The Miami Herald. Thursday, April 13, 2000
Reno Wants Elian Today.
Great-uncle challenges U.S. to take boy 'by force'
By Andres Viglucci, Jay Weaver And Ana Acle . aviglucci@herald.com
A showdown between the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez and the federal government seemed inevitable today with the relatives refusing to hand the boy over - telling the government they had to come and get him.
Although Lazaro Gonzalez said he would not take the boy to Opa-Locka Airport this afternoon, where the handover was supposed to take place, he also would not obstruct justice, said family spokesman Armando Gutierrez.
"He is going to stay in the house," Gutierrez said. "When the marshals come he will open the door and say 'Take the boy.' ''
Last night, the Miami relatives spurned a personal appeal from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and challenged the government to send in federal agents to take the boy ``by force.''
``Our position is we will not turn over the child -- anywhere,'' said Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian's great-uncle, after Reno asked him face-to-face to voluntarily turn over the boy to be returned to his father, who is waiting with his wife and baby in Washington, D.C., to return to Cuba.
Minutes later, speaking in the U.S. attorney's office in downtown Miami, Reno said she intended to enforce the order ``in a fair, prompt way.'' She declined to elaborate.
Surrounded by his grim-faced lawyers outside the Miami Beach home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, the Barry University president who hosted the meeting, Gonzalez called Reno's demand ``a traitorous act.'' One of his lawyers said the family will seek an emergency order today barring the government
from enforcing its order.
``I want you all to know, the whole world to see, they are preparing to take a child from my home, they are training federal agents to attack my house,'' Gonzalez said.
This morning, a videotape that was created by the family and the boy after last night's meeting was shown on Univision. In the video, Elian says that he does not want to go to Cuba and he asked his father to stay in the United States.
If Gonzalez refuses to turn over the boy, the government has said it would seek an emergency court order to compel compliance.
Reno would not provide any details, but indicated action would be swift. ``It is not in the interests of anyone, least of all Elian, to let this drag on,'' she said.
She said the boy was present during the meeting at O'Laughlin's house: ``It was so touching because when he walked into the room, it was like looking at the spitting image of his father, only 25 years younger.''
This morning, several hundred protesters gathered outside the Gonzalez's Little Havana home, waving Cuban flags and signs in support of keeping the boy in Miami.
Lazaro Gonzalez came out of the house this morning, still defiant, but asking for peaceful protests.
"We are going to make an example,'' Gonzalez said. "We are exiles and we respect authority.'' The attorney general, a Miami native, appealed to the community to remain calm as the drama comes to an end.
``Let's make this community a model of what Fidel Castro's Cuba is not,'' she said. ``Let us come together to work out this problem in the best way to protect the rule of law and this boy.''
Reno flew to Miami on Wednesday in a bold move to break open the impasse over Elian's fate at the invitation of O'Laughlin. Her two-hour meeting with Gonzalez, Elian and other members of the Miami family ended without a clear resolution. Later, both sides continued discussions in a phone
conference after Reno went to the U.S. attorney's office in downtown Miami.
Reno went into the session with hope that Elian's relatives would agree to accompany the boy to Washington for the reunification.
A LETTER
Accompanied by Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner, she came armed with a letter instructing the relatives to accompany Elian to the Opa-locka Airport at 10 a.m. today.
While they left the meeting without handing over the letter, they faxed a revised version to the Gonzalez family's lawyers near midnight Wednesday. Because of the delays in the negotiations, the time for the hand-over was moved back to 2 p.m.
The letter -- a legally binding federal order -- outlines two options for family members: They can board a government plane to take Elian to his father in Washington, or they can turn him over to an INS official who will deliver the boy to Juan Miguel Gonzalez.
About 200 Miami-Dade police officers were told to report to the Opa-locka airport today for the transfer. At least two cars of federal agents were stationed in front of O'Laughlin's house.
Following Lazaro Gonzalez's statement, he and his daughter Marisleysis left the house with Elian to return to their Little Havana home. The federal agents left O'Laughlin's house about the same time.
In comments after the meeting, O'Laughlin said the Miami relatives continued to ask that Elian's father, now in Washington, D.C., awaiting reunification with his son, travel to Miami to meet with them. But Juan Miguel Gonzalez made it clear Wednesday that he was through negotiating with his
relatives after Lazaro torpedoed an already announced family meeting that had been scheduled Wednesday in Washington. The government said the purpose of that meeting was to turn over Elian to his father.
ASKED TO HELP
The Miami relatives had taken Elian to O'Laughlin's house at midday after asking her to once again intercede in the case.
The lightning visit by Reno came after two days of fast-moving, and constantly changing, developments in the four-month custody battle.
O'Laughlin phoned Reno on Wednesday morning with an offer to mediate, telling the attorney general that she could help negotiate a solution to the impasse, a government source said.
Reno decided to go to Miami in the afternoon after aides spoke to Lazaro Gonzalez's attorneys. Meissner was given 15 minutes' notice to join Reno for the flight to Miami.
Meissner urged Reno to stick to a plan in place for several days to impose a Thursday morning deadline on the Miami relatives for the boy's surrender. Reno, a Miami native and former state attorney, felt her personal intervention would help persuade the relatives to cooperate in a hand-over.
A WAY OUT
O'Laughlin's offer to mediate, with Elian present at her house, for the first time seemed to provide the government a way to remove the boy away from the demonstrators that have surrounded the Miami relatives' Little Havana home for weeks, threatening to block federal officials' path.
``She's there to accomplish getting Elian and his relatives out [Thursday] morning, either with her or separately, to meet with Juan Miguel,'' INS spokeswoman Maria Cardona said. ``The intention is to bring all of them, because that would mean they are doing it cooperatively.''
Reno's spur-of-the-moment move also appeared to box in the relatives' team of lawyers, who continued to issue defiant statements through the afternoon suggesting that Lazaro Gonzalez would never agree to turn over the child.
A federal court judge in Miami last month upheld the government's authority to return Elian to his father. Although the family has filed an appeal, Reno retains the power to transfer custody to Juan Miguel Gonzalez at a moment's notice.
The Miami relatives' only legal option now appears to be seeking an order in federal court to stop the father from returning with his son to Cuba before their pending court appeal is concluded. Reno has said that, barring any such order, the government is not legally bound to await the outcome
of that appeal.
FREE TO GO
But Justice Department officials have said they would encourage Juan Miguel Gonzalez not to return immediately to Cuba with Elian, though he is free to do so.
Three government-appointed mental-health experts who interviewed Lazaro Gonzalez on Monday recommended to Reno that Elian be turned over immediately to his father, but that to minimize any trauma to the child, they remain in the country for a one- to two-week period during which both sides of
the family could be in regular contact.
As late as Wednesday afternoon, however, statements from the Miami relatives and their representatives were not conciliatory.
The lawyers said the family members were saying they would prefer that federal agents come fetch the 6-year-old boy rather than assist in what they regard as sending him into the arms of Cuban President Fidel Castro.
The lawyers said their clients wanted to talk with Reno face-to-face about their demands to have a team of mental-health experts evaluate the boy before forcing them to turn him over to his father -- a condition the government has repeatedly rejected.
But Reno, who has been unwavering about reuniting father and son, has refused to concede any ground to the Gonzalez family. She wants only one thing from them -- to cooperate in giving back the boy at a neutral site.
``That's never going to happen,'' Jose Garcia-Pedrosa, a lawyer on the team, said Wednesday afternoon. ``That has been an unalterable position.''
PLUG PULLED
Late Tuesday night, Lazaro Gonzalez pulled the plug the announced family meeting, claiming Elian said he didn't want to go. The government and Juan Miguel's lawyer, Gregory Craig, insisted Wednesday that all sides understood that the purpose of the meeting was for Elian to be turned to his
father.
``It was clear that this was agreed upon by all the parties involved,'' a source familiar with the arrangements said.
The government believes Lazaro Gonzalez either misunderstood or was misled as to the goal of the meeting, which was arranged by U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli and the Cuban American National Foundation.
On Wednesday, foundation officials denied that any hand-over had been contemplated. But Craig called the foundation's denial a ``surprise.''
The family's ``only requirement would be that Juan Miguel would talk to the relatives for 30 minutes only after the transfer,'' Craig said.
IN MARYLAND
Juan Miguel Gonzalez remained in Maryland Wednesday, where he has been staying with Cuban diplomats since last week. He indicated in a meeting with the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell that he was through with negotiating. ``He is going to simply ask now that the attorney general issue a court order and
that the boy be returned immediately to him,'' she said.
The announced trip by Elian to Washington appeared to put an end to plans by Reno to meet with the boy's relatives in Miami on Wednesday -- plans that were revived after O'Laughlin phoned the attorney general Wednesday morning.
Joined by aides, Reno and Meissner flew to Opa-locka Airport in an FBI executive jet that touched down at about 6 p.m. They proceeded to Miami Beach in a caravan of government vehicles.
About 50 of the same demonstrators who have kept vigil outside Lazaro Gonzalez's modest Little Havana home for days decamped for O'Laughlin's house on Pine Tree Drive, where they were kept behind barricades by police.
Family spokesman Armando Gutierrez awaited Reno's arrival with a bouquet of peach-colored roses.
ANOTHER PROPOSAL
Meanwhile, an attorney representing Elian's other great-uncle in Miami, Manuel Gonzalez, has proposed that he play the role of a mediator because of his good relationship with the boy's father and other family members.
Chicago attorney Jeffery Leving said he spoke with Justice Department lawyer David Kline on Wednesday afternoon about the idea.
``He seemed interested, but he told me that he would have to move it up the ladder for higher-ups to review,'' Leving said.
``Manuel is not interested in conflict,'' Leving said. ``I think Manuel would do anything to help if everyone agreed to come together as a family.''
But Manuel Gonzalez said he does not have plans to accompany Elian to Washington.
``As far as I can tell, that is not going to happen.,'' he said. ``So far I don't have any information that I will act as an intermediary. Only Juan Miguel can ask me do do that. If Juan Miguel asks me to, I will.''
Herald staff writers Karen Branch, Tyler Bridges, Manny Garcia, Sonji Jacobs, Marika Lynch, Sandra Marquez Garcia, Martin Merzer, Sara Olkon, Eunice Ponce, Frances Robles and Carol Rosenberg, Herald writer Mireidy Fernandez, Online News reporter Madeline Baro, staff translator Renato Perez, and
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
Family refusal to give up boy ended D.C. deal
By Frank Davies . fdavies@herald.com
WASHINGTON -- The deal to bring Elian Gonzalez and his Miami relatives here for a climactic meeting Wednesday with Elians dad on neutral ground, the Vatican Embassy, was supposed to offer something for everyone, but it foundered on the familys last-minute unwillingness to turn over the boy.
According to four people involved in or familiar with the arrangements, the deal resulted from feverish negotiations by Sen. Robert Torricelli, the New Jersey Democrat who used his good connections with the major players: Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, the Justice Departments principal
negotiator in the Elian case; Gregory Craig, the fathers lawyer who worked with the senator during the Clinton impeachment wars; and the Cuban American National Foundation, a longtime ally of Torricelli.
The four sources discussed the deal on the condition of anonymity, describing negotiations and details that had all the intrigue of a Cold War spy exchange at the Berlin Wall.
THE DEAL
The deal emerged this way Tuesday afternoon: Reno had just met Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and Miami Mayor Joe Carollo in her office, and told them she was willing to come to Miami to talk with family members and community leaders. She was with Holder and Craig when Torricelli called, relaying
an offer from the lawyers for the Miami family and foundation leaders.
The terms: Lazaro Gonzalez and his daughter Marisleysis, Elians principal caregiver since his rescue at sea in November, would come to Washington with Elian on a government plane, ready to transfer the boy to the father at a neutral site and meet with Juan Miguel Gonzalez for 30 minutes.
The Vatican Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, across from Vice President Al Gores official residence, was hastily chosen as the site, since the Vatican has diplomatic relations with Cuba and the United States. No government security agents, U.S. or Cuban, would be present.
TWO MONITORS
Torricelli and Holder would be at the embassy, which has diplomatic immunity, to monitor the reunion.
Craig and Justice officials were interested, but several hours later, Torricelli as mediator relayed new conditions:
Relatives would come up on a private charter flight, and six would attend the family meeting, including Lazaros brother Delfin, Elians cousins Alfredo and Maria Isabel Martell, and Alfredos son.
And the relatives wanted three hours with the father, not 30 minutes.
Craig told The Herald late Wednesday: ``Our understanding was always absolutely clear: Without a transfer of custody, there would be no family reunion.''
Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, gave a different interpretation Wednesday, saying ``there were no preconditions'' on the family meeting. ``It was not to be a hand-over of Elian,'' he said.
And Jose Garcia-Pedrosa, an attorney for the Lazaro Gonzalez family, said the great-uncle was not under the impression that he would be turning over the boy at that meeting, that it was supposed to be only an open exchange of feelings about the boy's future without governmental interference.
TRANSFER ESSENTIAL
But two sources in the U.S. government dispute that, saying that the transfer of custody was an essential part of the plan.
``The terms were known to all parties; no one was under any illusion about this,'' said one government official.
By 10:30 p.m., the deal was struck. Juan Miguel Gonzalez would get his son, the Miami relatives would express their feelings directly to him, and the foundation would get credit for helping craft a peaceful end to a tense situation in Miami.
The location was set. A Vatican spokesman said: ``We agreed that a reunion could take place here.'' The foundation announced the deal at 11 p.m.
Within two hours, it fell apart. Lazaro Gonzalez told a crowd outside his house that Elian would not go, and the family objected to the notion of a ``summary hand-over,'' according to a source close to the family.
Another source said that a divided family, and a divided legal team, caused the deal to unravel. Holder reportedly negotiated with family lawyer Kendall Coffey -- the two were U.S. attorneys during the early 1990s -- but other members of the legal team questioned the transfer of custody.
THREE SCENARIOS
The source close to the family had a different perspective, outlining three possible scenarios for the meeting: The father would reunite with his son and return to Cuba; the father would seek asylum to stay in the United States; and a messy third option -- the father would ``have to drag Elian
kicking and screaming away from there.''
Torricellis key role in the negotiations is not surprising. He has long, close ties to the Foundation, and is known in Washington as a blunt, intense deal-maker. Earlier in this saga, he tried to broker a compromise, with family members dropping some of their legal claims in return for a full
hearing in immigration court.
``In political circles, Torricelli is well-admired for working these kinds of deals,'' said Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political science professor.
Torricelli has sharply criticized Reno on several issues, but has worked closely with Holder. The New Jersey senator has disagreed with the administration, but was a fierce defender of President Clinton during impeachment, when Craig was a leading member of Clintons team during the Senate trial.
The foundations role in forging the abortive deal is less clear. Two sources and a congressional staff member who deals with Cuba issues said the Foundation was seeking to reinforce its reputation as the preeminent exile organization.
HOUSE MEMBERS
But Miamis two Cuban-American House members, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, were clearly not happy with the proposed deal. When asked about it Wednesday, Ros-Lehtinen said tersely, ``Youll have to talk to [the foundation.]''
The abortive deal, and Renos trip to Miami, also overshadowed an effort by the two House members and GOP leaders to portray Juan Miguel Gonzalez as ``under house arrest'' at the home of a Cuban diplomat in Bethesda, Md.
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and other leaders had sent Gonzalez a hand-delivered letter inviting him to a private lunch at the Capitol. He didnt show.
``I am deeply disappointed that Juan Miguel Gonzalez did not meet today with the leadership,'' DeLay said. ``Somehow, some day, I still hope he will have the chance to meet with us.''
Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.
Police ready to respond today
Manny Garcia . magarcia@herald.com
AT AIRPORT: Miami-Dade officers were gathered in force Wednesday to provide security in Opa-locka. More than half of the county's police force will be ready for potential emergency duty at key spots today throughout the county.
More than half of Miami-Dade's police force is expected to be posted today at key county facilities to prevent trouble should Elian Gonzalez leave Miami to reunite with his father.
More than 200 uniformed officers were told to report to Opa-locka Airport, in case Elian flies out of there today. Hundreds of other officers are assigned to keep traffic flowing at Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami-Dade, two of South Florida's biggest economic and tourism
engines.
The police deployment would be the largest since the Summit of the Americas in 1994 and one normally reserved for visiting presidents or natural disasters, like Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
At least 1,500 of Miami-Dade's 3,000 sworn officers will be involved in the operation.
``We don't mobilize too often,'' said Pat Brickman, a Miami-Dade Police spokesman. ``It's been a long time. It's expensive. Our job is to keep the major arteries open, the airport, the port.''
Joining Miami-Dade Police: hundreds of law enforcement officers from Miami Beach, Miami and federal agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service and FBI.
Law enforcement quickly moved Wednesday to cancel vacations and days off after it became clear the Justice Department wanted Elian's Miami relatives to bring the boy to Opa-locka at 10 a.m.
Wednesday afternoon, Attorney General Janet Reno hopped a jet for Miami to try to personally persuade the Miami family to let Elian join his father. Brickman said the county would help federal agents escort the child to Opa-locka if the government asked for its aid.
Officers assigned to crowd control said they are prepared for the worst -- violent demonstrations -- but hoping for the best -- a peaceful resolution and rain.
``The rains will calm things down and keep people home,'' said a Miami-Dade Police supervisor assigned to crowd control. The supervisor declined to be named, saying the Elian issue is so sensitive that the department has ordered officers not to give the press or demonstrators an opinion on the
Elian issue.
Miami-Dade Police have been on the defensive since Mayor Alex Penelas accused the federal government of provoking civil unrest over Elian and said local police would not help repatriate Elian to Cuba. Penelas has since emphasized that police will not tolerate violence or disruption.
Brickman said the department has ordered extra tow trucks, jail buses, paramedic and firefighting crews.
``It has always been our mandate to protect the public and keep public conveyances open like the airport, roadways,'' Brickman said.
On Miami Beach, the police and Mayor Neisen Kasdin vowed to keep order in that city, where Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin opened her Pine Tree Drive home to Reno, Elian and his Miami relatives on Wednesday.
Kasdin said the only street closure would be along Pine Tree Drive between 47th and 51st streets.
Miami Beach police got a trial run on crowd control in January when O'Laughlin hosted Elian's grandmothers when they met with Elian on a trip to the United States.
``The beach is viewed by many people as neutral grounds where the rights of all parties, the demonstrators, the family and the government are protected,'' Kasdin said. ``This is one place where Elian could be moved, with a lesser likelihood of an incident.''
Miami Beach police spokesman Al Boza said at least 80 city officers were assigned Wednesday to keep peace around O'Laughlin's house. Boza said all on-duty detectives were told to change from civilian dress into uniforms and report to O'Laughlin's neighborhood.
``We're taking no role whatsoever with what happens inside the home,'' Boza emphasized. ``Our biggest concern would be the crowds.''
Boza said if the crowd grows on the Beach, so will the number of officers.
At least for one day, the scene shifted from the City of Miami and the Little Havana neighborhood where Elian has lived since his rescue on Thanksgiving Day by two fishermen.
The crowds have been heaviest and most tense in Miami, where exiles have rallied for Elian to remain in Miami. Earlier demonstrations led to arrests.
``What we've gotten is a temporary reprieve with everything shifting to Miami Beach,'' Miami Police spokesman Delrish Moss said.
As of late Wednesday, Moss said, no extra police had been called to duty.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Wednesday evening that it will also make sure that traffic on major expressways flows smoothly today.
``Our mission is to maintain an orderly flow of traffic and we won't tolerate anyone trying to disrupt the traffic system down there,'' said Maj. Ken Howes, spokesman for Tallahassee headquarters of the Florida Highway Patrol.
Herald staff writers Joseph Tanfani, Phil Long and Ana Acle contributed to this report.
Experts assess impact of reunion
By Elinor J. Brecher. ebrecher@herald.com
When Elian Gonzalez and his father reunite, it could be easier than anyone who hasn't lived through it might imagine.
So says Pamela Stuart-Mills, executive director of the Washington-based Parental Alienation Syndrome Research Foundation, who has lived through it dozens of times, including with her own three children.
She calls it ``nonsense that must be debunked,'' that reunification with his father need be a lengthy, traumatic process.
She said she has watched children in parental kidnapping cases rebond ``in less than 24 hours'' with mothers they haven't seen in three years.
Which is not to say that Elian might not act out.
``Separation from a parent can really provoke anxiety and even hostility,'' said Dr. Rigoberto Rodriguez, president of the South Florida Psychiatric Society.
Death, in this case of the child's mother, ``is the ultimate separation, and also can provoke hostility. . . . Sometimes a child has very strong memories that are very traumatic and significant and need to be paid attention to.''
WORST-CASE SCENARIO
Marsha Gilmer-Tullis, family services advocate for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said in reunifications, ``we try to anticipate that the child will be uncomfortable'' and hesitant. ``It's extremely common. We try to prepare parents for the worst-case scenario: A child
may run screaming, and parent is absolutely devastated.''
But some ``immediately come to the parent, hugging, and, `I missed you . . . ' It's important for the parent let the child determine how fast or slow reunification should go.''
Dr. Lourdes Rodriguez-Nogues also has lived through it, from an angle closer to Elian's.
The Boston therapist was a Pedro Pan refugee in 1961. At 13, she was the oldest of five children in a group that included her 10-year-old brother, Enrique.
After a month at a children's camp in Miami and eight months in New York Catholic orphanages, they reunited with their parents, who raised them and two younger siblings in Puerto Rico.
``My parents didn't talk about it a lot with me since reunification, but one time my mother said she felt guilty. I thought she meant about sending me, but she meant about how she had to keep my sister,'' who at 2, was too young to send. ``She felt she was putting my sister in danger. It was
exactly like Sophie's Choice. I thought she'd say it was the other way around!''
A MOTHER'S SACRIFICE
Elian's mother ``made an incredible sacrifice for her child to enjoy freedom, and some say that's why he should stay. My take is: Why is this child going to be separated from his father?''
Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida's Children, an advocacy group based in Tallahassee, is counting on childrens' natural pluck to bring Elian through.
``I am astonished at how resilient children can be once the turmoil and limbo of life ceases and some semblance of normality takes hold. I've seen it in war victims and witnesses to crimes,'' though no one can predict the long term.
In any case, 6-year-olds live in a mix of fantasy and reality. They think what they dream is real, and that real tragedies might be fiction, Levine said.
Elian's first exposure to his dad ``has got to be extended, private and long-lasting. What I think he needs most is a signal that this relationship with his father and [Cuban] family is permanent. Permanence is the main ingredient of a bond. Turmoil is the antithesis.''
Attorney general followed 'instinct' as final mediator
By Carol Rosenberg. crosenberg@herald.com
Attorney General Janet Reno addresses a news conference concerning the Elian Gonzalez custody case Thursday morning.
For weeks, Attorney General Janet Reno tried to stay on the fringes of the Elian Gonzalez saga.
From her protected perch at her weekly news briefings, she mounted a spirited yet sober defense of the Immigration Service's decision to reunite the boy with his father in Cuba. Occasionally, she issued a terse statement after private meetings with some players in the drama -- the child's
grandmothers, politicians and Cuban-American exile leaders.
But Wednesday, Reno decided to play mediator -- and avert the possibility of sending in federal marshals to forcibly remove the child from his great-uncle's custody.
With 30 minutes notice, Reno, who usually flies commercially, and coach, ordered up an FBI jet and headed for Miami. Her itinerary and plans were unknown, even to her chief spokesman Myron Marlin, who seemed genuinely surprised.
Said a Justice Department official, speaking on background: ``She did this on instinct and she has very good instincts: She's from Miami. This is her community. She knows them.
``She wanted to reach out personally to impress upon both the relatives in Miami as well as the community the importance of reunifying this little boy with his father -- and to do it quickly, and to do it peacefully.''
SUDDEN ACTION
Added an aide, clearly unsettled by the turn of events: ``Her schedule is being worked out right now.''
Reno announced to her staff at 2:30 p.m. that she would go to Miami and told Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner to meet her at the airport. She whisked a small entourage -- Associate Deputy Attorney General James Costello, department spokeswoman Carole Florman,
her bodyguards -- from Main Justice without a fixed plan. They were in the air about 30 minutes later.
Reno decided to come to Miami, the aide said, after a 9 a.m. telephone chat with Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, a long-time friend and the president of Barry University. The nun then drove to Little Havana to gather up Elian and great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez, stopped by Mercy Hospital in Coconut Grove
to collect Lazaro's daughter, Marisleysis, and took them all to her Miami Beach home.
RENO'S APPROACH
Friends and admirers of Reno, 61, describe her as part social worker, part lawyer in her approach to the job of top U.S. law enforcer.
Wednesday, it seemed, she swept the lawyer aside to play social worker -- and put her prestige on the line in a fashion that is atypical of Washington.
``You don't just have a political functionary there; you have a real human being, one with strength and courage,'' said long-time friend and admirer Janet McAliley, a former Dade School Board member.
Of the unscripted mediation mission, McAliley said:
``She's got a lot of capacity to keep trying. It's so consistent with her concern for children, trying to bring this resolution about without having anybody get hurt or create a violent disturbance -- and, most of all, not have to pull the child out of his Miami relatives' arms.''
In many ways, it is trademark Reno.
MCDUFFIE CASE
Admirers recall that she plunged into local mediation, too, in 1980 as Dade prosecutor, when her office failed to win convictions of Hispanic police officers in the shooting of a black insurance agent, Arthur McDuffie.
In all, 19 people died in rioting that followed the acquittals and parts of Miami burned, causing millions of dollars in damage. Reno was so upset by the outcome, friends recall, that she drove herself into Liberty City to commiserate with fellow Miamians at a public forum attended by 300
people.
Nationally, she caused the same kind of a stir in 1993 by swiftly -- and clearly -- taking the blame for the failed federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Texas, that resulted in a fire and the deaths of about 80 cult members.
PERSONAL CONTROVERSY
But neither episode seemed to embroil Reno in the kind of personal controversy that the Gonzalez case has created:
First, she publicly differed with her old, respected friend, O'Laughlin, the Barry University president who agreed to make her Miami Beach home a safe-haven for a meeting between the boy and his grandmothers in late January.
O'Laughlin traveled to Washington after the meeting to plead with the attorney general to let the boy stay with his family in Miami. Reno refused.
Then, just days ago, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas singled her out, along with President Clinton, as personally responsible for any bloodshed that broke out in Miami -- if the child was sent back to Cuba.
Penelas, like Reno, a Democrat, later said he regretted his remarks. But it was symbolic of the resentment among hardline Cuban Americans for the role that Reno has played in the Elian drama. On the street, supporters of Elian remaining in Miami have said the attorney general is not welcome back
in the city of her birth.
McAliley, for her part, said Reno is not intimidated by the insults.
``I do know that she's looking forward to coming back to Miami at the end of her term,'' she said, quoting a telephone chat of about a week ago.
In it, Reno reported plans to return to Miami after the Clinton administration and, among other things, play chess with McAliley's grandson.
A changed boy after Miami stay
Elian grew to love Nintendo, Batman and home-delivered pizza in the U.S.
By Meg Laughlin. mlaughlin@herald.com
When Elian Gonzalez was miraculously pulled from the sea and brought to Miami in late November, he was a dazed, frail boy swaddled in blankets. Now, five months later, on the eve of his return to his father, he is a far different child.
For starters, he weighs more and is sturdier. He has grown a shoe size and a pants size and lost a baby tooth, with a second one about to fall out. He wears designer jackets, a gold necklace and shades. He gels his hair in a Pee-Wee Herman do.
He snaps commands at his dog in English. He waves and winks at photographers, racing around the small yard at the Gonzalez home like Batman. He climbs on his swing set and takes flying leaps into his wading pool -- sometimes on top of his younger cousin, Lazaro.
In short, Elian Gonzalez acts like the confident, boisterous kid he was before his mother took him on the fated voyage that ended in her death and his super-stardom in Miami.
His first-grade teacher in Cuba, Yamilin Gonzalez, described him as a ``friendly, communicative, affectionate child'' before he left. She said he had been the smallest child in her class and she had felt particularly protective of him. He was clingy and very dependent in the beginning of the
school year, she said, but had grown increasingly independent and playful as the months had passed -- she believed because his parents had taken such an active part in school functions and teacher conferences.
Then, on a balmy day in November, he had disappeared.
When the child first surfaced in Miami, he had lost his mischievous spark and spontaneity. He either stared pitifully into the distance or rode around on his great uncle's shoulders flashing double victory signs. His family in Cuba, watching on TV, said they were troubled by what they thought
were extreme swings in his moods.
After Elian's grandmothers visited him in Miami in late January, they wept that the boy had become so somber and distant. As they drove away from the house of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin where they met with Elian, they told the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, who accompanied them, that they had kidded
him to make him less timid by telling him that ``the rats must have bitten your tongue.''
It was then and only then, they said, that their grandson loosened up, wagging his tongue playfully in the air as his paternal grandmother bit at it. They were particularly distressed over his reaction to photos of his schoolmates in Cardenas, they said.
They told Campbell: ``He said he had a different school and a different teacher and wasn't interested in his old school.''
SIMILAR DESCRIPTIONS
At that time, Elian had been attending the Lincoln-Marti School in Little Havana for almost a month. The director, Demetrio Perez, said Elian was ``emerging as a friendly, communicative child'' -- a description remarkably similar to that of the teacher in Cuba.
Perez said that Elian was ``coming out of his shell'' and ``loving all of the attention he is getting.''
Attention came in the form of fancy electronic toys, a trip to Disney World, a pet rabbit and a dog and scores of cameras following him everywhere, not to mention the Miami Gonzalez family clinging to his every word and trying constantly to please him.
According to a frequent visitor, Elian's great-aunt Angela Gonzalez fixed him scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast every morning, which he dubbed ``my American breakfast.'' He got so he shunned her arroz con pollo, begging instead that the family ``order out for pizza.''
He hung Batman posters around his room, and rushed home from school every day after tutoring in English to watch Batman reruns on cable TV and drink chocolate milk which he calls ``McArthur's.'' Sometimes, he'd watch the reruns in his Batman costume.
SIMPLER TOYS
When he first arrived, he fashioned shapes of animals out of clay, drew on scraps of paper and kicked a ball around. A family friend recalls how fascinated he was when someone gave him tiny plastic cars, which he pushed around the house for days, making sounds like a car engine.
But as time went on, he grew to prefer playing Nintendo and watching videos.
When a shape appeared on the bedroom mirror in the Gonzalez home, which some called a sign from the Virgin of Guadalupe, Elian told visitors to the house that he believed what his cousin Marisleysis had told him: ``It's a sign from God to keep me here because I'm so special.''
And special he has been.
When he returns to Cuba with his father, his life will be different, especially if they move back to Cardenas, where people still move around by horse-and-buggy.
Elian will live with his father, stepmother and half brother, next door to his grandparents. He will sleep in an air-conditioned room, and perhaps dream of a trip he once made.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald |