CUBANET ... CUBANEWS

April 10, 2000



Elian's Saga

Miami Herald


Posted at 10:05 a.m. EDT Monday, April 10, 2000 in the Miami Herald


U.S. turns up the pressure in Elian case

Any means may be used to return boy to his father

By Jay Weaver, Ana Acle And Marika Lynch. jweaver@herald.com

Top U.S. officials vowed Sunday to end the Elian Gonzalez custody case this week, saying they will turn up the pressure and use whatever means necessary to compel the boy's Miami relatives to give him back to his father.

Department of Justice officials said they will issue a letter as early as Tuesday demanding that the relatives turn over the boy at a neutral location other than their Little Havana home. If they don't comply, officials will seek a federal court order to release the 6-year-old to them immediately.

If the family defies that order and breaks the law, the government is prepared to use federal marshals and immigration agents to pick up Elian and possibly arrest his great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez, who is caring for the boy.

The dispute over Elian's future sparked debate nationwide Sunday. On national television news programs, three of Gonzalez's lawyers said Lazaro Gonzalez is reluctant to deliver the boy to a neutral location -- but that in the end he and his family would obey the law if the Immigration and Naturalization Service came to their home for Elian.

''They will unlock the doors. They will stand back,'' attorney Spencer Eig said on ABC's This Week program. ''But Lazaro Gonzalez has made a solemn promise to Elian that he won't do anything to harm him. And to send that boy back to Cuba will harm him.''

In other developments Sunday, Attorney General Janet Reno downplayed talk about the use of force to remove Elian from his great-uncle's home, stressing that cooperation is the preferred method to end the 4 1/2-month standoff. But, if Lazaro Gonzalez proves to be uncooperative, she hinted that seeking a court order and using federal agents were last-resort options.

''One of the things you do in a situation like this is say, 'what if?' '' Reno said on CNN's Late Edition. ''But I have neither received nor reviewed nor approved any plan that would do that.''

In Washington, meanwhile, Elian's father -- Juan Miguel Gonzalez -- met with the two fishermen who rescued his son off Fort Lauderdale on Thanksgiving Day. But Sam Ciancio and Donato Dalrymple, who are cousins, left the morning meeting separately.

''Me and my cousin have different opinions,'' Ciancio said, stressing that he respects the father's desire to reclaim Elian but that his cousin thinks the boy should stay in Miami. ''Donato Dalrymple does not speak for me.''

PROTESTS CONTINUE

In Little Havana, small protests continued. Dozens of people staged minor demonstrations, including a car caravan through the streets.

Protest leader Miguel Saavedra of the Vigilia Mambisa organization was arrested during the caravan when police concluded that the protest was disrupting traffic, said Miami Poice spokesman Delrish Moss.

Moss said Saavedra was charged with disorderly conduct and also was held on a prior disorderly conduct bench warrant.

Also, dozens of supporters kept vigil at Elian's house, determined not to let the shipwreck survivor return to Cuba.

''We want Elian to stay,'' said Julia Vasquez, 59, a West Dade housewife. ''I believe it's now in the hands of God.''

What the government will do to resolve the crisis -- one that has riveted the world's attention because it involves a tug of war between Fidel Castro and Miami's Cuban exiles -- dominated TV and radio talk shows, in the nation's capital and Miami itself. The custody issue has deeply divided Miami-Dade residents, with a Herald poll showing that most Cuban Americans want Elian to stay while a similar number of white non-Hispanics and blacks saying he should return to Cuba with his father.

Justice Department lawyers want to transfer Elian to his father by week's end, while lawyers for his Miami relatives want to exhaust all legal options to keep him here first.

Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the father, arrived in Washington on Thursday to reclaim his son, who lost his mother in late November on a boat journey from Cuba that also cost the lives of 10 others.

EXPERTS MEETING

On Sunday, Juan Miguel, his wife Nersy Carmenate and their infant son, Hianny, met with a Spanish-speaking psychiatrist and psychologist hired by the government to discuss the most appropriate way for Elian to be transferred to him.

The meeting, held at his attorney Gregory Craig's law firm, was ''very positive,'' INS spokeswoman Maria Cardona said.

The experts plan to meet today at Jackson Memorial Hospital with Lazaro Gonzalez and his daughter, Marisleysis, who views herself as a surrogate mother figure to Elian.

Lazaro Gonzalez planned to attend the meeting with the child care experts, even though Marisleysis remained hospitalized this morning. Family spokesman Armando Gutierrez would not discuss her illness, although she has been hospitalized several times because of exhaustion and anxiety since the custody battle began.

After the scheduled meeting today, immigration officials plan to send a letter Tuesday or Wednesday to Lazaro Gonzalez ordering him to surrender Elian at a neutral location, away from the dozens of Cuban exile supporters surrounding his Little Havana home. The transfer date could come possibly by week's end.

In a letter Saturday to Reno, Lazaro Gonzalez said his family was disheartened that the government's experts won't be evaluating Elian.

''It would be difficult for us to believe that these experts were selected by our government simply because their opinions reflect your predetermined views of this matter without any consideration of Elian's best interest,'' Lazaro Gonzalez wrote. ''I believe that the experts should meet with Elian and his American family before reaching their conclusions.''

CHALLENGE LOST

Lazaro Gonzalez sued the INS after it refused to give Elian a political asylum hearing. But he lost the challenge in Miami federal court last month.

Lazaro Gonzalez's lawyers are expected to file today a formal appeal of U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore's ruling that Reno has the authority to decide what happens to Elian.

At the same time, the lawyers have asked Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey to grant Lazaro Gonzalez temporary custody of Elian because Juan Miguel Gonzalez has not responded to the great-uncle's custody petition in family court.

But on Sunday, Bailey said she questioned whether she can consider the petition because ''much has occurred since Jan. 10,'' when a previous state circuit judge gave Lazaro Gonzalez emergency custody until the dispute were resolved during a full hearing.

Bailey said she was concerned about whether any of the issues raised in family court by Lazaro Gonzalez might be superseded by federal immigration law.

''As reflected in the federal pleadings and Judge Moore's order, the attorney general determined that the child belongs with his father, a determination which the federal court found permissible and controlling as to the child,'' Bailey wrote in a recent order. ''Do the facts preclude the court from considering any aspects of the petition?''

The great-uncle's lawyers must respond to that question in court papers by Tuesday.

Cuba therapists: Elian needs normalcy

By Meg Laughlin. mlaughlin@herald.com

Many Cuban exiles in Miami worry that Elian Gonzalez will not return to a normal family life in Cardenas, Cuba, that he will instead become a marionette, totally controlled by Fidel Castro. But a team of Havana psychiatrists and psychologists is urging the return of Elian to his family, friends and schoolmates in Cardenas because, they say, it's vital that he be placed back in a familiar context.

When the child returns, he will be ``damaged,'' ``traumatized'' and ``in a very high-risk situation,'' said Patricia Ares, head of family psychology at the University of Havana. Damaged ``because he has lived through the most traumatic events a young child could live through.

``He watched the death of his mother. He was involved in a disaster situation himself. He lost his family. And he lost his context . . . his environment -- his neighborhood, his school.''

Elsa Nunez, researcher at the Ministry of Education in Havana, said she believed that Elian's phone request to his father soon after he arrived in Miami -- ``take care of my desk, take care of my books'' -- was the child's way of saying: ``Take care of my things. Take care of my life over there. Take care of my context.''

This is exactly what Nunez, along with a team of Havana psychiatrists and psychologists, have said publicly that they hope will happen -- that the boy will return to his former life in Cardenas -- despite predictions to the contrary by many Cuban exiles in Miami.

Havana Adolescent Clinic Director Elsa Gutierrez: ``He should come back and be a child like every Cuban child. He should be hunting lizards, carrying marbles and stones in his pockets, studying and living happily. Anything else is demagogy, outrage and child abuse.''

Lazaro Gonzalez's letter to Reno

Here are excerpts from a letter Lazaro Gonzalez wrote to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno on Saturday. To read the complete version of the letter, go to www.herald.com on the Internet.

For some time now, my family has requested that the government arrange for its own independent psychiatric and/or psychological evaluations of a child who has been so severely traumatized by an almost unimaginable odyssey. . . .

. . . Despite our cries for help, you, as a representative of the most compassionate and caring system of government the world has ever known, have refused to consider our plea. Apparently, after all of this time, you have finally agreed to involve your own team of two psychiatrists and one psychologist. For this, my family is grateful. However, we are disheartened by statements [from a top INS official] to the effect that ``these experts have all advised that Elian should return to his father's care as soon after his father's arrival in this country as possible.'' It is so difficult for my family to understand how it is that these psychiatrists and psychologist could have arrived at this conclusion without the benefit of meeting Juan Miguel, his wife (who may some day play a significant role in Elian's life), my family and most importantly, Elian. It would be difficult for us to believe that these experts were selected by our government simply because their opinions reflect your predetermined views of this matter without any consideration of Elian's best interest. I believe that the experts should meet with Elian and his American family before reaching their conclusions. I cannot understand why they would only meet with the adults and even then, only after having reached their decision about a child they have never met.

There is an additional point I wish to address. You have indicated that based on two meetings between Juan Miguel and two United States representatives who live in Cuba and are required to work on a daily basis with the government of Cuba, a country where Juan Miguel could be arrested for taking a position contrary to the position of Fidel Castro, our government determined that Juan Miguel was speaking of his own free will. . . .

. . . I must respectfully disagree with these conclusions. In the first place, I am not aware of any professional qualifications that either you or the two government representatives possess which would qualify any one of you to make such a determination. To the contrary, I can tell you that Juan Miguel has repeatedly told many of us in his family that he is desirous of coming to the United States. . . .

Make no mistake, the fact that he is in our country today does not in any way relieve him of the pressures and coercion that Castro exerts over all of his subjects. He is residing in the home of a Cuban government official and is under the watchful eye of Cuban security personnel.

We plead with you to arrange a private meeting, at a neutral location, between Juan Miguel and his wife and members of my family. This meeting should take place without any intervention whatsoever of any government official, theirs or ours, lawyers, media or anyone else, only family.

Finally in order for my family to rest during these very difficult times, we again ask for your guarantee that the government has no plans for, and does not intend to conduct, a raid on our modest home.

My family is willing to honor your request that we meet at the location you have designated with your experts on Monday, April 10, at 2:30 p.m. Regrettably however, my daughter Marisleysis was admitted to a local hospital earlier today. Because I suspect that the experts would very much like to meet with her, and because it is my family's wish that all of us be present at the meeting together, I would request that the meeting be scheduled on a tentative basis.

Nonviolent activist takes key role in Elian protests

By Ana Acle . aacle@herald.com

Ramon Saul Sanchez, mastermind of many large exile street protests in Miami in recent years, has emerged as the man behind civil disobedience plans to prevent the return of Elian Gonzalez to Cuba.

His message is always nonviolent. But there is no doubt that when Sanchez calls a protest it can cause chaos.

In the mid-1990s, Sanchez led sit-ins that caused massive traffic jams in Miami -- and ticked off many motorists. Exiles were protesting a change in U.S. policy that allowed the Coast Guard to intercept rafters at sea.

Once an unknown in the exile community, Sanchez, 46, is now the person many in the community turn to for guidance on how to respond to developments in the Elian case.

Sanchez spends his days at the Little Havana home of Elian's Miami relatives, instructing demonstrators with a megaphone, and even sleeping in his car. He and his team brought flowers to the crowd so they could be seen on national television welcoming Elian's father and his grandmothers when they visited.

When truckers recently conducted a wildcat strike to protest higher gas prices, Sanchez won their appreciation by showing up at their demonstrations at the Port of Miami-Dade.

Now, the truckers are repaying Sanchez with truck caravans around the home -- to show solidarity with Elian's Miami relatives who want to keep the child in the United States.

At the Elian home, Sanchez has taught demonstrators how to lock arms and form a human chain around the house -- a move that seems to go beyond civil disobedience.

But Sanchez plays down the significance of the human chain as an act of obstruction.

''It's a human chain of solidarity,'' Sanchez says. ''It's symbolic. Some people have misinterpreted that we will get in the way of federal marshals.''

Pressed further, he says they would jump out in front of the marshals, but then allow their entry because ''we have a responsibility for the safety of the community and of Elian Gonzalez.''

The pressure is taking its toll on Sanchez, who was exhausted Sunday.

Once a secret gun-toting commando, Sanchez seems to have grown more passive over the years. He says he admires the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, and tries to follow their example.

Sanchez, who styles himself a philosopher, says nonviolent demonstrations make a louder impact than violent protests. He knows that violence would only give critics a stronger voice.

DOMESTIC ISSUES

Beyond Cuban exile causes, Sanchez stakes positions on domestic issues that often depart from the more conservative stands of the exile community.

He comes out in favor of workers in labor disputes, supports fighting poverty through social programs and endorses enhancing the civil rights of women.

Sanchez grew up in Colon, a town in Cuba's Matanzas province.

He immigrated to Florida when he was 12 years old. Over the years, he has married four times -- all unions ending in divorce.

His first two wives were 17 at the time of the marriage. Sanchez was 26 and 34, respectively, according to public records.

He once told The Herald that his divorces were due to the long hours he devotes to ''the cause.''

Sanchez has a job as a clerk -- but he is on a leave of absence for the Elian case.

''I'm a blue-collar worker, if I don't go to work, I can't pay my bills,'' he once said. He doesn't say where he works because he doesn't want problems with his boss.

CUBA CRUSADE

In his 20s, Sanchez began his crusade to free Cuba, and quickly learned he would be thrown in prison for not abiding by the law. Sanchez was not always nonviolent.

During police surveillance on members of the violent anti-Castro organization Omega 7 in 1980, Sanchez -- then 26 -- pulled a gun on a plainclothes Miami police officer who had been assigned to shadow him.

Sanchez later said he thought the undercover cop was an assassin sent by Fidel Castro to kill him after his name appeared on a Cuban government list of enemies.

A jury convicted Sanchez of aggravated assault and a weapons charge, but the conviction was overturned.

In 1982, Sanchez -- then president of the Organization to Liberate Cuba -- was thrown in a New York jail for refusing to answer a grand jury's questions about anti-Castro groups, including Omega 7.

During that time, he did a 20-day hunger strike until officials began to force feed him. Four years later, he was released.

Sanchez emerged as an exile leader again in the mid-1990s when he created the nonprofit Democracy Movement, known for its flotillas to the edges of Cuban territorial waters.

But that, too, sparked controversy.

During a memorial flotilla in 1995, a year after the Cuban government rammed and sank a tugboat filled with people trying to escape, Sanchez floated into Cuban waters with an unarmed boat.

As Cuban government aircraft circled overhead, passengers threw flowers in the water and then evaded Cuban gunboats in a sea chase until those boats collided with them, and the Miami Cubans had to turn back.

BOATS SEIZED

The U.S. Coast Guard confiscated Sanchez's boats several times, saying that they feared he would provoke an attack and draw the United States and Cuba into war.

Sanchez lashes back, saying the Coast Guard obstructs his plans to sail to Cuba but allows other boats to travel there and participate in yacht excursions and festivals.

In May, the government decided to return a confiscated boat, the Human Rights, after he went on a 20-day hunger strike.

He said then: ''Either I leave here to get my boat or I'm taken to my grave.''

Always the innovator, Sanchez also was behind a remote-controlled boat that landed in Havana in 1998.

Marked with the word ''Democracy,'' the boat carried humanitarian supplies: soap, diapers and pencils, Sanchez said.

He had attached a Global Positioning Satellite System on the inflatable boat that took it directly to Playa del Chivo, a Havana beach near the Malecon coastal boulevard.

In July, he was a key figure in exile protests after a televised Coast Guard interdiction of six rafters off Surfside.

When 16 exile leaders met recently to discuss U.S. Judge K. Michael Moore's ruling that upheld U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's decision that only Elian's father speaks for the boy, Sanchez said Cuban Americans should stage a ''massive protest.''

SOUGHT AFTER

At Elian's Little Havana home, Sanchez spends a good part of the day answering media questions and doing interviews. Sanchez is so sought after, that lately reporters find it difficult to get one-on-one interviews with him.

Privately, Sanchez says he hopes no one will get hurt if indeed the human chain is called upon to ''symbolically'' discourage federal agents from raiding the boy's home, and has recommended that protesters offer no resistance to arrest. But Sanchez worries that ''Castro agents'' may incite the crowd to violence.

In January, a man accused of spying on the Democracy Movement was sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to infiltrate U.S. military installations in Florida for the Cuban government.

Herald staff researcher Elisabeth Donovan contributed to this report.

Forcible Elian recovery an option, official says

By Jasmine Kripalani, Paul Brinkley-Rogers And Frank Davies. pbrinkley-rogers@herald.com. Published Sunday, April 9, 2000, in the Miami Herald

While federal officials continue to emphasize that they want to see a peaceful end to the Elian Gonzalez case, one acknowledged Saturday that they are planning actively for the possibility of a forced entry to retrieve the boy from his Little Havana home.

They view it as a last resort. But if it were necessary, federal marshals and immigration agents would conduct the operation in daylight and ''it would in no way be a surprise raid,'' said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The plan has the support of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and INS Commissioner Doris Meissner, and it has ''the grudging support'' of the White House, the official said.

But federal officials are hopeful that Elian's Miami relatives will cooperate in turning Elian over to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who arrived in Washington, D.C., last week. Gonzalez wants to take the boy back to Cuba; his Miami relatives are fighting to keep him in the United States.

Reno sent the Miami relatives a letter Friday asking that they meet at Jackson Memorial Hospital with a psychologist and two psychiatrists chosen by the government to discuss how the transfer will take place.

Lawyers for the Miami family met over the weekend to consider a response both to the meeting request, and to Reno's declaration on Friday that federal officials will move to transfer Elian to his father in the next few days.

STRATEGY TO EMERGE

Gonzalez family attorney Roger Bernstein said the strategy would probably become clearer today.

Saturday was a day of symbolism in the flag-bedecked street in front of the Gonzalez home in Little Havana, as Cuban-American activists continued to protest the likely return of the boy to Cuba.

Miami Mayor Joe Carollo appeared at the home late Saturday morning and expressed doubts that Elian's father really is speaking from the heart in Washington, where he met Reno and other officials on Friday to demand to be promptly reunited with his son.

''If Juan Miguel comes to Miami, we would treat him like he was the head of state,'' Carollo said, talking about the invitation to the father from his Miami relatives -- an invitation Juan Miguel Gonzalez has turned down.

''You don't know what pressure the Castro regime is putting on these people,'' Carollo said of Gonzalez.

DISPLAY OF RAFTS

Street theater came to the neighborhood at 3:15 p.m., when a city of Miami truck pulled up in front of the house.

A couple of city employees unloaded four makeshift rafts and a deflated inner tube -- craft actually used by people who have left Cuba -- and placed the objects in front of the crowd, hoping to send a message about the desperate situation in Cuba.

Demonstration leaders said the inner tube was like the one to which Elian was clinging when two fishermen found him at sea on Thanksgiving Day.

''The message is that we can see the desperation that the people of Cuba feel because of the lack of freedom that forced Elian's mother to risk her life,'' Carollo said.

Late Saturday, Gonzalez family spokesman Armando Gutierrez released an Aug. 15, 1998, letter from Elian's grandmother, Mariela Quintana, in Cuba that he said thanked the Miami relatives for sending money -- evidence that family relations were not always so hostile.

Herald writers Mireidy Fernandez and Diana Marrero also contributed to this report.

Copyright 2000 Miami Herald

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