they have attributed to Elian - that he feels abandoned by his father and fears his father might punish him.
``These seem very unlikely to have originated in the child's mind,'' Dachman said. ``They seem more like the declarations of people who don't want him to go back to Cuba. They are shaping this child so I don't think he will ever be able to recover fully. ... He'll be shadowed for a long time by
feelings of distrust.''
A leading expert in children's memory, psychology professor Elizabeth Loftus of the University of Washington, said a child of Elian's age would be particularly susceptible to suggestions that could alter his memory of his father.
``We know it's possible,'' she said. ``If someone is motivated to do something like this, they've got an ideal subject.''
However, Jon Shaw, a child psychiatrist at the University of Miami, said Elian would likely rebuild a good relationship with his father if they were reunited in Cuba.
``A child who is traumatized is going to want to attach and bond to almost anyone who is loving and caring,'' Shaw said. ``Clearly he's going to want to please the people who are taking are of him here. That doesn't mean he won't be able to readjust once he's back in Cuba.''
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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