Sun-Sentinel. April 6, 2000
Elian's father in Washington: 'Return my son to me'
WASHINGTON (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.
Elián's supporters find time to join in protests
By JODY A. BENJAMIN Sun-Sentinel
Web-posted: 12:13 a.m. Apr. 6, 2000
MIAMI -- Nearly every day since November, you can find Geosvany Rodriguez at the same spot: milling around the Little Havana home of Elián Gonzalez.
Lately, he's been there to protest the federal government's decision to return the 6-year-old rafter to his father in Cuba. And, though he's missed several days at work, he sees it as time well spent.
"I went through the same thing as Elián. I came here on a raft from Cuba," said Rodriguez, 25. He took Wednesday off from work as a manager of a nearby ice cream store. For more than four months, he has spent at least a couple hours each day outside the Gonzalez house. "Elián
should have the same right to stay here as I do."
As the standoff over the boy's fate continued, Cuban exile leaders vowed to stay in front of his Little Havana home 24 hours a day. To accomplish that, many of their minions are taking time off work, using up their sick days and vacation time for the year. Others are unemployed, retired, or
have flexible work schedules. Still more can spare only a few hours a day after work.
For the staunchest among them, losing time on the job -- even bending the rules by fibbing to bosses -- is a reasonable sacrifice.
"I told my boss I am doing some (home) remodeling," said protester Bienvenidos Comas, 27. "You have to give them some excuse. I have already taken off more than a week."
Comas joined a human chain Tuesday when protesters thought federal officials had arrived to take Elián away.
"This is an important cause. This is time well spent," he said. The rumor turned out to be false.
On Wednesday, protests roved between several locations.
At about 10:30 a.m., 50 exiles clustered outside the Kendall family home of Attorney General Janet Reno. Protesters carried placards picturing Reno with devil horns or with a red -- "stop" -- line through her face.
An hour later, the exile organization Vigilancia Mambisa, led a caravan of 200 cars several miles through southwest Miami-Dade to a shipping company that sends packages to Cuba.
As the caravan crawled past low-lying shopping centers, fast-food restaurants, and new housing developments, passersby honked or waved their support.
But not everyone was pleased by the roving caravan. One driver waved a Confederate Flag in the protesters direction. Another man shouted an obscenity: "Go back to your (expletive) country."
Asked about such public reaction at the protest outside the shipping company, protester Peter Martin confessed he did not understand it.
"To me those are ignorant people. We all came here from somewhere else," said Martin, 23. "Those people should go back to school and learn their history."
Aida Taylor, a customer service manager, was among those who took a day off from work to join the noisy protest outside the shipping company. She has joined protests in support of Elián since November. She fled Cuba 32 years ago.
"A lot of people don't understand the problem of Cuba," she said. "If he goes back to Cuba, the state is the one who is going to control him, not his father. It will be a disaster."
Taylor said she would return to work today but was ready to take off more time for future protests.
"God saved this kid for two days in the ocean," she said. "We can't let him go back."
Later, some protesters returned to the Gonzalez family's little white house in the 2300 block of Little Havana's northwest Second Street.
While the size of the crowd rose and fell during the day, it showed no sign of it was about to disappear any time soon. Among them: Ana Bonnin.
The Cuban American mother of two relocated to Miami from Chicago in November. But she soon shelved her goal of getting hired here to sell real estate as the cause of the 6-year-old Cuban boy took over her life.
"I'm really in terrible pain 24 hours a day, but I don't care," said Bonnin, 56, whose own children are grown. "We care more about that child. His mother is not here but I am here."
Jody A. Benjamin can be reached at 954-356-4530 or jbenjamin@sun-sentinel.com.
Miami-Dade sued by arts groups over ban on Cuban artists
By David Cázares Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 12:03 a.m. Apr. 6, 2000
MIAMI -- After four years of biting their tongues while Miami-Dade County politicians effectively banned artists from Cuba, the county's arts community has had enough.
On Wednesday, leaders of several arts groups, both private and nonprofit, filed a federal lawsuit against the county, contending its law singling out Cubans from the island is unconstitutional.
The suit was filed by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Miami Light Project, GableStage, the Cuban Cultural Group and concert promoters Debbie Ohanian and Hugo Cancio. It asks a judge to grant class-action status because the plaintiffs represent the interests of
many more cultural groups in Miami-Dade.
The suit contends that a 1996 law, which prohibits the county from granting its money or buildings to any group that does business with Cuba, violates constitutional clauses giving the federal government the sole authority over foreign affairs. It also claims that the law infringes on First
Amendment rights to free speech and 14th Amendment rights of equal protection.
"This lawsuit has been a long time in coming," ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon said. "This community needs a greater tolerance for different points of view, and I think this lawsuit is going to help bring that about."
The legal challenge is a groundbreaking one because, for years, the county's Cuban-American politicians have used their clout to ban Cuban performers -- even though recent amendments to the nation's 40-year-old trade embargo against Cuba allow cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Because Miami-Dade's law prohibits the county from doing business with Cuba or anyone who does, cultural groups that receive county grants may not invite any artists from Cuba. To be eligible for county money, arts groups must sign an affidavit saying they are not in violation of the law.
Cuban musicians and dancers also are barred from performing at county-owned buildings, something music promoters like Ohanian -- who under tremendous political pressure booked the contemporary Cuban band Los Van Van for a controversial Miami Arena concert in October -- want to change.
"We understand this is a sensitive issue," said Cancio, a Cuban-American who is a leading promoter of Cuban bands. "But I had to stand up. I'm part of the arts community."
Although arts groups have long been troubled by the Miami-Dade law, their leaders were reluctant to do anything about it because of a dependence on county funds, said Beth Boone, artistic and executive director of the Miami Light Project. Her group receives about 8.5 percent of its $600,000
annual budget from the county.
Boone said the last straw was the county's decision in February to withdraw almost $50,000 in county funds from Florida International University's Miami Film Festival because it included the film La Vida Es Silbar (Life is to Whistle). The Spanish-financed film was made in cooperation with
the Cuban government.
"I found that very disturbing," Boone said. The county's law, she said, "imposes artistic censorship and a cultural embargo on our community."
County commissioners deny that the law is a ban on Cuban performers. Instead, they say, the county is simply deciding what it won't spend taxpayer money on.
"We're not prohibiting them from coming," County Commissioner Jimmy Morales said. "All we're saying is because of the sensitivity in our county, we won't do this."
Bruce Rogow, the Nova Southeastern University professor who filed the suit, predicts the county's law will be struck down because it interferes with federal powers and is not content-neutral.
The county's arts leaders hope it will, and that Cuban-Americans who support the ban will understand their fight is a matter of principle.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with our position on Cuba," said Joseph Adler, artistic director of GableStage, a theater company. "Just because we happen to be taking this position does not mean that we are Castro sympathizers. This is not about Castro. This is about
freedom of speech."
David Cázares can be reached at dcazares@sun-sentinel.com.
Miami-Dade sued by arts groups over ban on Cuban artists
By David Cázares. Sun-Sentinel
Web-posted: 12:03 a.m. Apr. 6, 2000
MIAMI -- After four years of biting their tongues while Miami-Dade County politicians effectively banned artists from Cuba, the county's arts community has had enough.
On Wednesday, leaders of several arts groups, both private and nonprofit, filed a federal lawsuit against the county, contending its law singling out Cubans from the island is unconstitutional.
The suit was filed by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Miami Light Project, GableStage, the Cuban Cultural Group and concert promoters Debbie Ohanian and Hugo Cancio. It asks a judge to grant class-action status because the plaintiffs represent the interests of
many more cultural groups in Miami-Dade.
The suit contends that a 1996 law, which prohibits the county from granting its money or buildings to any group that does business with Cuba, violates constitutional clauses giving the federal government the sole authority over foreign affairs. It also claims that the law infringes on First
Amendment rights to free speech and 14th Amendment rights of equal protection.
"This lawsuit has been a long time in coming," ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon said. "This community needs a greater tolerance for different points of view, and I think this lawsuit is going to help bring that about."
The legal challenge is a groundbreaking one because, for years, the county's Cuban-American politicians have used their clout to ban Cuban performers -- even though recent amendments to the nation's 40-year-old trade embargo against Cuba allow cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Because Miami-Dade's law prohibits the county from doing business with Cuba or anyone who does, cultural groups that receive county grants may not invite any artists from Cuba. To be eligible for county money, arts groups must sign an affidavit saying they are not in violation of the law.
Cuban musicians and dancers also are barred from performing at county-owned buildings, something music promoters like Ohanian -- who under tremendous political pressure booked the contemporary Cuban band Los Van Van for a controversial Miami Arena concert in October -- want to change.
"We understand this is a sensitive issue," said Cancio, a Cuban-American who is a leading promoter of Cuban bands. "But I had to stand up. I'm part of the arts community."
Although arts groups have long been troubled by the Miami-Dade law, their leaders were reluctant to do anything about it because of a dependence on county funds, said Beth Boone, artistic and executive director of the Miami Light Project. Her group receives about 8.5 percent of its $600,000
annual budget from the county.
Boone said the last straw was the county's decision in February to withdraw almost $50,000 in county funds from Florida International University's Miami Film Festival because it included the film La Vida Es Silbar (Life is to Whistle). The Spanish-financed film was made in cooperation with
the Cuban government.
"I found that very disturbing," Boone said. The county's law, she said, "imposes artistic censorship and a cultural embargo on our community."
County commissioners deny that the law is a ban on Cuban performers. Instead, they say, the county is simply deciding what it won't spend taxpayer money on.
"We're not prohibiting them from coming," County Commissioner Jimmy Morales said. "All we're saying is because of the sensitivity in our county, we won't do this."
Bruce Rogow, the Nova Southeastern University professor who filed the suit, predicts the county's law will be struck down because it interferes with federal powers and is not content-neutral.
The county's arts leaders hope it will, and that Cuban-Americans who support the ban will understand their fight is a matter of principle.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with our position on Cuba," said Joseph Adler, artistic director of GableStage, a theater company. "Just because we happen to be taking this position does not mean that we are Castro sympathizers. This is not about Castro. This is about
freedom of speech."
David Cázares can be reached at dcazares@sun-sentinel.com.
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