By Rick Bragg. The New York Times. April 18, 2000
MIAMI, April 17 -- The standoff between the United States government and Miami's Cuban exiles over Elián González remained locked in place today, as the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit considered whether to grant family members here an emergency stay that would
delay his return to Cuba until the court hears the full appeal in May.
But even though the government could legally go in and take the boy if the appellate court denies the Miami relatives' request for a stay, many people doubt that the government will actually take the child this week. The calendar, said demonstrators and others here, has too many public relations
minefields.
First, this Friday is Good Friday, and Sunday is Easter. This is, for Christians, one of the holiest weeks of the year, and Miami is a heavily Roman Catholic city.
Armando Gutierrez, the spokesman for the Miami relatives, pleaded with the government to leave the family alone during Holy Week, and said federal officials should grant Elián his first Easter in the United States.
Demonstrators outside the house where Elián lives with his relatives said they doubted that the government would violate this holy time. They waved palm fronds on Sunday, a symbol of Palm Sunday, and prayed.
But while federal officials have been tight-lipped about their plans, there are other reasons a move on the house is unlikely this week. Today and Wednesday are the anniversaries of the start, and disastrous end, of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, the effort by Cuban exiles to overthrow President
Fidel Castro.
Cuban-Americans view the Bay of Pigs as a betrayal by President John F. Kennedy, who did not order planes to provide air support of the invasion.
Wednesday is also the anniversary of the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian cult near Waco, Tex., which left about 80 people dead and was a debacle for Attorney General Janet Reno.
Outside the boy's house, demonstrators waved signs comparing this standoff to the one near Waco, and some threatened a blood bath if Ms. Reno tried to take the child.
Wednesday is also the anniversary of the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City, the country's worst act of domestic terrorism.
And Thursday is the anniversary of last year's shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
"It's up to the government right now," said Barbara Lagoa, a lawyer for the boy's Miami relatives.
Meanwhile, in Cuba tonight, state-run television for the first time showed the house in Havana where Elián is expected to stay after his "eventual" return.
The state-owned house, normally used by a youth group that has been involved in organizing rallies for Elián's return, would function as both home and school for the boy, as well as 12 classmates, relatives, doctors and psychologists.
A psychologist quoted in the report said the boy would need time apart from the public to readjust after the "trauma" he has endured for nearly five months of living in Miami after surviving a boat sinking in which his mother died.
"This transition is necessary," said Lesbia Canovas, the psychologist. "Our hope is that he be turned over fully to his school. But we are in need of a period of transit for an unknown period. It would be difficult for it to be less than three months."
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