ABC News. April 12, 2000
The trip to Washington is called off after Elian said he didn't want to go.
April 12 —Elian Gonzalez, his uncle and a nun who once acted as a neutral arbitrator left this morning the Miami house where the boy has been staying.
A spokesman for the family said the group was heading to the home of Jeanne O’Laughlin, the nun who hosted a meeting with Elian’s Cuban grandmothers but later spoke in favor of allowing the boy to remain in the United States.
Armando Gonzalez said today the nun’s house would be a better, more quiet setting for Elian, although it is unclear how long Elian will stay at O’Laughlin house.
Meanwhile, Justice Department officials are scrambling this morning to figure out the next step in their efforts to reunite Elian Gonzalez with his father. An official said this morning a meeting will take place this week but refused to give a specific date and time.
A meeting between the boy, his Miami relatives and the boy’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, was scheduled to take place this morning in Washington. But the reunion was abruptly canceled shortly after midnight when Lazaro Gonzalez, who has temporary custody of Elian, told a crowd holding
a vigil outside his Miami home that the boy didn’t feel like going to Washington. The crowd erupted with cheers.
A spokesman for the Miami relatives in Washington said today that the negotiations continue.
Jorge Mas Santos, a member of the Cuban American National Foundation, said today’s meeting was canceled because the Miami relatives refused to accept conditions set by government offiicials.
"The agreement last night was that there would be no conditions," Mas Santos said this morning. He also said O’Laughlin is lending support and helping to negotiate a place in Miami where both families can meet. "We are very close to making a family reunion a reality,"
Mas Santos said.
Juan Miguel Gonzalez left the Bethesda, Md., home where he has been staying but it is not known where he was heading.
Reasons for the Breakdown
Officials say they don’t know exactly why the meeting fell apart, but some suspect it was over confusion about when the boy might be turned over to his father.
Juan Miguel Gonzalez has said he doesn’t want to meet with the Miami relatives unless they’ll turn him over.
Lazaro and Marisleysis have been Elian’s primary caretakers since he was found floating in an inner tube on Thanksgiving Day. His mother, her boyfriend and nine others drowned when the boat in which they had left Cuba for the United States sank. The U.S. government later decided that
the boy should be returned to his father, sparking a controversy that has grown stranger with each day.
In the latest twist, the doomed reunion was brokered by Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J. It was supposed to take place at a neutral location outside the capital.
Sources tell ABCNEWS that Torricelli may not have told both sides all the parameters of the deal — in particular a proposed transfer of Elian that angered Lazaro Gonzalez when he learned of it later.
With the situation in flux, Attorney General Janet Reno postponed a trip to Miami she had planned for today.
A government official said a Justice Department letter to Elian’s Miami relatives had been drafted and proposed that they transfer Elian at Opa Locka Airport, near Miami, on Thursday. That letter has not been sent and is on hold, pending developments in Washington today, the official
said.
Opa Locka is, ironically, also home to the busiest U.S. Coast Guard Air/Sea Rescue Station.
Abuse Alleged
The Miami relatives, pursuing another legal front in the nearly 5-month-old custody battle, filed a brief in Florida Family Court asking for a full hearing to bar Elian’s return to Cuba until his father’s fitness is considered.
"There are many, many, many other issues concerning the best interests of this child that are important," said Eduardo Rasco, an attorney for the relatives. "And those issues are never going to be decided by INS."
The brief said Juan Miguel "has engaged in abusive conduct," allegations the attorneys said the federal court never considered. It said Lazaro intends to prove Juan Miguel "has lost all rights to control his destiny," and that Elian would be subject to "imminent
indoctrination" if returned to Cuba.
The father’s attorneys have characterized such abuse allegations as desperate tactics.
A psychiatrist who met with Juan Miguel Gonzalez said this morning on Good Morning America that he believes the child will not be harmed by returning with his father.
"I can’t imagine any reason why this boy would be damaged [by returning with his father]" said Dr. Jerry Wiener, a psychologist from George Washington Medical Center.
"This has been a very, very stressful experience for the boy but he’s going to be returned to a father, a father’s wife, his brother and the extended family that he grew up with all his life. And that’s not damaging."
ABCNEWS' Linda Douglas at the Justice Department and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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