Business Week Online. Posted at 9:00 a.m. PDT Friday, April 7, 2000
MIAMI (AP) -- Demonstrators vowed to clog roads around Miami's international airport today as they begin a campaign of civil disobedience to protest the U.S. government's plans to reunite Elian Gonzalez with his father.
More than 500 people outside the home of Elian's Miami relatives cheered wildly Thursday night as the leader of the anti-Castro Democracy Movement urged them to crowd the airport's access roads and drive slowly. He also said there may be protests at the Port of Miami and at the city's federal
buildings. The organization urged nonviolence.
``The campaign of civil disobedience begins,'' said Ramon Saul Sanchez, standing atop a trash can. ``When they don't leave you an option, you must choose -- to stand up upon your dignity or live like a slave, humiliated and on your knees for the rest of your life.''
The promise of wider protests represented a step up from the past few days' demonstrations. Supporters of Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives have poured into his great-uncle's Little Havana neighborhood during the past two days, honking and singing and praying and forming symbolic human chains of
protection. Their resounding message for the American government: Don't try to take the child away.
``We're not going to burn. We're not going to steal. We're not going to do anything that's improper. But we are going to stand up for our rights,'' said Maria Beades, 50, an elementary school teacher.
People jammed the narrow street where Lazaro Gonzalez's house sits, demonstrating well into this morning, though the crowd thinned during the early hours. They were often raucous but never violent, and police let them be. As of late morning, there were about 100 people outside the house.
``What's running the show here is emotion,'' said Javier Hernandez, 42, a Mexican-American who lives in Miami and was outside the house today. ``If there's ever been a moment when the Cuban-Americans have been emotional, this is it.''
The planned demonstrations were reminiscent of the protests that broke out Jan. 6, the day after the Immigration and Naturalization Service said the child should be returned to his father. Hundreds of Cuban-Americans chanting ``Liberty! Liberty!'' blocked intersections, including at least one
near the airport, and cut off access to the Port of Miami.
Roaming groups of protesters disrupted traffic on major streets during the evening rush hour that day. More than 50 officers in riot gear used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters from one intersection. At least 135 people were arrested.
This week's demonstrations intensified after Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, arrived in the United States on Thursday vowing to reclaim his son. The elder Gonzalez met with Attorney General Janet Reno this morning, and she pledged afterward to work for a ``fair, prompt and orderly'' return
of the boy to his father.
Also Thursday, while little Elian spent much of the day playing in the back yard, talks in Miami between the government and Elian's Miami relatives broke down. Jose Garcia-Pedrosa, the family's attorney, said negotiations ended because the government wouldn't promise not to ``take Elian away in
the middle of the night.''
But Robert Wallis, Miami district director of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said the talks were scuttled by the Miami family's failure to produce ``simple and reasonable assurances'' that they would produce Elian.
``We went to extraordinary lengths to try to resolve this matter in a cooperative manner,'' Wallis said.
By Thursday evening, demonstrations had spread around Lazaro Gonzalez's neighborhood. More than 200 people waving Cuban flags marched the nearby streets in a raucous but orderly demonstration.
Cuban truckers, in a now-familiar form of protest, honked and drove their rigs around the neighborhood. And nearly 100 women, many carrying Cuban flags, trooped around the block from behind the police barricade and approached from the other direction, linking arms in front of the house.
``We're forming a human chain of mothers,'' said protester Gina Breslin.
The Miami relatives also brought out two psychologists late Thursday to speak to reporters outside their home. Both said separating Elian from them could cause serious trauma.
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