Yahoo! April 5, 2000
Elian's Father Arrives in U.S.
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON, 5 (AP) - 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.
As a first step toward reclaiming his son, Gonzalez will meet with Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Janet Reno, perhaps as early as today, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said.
``We want to get his concerns from him,'' he said. ``That will help inform us as we continue those negotiations'' with the boy's Miami relatives, who have been caring for him since his rescue.
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 toy guns as the usual horde of reporters and photographers took note.
The elder Gonzalez, arriving in Washington with his wife and 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.
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.
While criticizing the Miami relatives, he 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.
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 Cuban President Fidel 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.'' And when his family's ``suffering reached an unimaginable limit, all of the Cuban people and authorities were there for us.''
Castro personally saw Gonzalez off as he left Havana in a private jet, saying afterward, ``this is undisputedly the final stage'' in the fight to bring Elian home.
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.
Police blocked off several streets in anticipation of protesters. Although none showed up immediately, some neighbors were nervous. ``I think the people of Miami should go back home and leave us alone,'' said Marcel Hobha, who lives across the street.
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.
Even if the father regains temporary custody of the son in the next few days, he would not be able to claim victory at that point.
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.
Elian's Father Wants Son Back As Soon As Possible
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The father of Cuban castaway Elian Gonzalez, in his first statement on U.S. soil, said Thursday he wanted U.S. authorities to hand his son over to him as soon as possible so he could take him back to Cuba.
``I am confident that U.S. authorities will not allow my child to continue to be hurt,'' said Juan Miguel Gonzalez, in a combative speech on the tarmac at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, where he arrived early Thursday.
``I hope they will hand him over to me as soon as possible so I can take him back to Cuba,'' said Gonzalez, who arrived with his second wife and their infant son, whom he called ''Elian's true family.''
The father and a small delegation of family members arrived to take charge of the six-year-old boy who has been living with Cuban immigrant relatives in Miami while embroiled in an international custody battle.
Elian's Father a 'Simple' Cuban Worker
By Andrew Cawthorne
HAVANA (Reuters) - Elian Gonzalez's father, turned into a symbol of Cuban patriotism by the custody battle over his 6-year-old son, is a self-described ``simple worker'' who had never left Cuba before flying Thursday to Washington.
A resident of the sleepy provincial town of Cardenas, on Cuba's northern coast, Juan Miguel Gonzalez worked as a cashier and bartender in the nearby beach resort of Varadero -- before the fight for his son's return turned into a full-time job.
``Twenty-three days ago, I was a simple Cuban worker and my family one of millions in Cuba who live and work to make our revolution stronger and more durable,'' Gonzalez, 31, wrote in a letter during the early days of the four-month-old saga.
``I could not imagine that soon I would be accompanied by my entire people -- especially our children and young people -- and by millions of friends around the world, in a battle that has swelled the pride of being a Cuban revolutionary.''
Three months after writing that, Gonzalez, a member of Cuba's ruling Communist Party, is taking the ``battle'' into the United States in a dramatic bid to get custody of his 6-year- old son, who was rescued at sea off Florida in November.
At his modest home in a pot-holed street of Cardenas, Gonzalez has left Elian's bed waiting with a Mickey Mouse duvet cover, a framed photo of the boy on the pillow, and a Power Ranger on a nearby shelf.
Elian's mother, Elisabeth Brotons, who was divorced from his father, drowned along with 10 other Cuban migrants when their small boat capsized on an illegal bid to reach the United States. Elian survived 50 hours floating on an inner-tube in shark-infested waters before U.S. fishermen spotted
him.
Demanding Son's Return
After some initially contradictory statements, Gonzalez has kept a consistent line of demanding Elian's return while insisting he would only travel to the United States if he was guaranteed he could bring Elian home immediately.
Gonzalez's popularity is immense in Cuba, where his enforced split from Elian has brought an outpouring of sympathy from the 11 million inhabitants and outrage toward the Miami relatives and Cuban-American exile groups. He has spoken of his ''unspeakable suffering'' and ``cruel and unjust
punishment.''
The sight of him trying to fight back tears and cover his exhausted, worried face on national TV several times in recent days has further moved Cubans.
Throughout the saga, few in Cuba have doubted the quietly spoken man was anything but a doting father, spending time daily with his son even though Elian lived with the mother.
``Mr. Gonzalez has had a close and continuous personal relationship with his son,'' concurred Doris Meissner, commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, in a ruling that Elian belonged with his father.
In INS interviews in Cuba, Gonzalez apparently passed with flying colors tests for being a good father, including naming his son's shoe-size and favorite teacher.
Although he seemingly knew nothing about the ill-fated migrant voyage, Gonzalez maintained a close friendship with his first wife. Elisabeth Brotons gave birth to Elian after their divorce and following a series of miscarriages. The boy's name was a combination of the parents' names.
In a Miami hospital after being rescued at sea, the first details Elian was able to give medical staff was the telephone number, address and name of his father in Cardenas.
In an essay on the Elian affair, Colombian novelist and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez described Gonzalez as ``a measured man, of good character.''
While those who know him are quick to second that general assessment, Elian's father has also shown an impulsive and passionate side to his nature which has come to the fore at times under his recent stress.
In a telephone conversation with Elian's U.S. cousin Marisleysis Gonzalez, who has acted as a surrogate mother for the boy in Miami, Gonzalez speaks with candor and emotion: ``I am suffering because he's not at my side.''
But he also swears and bristles with irritation at times. ''Look, if I have to go over there, I am capable of shooting I don't know who, even if they kill me, but I'm taking my boy so they'd have to kill us together,'' he adds.
Protesters Brace for Elian's Father
By Ian James, Associated Press Writer.
MIAMI (AP) - Word that Elian Gonzalez's father was headed to the United States from Cuba sparked defiant fear in the crowd outside the 6-year-old's Miami home that the boy might soon be leaving.
Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the anti-Castro Democracy Movement, mounted a police barricade and used a bullhorn to announce the father's plan to reunite with his son.
``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.''
Juan Miguel Gonzalez left Cuba early today for Dulles International Airport near Washington with his wife and their 6-month-old son - Elian's half-brother.
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.
How that 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.
After it became clear the Elian's father would soon be on American soil, Lazaro Gonzalez came outside and addressed the crowd.
He said he and his family are willing to meet with Elian's father at their Little Havana home, but nowhere else.
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.''
At 3 a.m. today, about 25 people remained near the police barrier outside the house. Many wrapped themselves in blankets for protection from the unseasonably cool night air.
Jose Sanchez, a 66-year-old carpenter, said he and others were staying to support Elian's Miami relatives in their court battle to keep the boy in the United States.
``We are going to do what's possible, but it is not in our hands,'' he said. ``We hope that God helps us.''
Earlier Wednesday, a larger crowd fell silent as Sanchez prayed that Elian's father would feel ``the love of all the community, which only wants to see this family united.''
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.''
ACLU Challenges Culture Ban on Cuba
By Meg Richards, Associated Press Writer.
MIAMI, 5 (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday challenged the constitutionality of a sweeping county ordinance that restricts commerce with Cuba, filing a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of several artistic groups and promoters.
The lawsuit alleges Miami-Dade County's so-called ``Cuba ordinance'' improperly infringes on First Amendment rights of free speech and free association and establishes a cultural embargo that unconstitutionally supersedes the federal government's authority in foreign affairs.
The ordinance bans county vendors from doing business with organizations that deal with Cuba, prohibits contractors from visiting the island and authorizes county commissioners to grant waivers to the policy. Air carriers with contracts to fly in and out of Miami are exempt.
The county commission passed the ordinance in July 1996 after two civilian planes were shot down by Cuban military jets and was intended to punish the Cuban government.
Efforts to reach Miami-Dade County officials for comment Wednesday night were not successful.
ACLU state leader Howard Simon said similar federal legislation historically has exempted artistic and cultural expression. The trade embargo imposed after Fidel Castro came to power permits cultural exchanges.
``I think people recognize that there is something wrong with the application of the Cuba ordinance here,'' Simon said. ``In the middle of the Cold War in this country, we had the Bolshoi Ballet and the Kirov Ballet perform in the United States. We had the Shanghai Circus. We had the Soviet Army
Chorus and Band perform at Carnegie Hall.''
Hugo Cancio, a Cuban-American music promoter who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the ordinance prompted organizers of the Latin American Grammy Awards to move the ceremony from Miami to Los Angeles last year.
``Miami is the door to the Americas. It is not just about Cuba,'' Cancio said. ``There are other communities that are not Cuban that are tired of following decisions made by our local politicians when it comes to Cuba.''
Text of Elian Father's Remarks
By The Associated Press, Thursday April 6 8:23 AM ET
The translation of Juan Miguel Gonzalez's remarks in Spanish as he arrived Thursday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks, Inc.:
Good morning. Message to the American people: I've just arrived in Washington where I hope I will be soon able to embrace my son, Elian Gonzalez Broton, for the first time in over four months.
I'm here with my wife and 6-month-old son. This is Elian's true family and we love him very much.
For 137 days I have endured (inaudible) separation from my son. Never before the anguishing days since Nov. 22 did he have more need for a father and family, his friend and his school.
As if his mother's disappearance before his eyes and the miracle of his arrival have not inflicted enough damage on a 5-year-old boy, he has had to spend time under the temporary custody of some distant relatives who had never seen him before.
I made an appeal to the U.S. authorities to have my son returned to me, but it was not until Jan. 5 that in compliance with international law, the INS recognized the unquestionable principle of parental rights and (inaudible) as is common practice in such cases, the child should be returned to
the father.
However, that decision has not been forced but rather subjected to endless confusing legal procedures.
Finally, last March 21, a U.S. federal court ruled in favor of what should have never been questioned.
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.
Worst still, Elian's been paraded and exhibited in public rallies and by the media with a clear intent to obtain political advantage from this tragedy.
Politicians, journalists, lawyers, (inaudible) agents and others unrelated to the family have been harassing my son. (inaudible) television interview, (inaudible) without my consent, have shown their cruelty to him and the damage caused.
My telephone calls to my son from Cuba are often jeopardized and when we do communicate I (inaudible) the child.
I don't know who are the doctors and psychologists caring for my son - I don't know who are the doctors and psychologists caring for my son or the treatment and medications he has been taking.
Although on four different occasions I have submitted regular requests for information, I have not received a response.
In the last few days my family and I have been alarmed to see the passion (inaudible) in Miami and danger displayed on television that make us fear for the safety of my son.
I am truly impatient to have him returned to me as soon as possible and go back to Cuba together immediately.
However, I have been told that I should still wait for two other months before I can take Elian back to his small hometown, Cardenas, where he was growing up well-loved and cared for.
In the face of this new and (inaudible) delay, I have asked the U.S. government to allow me to come here with a small group of Elian's classmates and teachers as well as psychologists, pediatricians and nurses who would help me care for him and assist those other children who have been following
every step of the situation.
Also leader from our country, who has been like a brother giving me advice and support through our long days of pain and uncertainty.
Anyone understands that in the process where my son Elian recovers from his trauma, I can be guided only (inaudible) of love.
I will also need the counseling of specialists and a propitious environment with his classmates and teachers to help him back to his old routine of family life, schooling and playing with his friends.
Despite everything I have been through since last Nov. 22, I am confident of the U.S. authorities will not allow that my son and my family continue to be heard, and I beg them to understand the reason why I'm asking to be accompanied by those children and professionals.
I can't forget that what my family's (inaudible) suffering reached an unimaginable limit, all of the Cuban people and authorities were there for us.
At this moment I also want to express my deepest gratitude to the American people who have been overwhelmingly (inaudible) in favor that my son being returned to me.
Thank you.
Political Opportunists Using Elian
An AP News Analysis, By Walter R. Mears Ap Special Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, 5 (AP) - Behind the platitudes about serving only the interests of a 6-year-old boy, respecting the rights of a father and the rule of law, politicians - both here and abroad - have made Elian Gonzalez's custody case an exercise in opportunism.
In Cuba, President Fidel Castro is using it to serve his own campaign against the U.S. embargo and refugee haven policies toward his country, rallying demonstrators to demand that the boy be returned to the communist island his mother died fleeing.
Elian has become a pawn, as one Democratic senator said, in the 40-year struggle between Castro and Washington. Another called it a despicable situation, with a young boy caught in the middle.
And not only between Washington and Havana. Florida is a major prize in presidential elections, with 25 electoral votes, and Cuban-Americans are a bloc to reckon with - or cater to - in campaigning for them.
After Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) broke with President Clinton to support a bill giving permanent resident status to Elian, his Cuban father and family - who haven't sought it - Gore denied campaign motives, although his certainly would be served by gaining among Cuban-American
voters in Miami.
Now a Gallup Poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans think Elian should be sent home to Cuba with his father, as the administration decided in the first place.
Gore says he didn't change his position on the case.
''... Over four months ago, I said exactly the same thing, that the father and his family should be given visas to come here and to state on free soil what the father's wishes really are,'' Gore said. ``It's the same position that I have had from the start in this.''
That much is so. But it didn't cover the next step, his sudden backing of a bill giving resident status to the boy and his family. And it was enough of a break with Clinton that Gore alerted the White House chief of staff to it. John Podesta then called it an honest disagreement.
Clinton and Gore had differed on the issue before. When the Immigration and Naturalization Service ruled Jan. 5 that Elian should be returned to his father, Clinton said that following immigration law and procedure was the way to keep politics out of the case. Gore said it should be settled in
court.
A federal court has upheld the INS order, but the agency held off on enforcement while the boy's Miami relatives appealed. Gore now says it should be handled in Florida family court. A state court ruled earlier that despite the INS decision, Elian should remain temporarily with the Miami
relatives with whom he has been living since his rescue from the sea in November. In a family court with an elected judge, south Florida politics would again be in play.
Gore says that if the boy's father comes to the United States and ``says on free soil'' that he wants to take his son home to Cuba, that would be ``determinative.''
But he then hedged, saying a family court should handle the case guided by ``the best interest of the child - not diplomacy, not politics, not immigration precedents.''
Democratic congressional leaders oppose Gore, their presidential candidate, on this issue, especially the permanent resident status legislation, which was proposed after Republican leaders got nowhere with a bill to make Elian a U.S. citizen. The White House doubts the residency bill would pass,
either.
There is no defining issue here between Gore and Republican presidential rival Gov. George W. Bush (news - web sites), who wants the boy to stay and says a family court should decide.
Only the tactics are different. Bush stood with his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, against returning Elian to Cuba.
George W. said that if Gore is serious ``and not playing Florida politics,'' he should get the administration to have the INS back off and drop its efforts to repatriate the boy.
But after the ritual statements that they are only concerned about the boy, almost everyone is playing Florida politics, or at least anti-Castro politics.
One nod of dissent came from Rep. Steve Largent, a conservative Republican from Oklahoma, who said ``the poisonous political rhetoric coming from Miami and Washington'' ignores the well-being of the boy, who should be returned to his father.
``You can't be for family values and at the same time advocate that governments be allowed to come between a father and his child,'' Largent said in a New York Times commentary.
That is an inconsistency other politicians generally have ignored.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Walter R. Mears has reported on Washington and national politics for The Associated Press for more than 35 years.
Elian Lives a Strange Life in Miami
By David Crary, Ap National Writer.
MIAMI (AP) - When he peeks out his front door, demonstrators applaud and chant his name. When he climbs on his backyard swing, the image is broadcast worldwide. His entourage limits his outings, wary of abduction.
Such is daily life for Elian Gonzalez, caught in the global spotlight like no 6-year-old before him. Even Britain's royal princes didn't have their every move recorded by TV crews each time they ventured out to play.
Elian's life has seesawed during the four months since his rescue from an inner tube after his mother and 10 other Cubans drowned while trying to flee to Florida.
He was an instant celebrity among Cuban-Americans in the Miami area, and has been elevated to an almost saint-like status in the eyes of some anti-Castro militants. But his Miami relatives, fearing for his safety, take him on fewer outings these days, and he is tutored at home now rather than at
public school.
``He must be very flattered and enjoying the special attention, but on the other hand he must experience it as a tremendous burden,'' said Dr. Jon Shaw, a child psychiatrist at the University of Miami. ``It must feel very good in some ways, but very traumatic in other ways.''
Family spokesman Armando Gutierrez said the security precautions were taken because of fears that Fidel Castro might send commandos to abduct Elian - an allegation the Cuban government has dismissed.
``The family has taken it very seriously,'' Gutierrez said.
Elian is aware that his case is at a crucial stage, with his father in Cuba ready to travel to the United States to reclaim custody.
``He knows how big this thing is,'' Gutierrez said. ``He looks outside, he sees 200 people with cameras. He senses that because there is more media, something is happening.''
The boy's Miami relatives say Elian has tearfully pleaded not to be sent away with his father, and they have asked U.S. officials to delay any reunion until the boy can be evaluated by independent psychologists.
Despite the circumstances, Elian usually appears cheerful during his playtime in the back yard. Young cousins often play with him, and he has been seen with a dog and a couple of rabbits.
Cartoons, especially ``Batman,'' are his favorite TV fare, and are helping him make steady progress learning English, Gutierrez said.
``He's like a regular kid,'' Gutierrez said. ``He'll tell you when he wants to go out, what he wants to do.''
But the stress has taken its toll on the household. The cousin who has been closest to him, 21-year-old Marisleysis Gonzalez, was hospitalized this week, suffering from exhaustion, while her father, Lazaro, has been openly frustrated by the attention focused on Elian.
``What celebrity status does to someone is confuse their ability to understand their root feelings and who they are deep down - adults and especially children,'' said M. Gary Neuman, a Miami psychotherapist who specializes in divorce and child-related cases.
``Hopefully, the family is saying, `It isn't your battle - It's OK to be a kid.'''
Dr. Lynn Ponton, a psychiatry professor at the University of California at San Francisco who made a two-week working visit to Cuba last year, said Elian may be coping with the media spotlight as well as an adult would.
``When children become celebrities not by their own choice, generally it's upsetting to them,'' Ponton said. ``But a child's world is smaller, and he's concerned with life in that household - the loss of his mother, his toys, his cousin. Even though he walks out of that house and all those
cameras flash, kids are able to set that aside better than adults.''
Ponton said the celebrity status would be easier for Elian to deal with than the loss of his mother and the custody dispute.
``It's so polarizing,'' she said. ``His countries and his families are at war over him.''
Shaw said Elian probably feels the pressure of becoming a political symbol.
``Even a 6-year-old understands the expectations and intensity of everybody around him,'' Shaw said. ``They expect something from him, and there's a part of him that wants to please them. But he's alone and bereft in many ways.''
Panel To Hear Javier Sotomayor
MONTE CARLO, Monaco 6 (AP) - Javier Sotomayor of Cuba, world record-holder in the high jump, goes before an arbitration panel Friday to try to prove that he did not use cocaine.
Sotomayor faces a two-year suspension, which would rule him out of the Sydney Olympics, if found guilty of a doping offense.
Sotomayor tested positive for cocaine at last summer's Pan American Games in the Canada. He was stripped of his gold medal.
The International Amateur Athletic Federation appointed a three-man arbitration panel to hear the case. The arbitrators are Christoph Vedder of Germany, Lin Kok Loh of Singapore and Affimar Cabo Verde Jr. of Brazil.
IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reineri said the hearing was expected to last Friday and Saturday, with a ruling announced Sunday.
Sotomayor will attend the hearing, along with Alberto Juantorena, head of the Cuban athletics federation and gold medalist in the 400 and 800 meters at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Reineri said it is believed to be the first IAAF arbitration hearing involving a cocaine case.
Sotomayor, a national hero in Cuba, has denied any wrongdoing. The Cuban federation has maintained that his urine samples were deliberately manipulated.
``They have a lot of documents trying to show and prove that it would be impossible for an athlete to compete based on the amount of cocaine that was supposedly in his sample,'' Reineri said.
The Cubans have also cited alleged irregularities in the testing of the backup ``B'' sample.
In February, Sotomayor was scheduled to compete at an indoor meet in Greece. But he was dropped from the competition after the IAAF, closing a loophole that allowed athletes to compete while their drug cases were unresolved, suspended him pending the arbitration hearing.
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