Yahoo! April 21, 2000
Trade Ban on Cuba Comes Under Scrutiny in New Probe
By Anthony Boadle
WASHINGTON, 21 (Reuters) - At the request of Congress, the U.S. government has begun the first official investigation of the impact that its 38-year-old trade embargo against Cuba has on U.S. economic interests.
Critics of the embargo said on Thursday the fact finding study by the U.S. International Trade Commission should convince the American public it is time to bury the Cold War-era sanctions on the Communist-run island.
The ITC, an independent federal agency that monitors the effect of foreign trade on U.S. industries, announced last Friday that its study will look at the historical impact on both the U.S. and Cuban economies.
The report, to be submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee by Feb. 15, 2001, will pay particular attention to the U.S. agriculture and services sectors, said the ITC.
The U.S. embargo on Cuba has for years been championed by Cuban exiles in Florida who are now in a bitter tug-of-war with President Fidel Castro's government over custody of the 6-year-old castaway Elian Gonzalez.
The cornerstone of U.S. policy toward Cuba of the last eight presidents, the embargo is seen by Cuban exiles as the only way to oust Castro.
Over the last two years U.S. farmers have pressed to lift the embargo, which has shut them out of Cuba's bulk food import market, valued last year at $700 million.
The U.S. pharmaceutical industry has also been lobbying to lift the barrier on trade with the Castro government. In January, medical equipment manufacturers held the first American trade fair in Cuba in four decades.
The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donohue, visited Cuba last year and called for an end to the embargo when he returned.
A proposal to allow food and medical sales to Cuba almost passed Congress last year but was beaten back in the House of Representatives at the last minute by Cuban-American legislators with Republican leadership help.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted last month to exempt food and medicine from all unilateral U.S. embargoes, a move passed with the backing of farm state senators.
The ITC investigation was requested by Ways and Means Committee chairman Bill Archer of Texas, at the behest of the committee's ranking Democrat, Charles Rangel of New York.
``The report is going to provide a whole bushel-full of nails for the embargo,'' said Rangel aide, Emile Milne.
``It is going to show the American people, and the American business community particularly, the folly of the embargo that has resulted in billions of dollars in lost sales, and how the embargo has hurt the people of Cuba, not the Cuban government, without helping us,'' he said.
The ITC will need to travel to Cuba to speak to government officials and academics, Milne said.
The ITC's report will contain no policy recommendations. The agency will hold a public hearing on its investigation in Washington on Sept. 19.
``It's going to be an immensely closely watched hearing,'' said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which represents U.S. firms interested in doing business with Cuba.
The report will have a lot of weight because of the credibility of the non-partisan ITC, Kavulich said. Previous studies by the Government Accounting Office and the Congressional Research Service got politicized, he added.
The U.S. health care industry is eyeing a market estimated in $1 billion a year in Cuba, Kavulich estimated.
Mississippi delta rice farmers, who traditionally supplied the Cuban market before the embargo, have been smarting from low prices after last year's record crop and are keen to return. Cuba imports more than 300,000 tons a year of rice, mostly from Vietnam and China.
With unfettered access to the food and tourism markets, U.S. companies could see potential annual exports of $3 billion to $4 billion, though that would take at three to five years to build up after trade restrictions were lifted, he said.
U.S. farmer interest in Cuba continues to grow. Next week, a 20-member delegation of the Texas Farm Bureau will visit the island, accompanied by top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, Charles Stenholm.
Young Have Different Elian Views
By Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer.
MIAMI, 20 (AP) - Outside Elian Gonzalez's Miami home, a younger generation of Cuban Americans - many of whom have never even seen Cuba - mix with the usual crowd of elderly emigres in camouflage, guayabera shirts and pink sportcoats.
Girls in shorts and tank tops, boys with shaved heads and droopy pants, the younger Cubans tend to see the Elian case as a custody issue, not a struggle of ideology.
``I can identify with Elian,'' said Yanelys Palma, who left Cuba last year at age 15. ``But I think they should focus more on the boy, and make this less of a political issue.''
Experts say the difference reflects a softening of the anti-Castro sentiment among next-generation Cubans.
``The Cuban first generation is passionate against Castro,'' said Jaime Suchlicki, the Cuban-born director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami.
``It begins to slow down with the second and third generations,'' he said. ``It may disappear altogether in 50 years, but ethnic groups reinvigorate themselves every so often.''
That may be happening now with the Elian dispute. Those who grew up under Castro are finding new interest in their stories of oppression, abuse and death.
Nadia Fernandez, 22, an American-born art student at Florida International University, said her Cuban parents reminisce more about life in Cuba amid all the Elian news coverage.
Fernandez said she's become more sensitive to Castro's Cuba.
So has Melissa Alvarez.
``In the beginning, I just didn't care,'' said Alvarez, an 18-year-old Florida International student studying criminal justice. She was born in New Jersey and her parents were both born in Cuba.
She visited Cuba with her father last August, a trip she said changed both her life and her opinion.
``It's sad when you go over there because kids walk barefoot because families want to save for other things,'' she said. ``They see the U.S. as a fantasy. They would ask me, 'Is it like the movies?'''
Now, Alvarez said, she is just as passionate as the older generation.
There are some 1.4 million people of Cuban descent in the United States, according to Census Bureau figures, with 800,000 of them in the Miami area. Gus Garcia, a founder of the Democracy Movement with an estimated membership of 1,600, said the Elian issue was helping the anti-Castro group's
work.
``This is a good consciousness-raising effort, especially among young people and women,'' he said.
At an open-air restaurant two blocks away from the Elian protests, a half-dozen Cuban-American high school juniors chatted Thursday over a meal of pizza and croquetas, a fried and breaded meat dish.
Their favorite foods include rice and beans. They prefer salsa or merengue and much of their conversation is in Spanish. They watch Mexican or South American soap operas.
They consider themselves ``Cuban, 100 percent,'' as Lazaro Alfonso, a shaved-bald student, says proudly.
But the few born in Cuba left young. Asked why she attends the demonstrations, Surumy Gonzalez shrugs her shoulders and considers.
``I'm Cuban,'' she says.
Alain Sanchez, 20, an engineering student at Florida International University, said: ``If he (Elian) says he doesn't want to go back, please, somebody listen to him.''
But he added that he doesn't sit around with his Cuban-American, Nicaraguan, Ecuadoran, or Brazilian friends and discuss politics.
``I think (the Castro regime) is terrible but what can you do?'' added Adrian Morales, a 20-year-old broadcast major at Florida International. ``It's nothing that consumes me, I guess, because I'm over here.''
Gore: Court Should Decide Elian Fate
By Sandra Sobieraj, Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON, 21 (AP) - Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) says he has ``an open mind'' about three-way presidential debates but is unyielding in his insistence that a court deliberate what is best for Elian Gonzalez absent a family solution by the Cuban boy's feuding relatives.
He essentially rejected an appeal by the Cuban boy's father for public support of a reunion with his 6-year-old son while custody is litigated.
``That decision ought to be made according to what is in the boy's best interest. Usually a family court or a decision maker following those kinds of procedures gives tremendous weight to the views and preferences of a surviving parent, but not always if there are other factors involved,'' Gore,
the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Thursday night on CNN's ``Larry King Live.''
He did not say what other factors should weigh into the decision.
Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, appealed to the public Thursday for help persuading the Clinton-Gore administration to end the five-month father-son separation.
A caller to the talk show told Gore the Miami relatives who have been caring for the boy were ``breaking the law'' by refusing an order, after their temporary custody was revoked, to return Elian to his father who is in the United States but wants to return to Cuba.
``Do you condone this lawbreaking?'' the caller asked.
``I advised them to abide by the law and they have said that they will,'' Gore replied.
Spokesman Chris Lehane later clarified that Gore had not spoken with Elian's U.S. relatives. ``That's a public counsel he's proffered,'' Lehane said.
Earlier while campaigning in New Jersey, Gore urged the feuding relatives to try to resolve the custody dispute ``without government officials or lawyers.''
Asked on CNN about another looming political battle, Gore said he was open to including the Reform Party presidential nominee in fall presidential debates.
Reform candidate Pat Buchanan (news - web sites) has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission arguing for a spot in those key, nationally televised forums.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has ruled that only candidates with 15 percent standing in five national public opinion surveys may participate in the debates. Buchanan, who is seeking the Reform nomination, polls in single digits.
``I have a mixed feeling about that,'' Gore said. ``It depends on the level of support that they have, whether it would enhance or impede the debate. I have an open mind about it. But I think that we need to know more before a decision like that is made.''
Meanwhile, Gore is bringing in reinforcements for his presidential campaign team and stocking the Democratic National Committee with loyal aides in preparation for the fall election.
Mark Fabiani, a former Clinton White House spokesman who helped the president weather Whitewater and other controversies, is joining Gore's team this week as deputy campaign manager for communications, the most visible face of the campaign.
Among other promotions and new faces, Michael Whouley, credited with helping to build Gore's teams for New Hampshire and Iowa last winter, will become senior political strategist as a consultant to both the campaign and the DNC. Donnie Fowler Jr., field director at the campaign, will coordinate
his efforts with Whouley.
Also at the Democratic National Committee:
- Laurie Moskowitz will work on the coordinated campaign efforts. She was a political operative at the DNC before moving to Gore's campaign.
- Laura Quinn will move from Gore's White House office to be communications director at the DNC.
Appearing on the CNN show with his wife, Tipper, Gore was asked by another caller whether he would consider a Cabinet or other appointment for Hillary Rodham Clinton if he wins the White House and she loses her Senate race in New York.
``She would be an excellent public servant in virtually any position, but that's a hypothetical I'm not going to entertain because I'm for her and I think she is going to win,'' Gore said.
Prayers, Concern in Little Havana
By Alan Clendenning, Associated Press Writer.
MIAMI (AP) - Reports that federal authorities soon could be coming to take Elian Gonzalez spread throughout Little Havana today as protesters prayed for the 6-year-old boy to remain in his Miami home.
``You wouldn't return a Jewish child to the Nazis,'' said Margaret Buchenhorner, a 75-year-old retired elementary school teacher. Among about 150 protesters at the scene this morning, she said she was praying for Elian to remain in Miami - with his father.
``If he cares so much for his child, he should come down here,'' she said of the boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who flew from Cuba to Washington on April 6 and has been hoping for a reunion.
``I feel sorry for that man because he's a prisoner,'' she said in a trembling voice.
According to published reports, Attorney General Janet Reno has decided to remove Elian from his great-uncle's home in Miami and has told authorities to determine the best time to do so. The move reportedly could come by the middle of next week.
Jesus Almeida, 34, was on his way to a courthouse to pick up divorce paperwork when he heard the reports on the radio. He said he decided to come to Little Havana because he thinks it's important for lots of people to be in the area.
Asked if there was the potential for violence, he said: ``I hope not, but if it does I'll be here to do whatever it takes to keep Elian here.''
Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the anti-Castro Democracy Movement, said government officials should try to arrange a meeting between the Miami relatives and the father instead of planning to remove the boy.
``They should do their best to see if the family can sit under one roof without government officials, without activists and without attorneys so they can attempt to resolve this issue in a family context,'' he said.
``We continue to urge the government to work on the solution approach instead of the violent approach,'' he said.
Earlier, Sanchez appeared before a crowd of about 50 people in the early-morning darkness and told them that five or six pro-Castro infiltrators might be among them. He encouraged people to remain peaceful and wary.
Elian Saga Rocks Popular Mayor's Career
By Jane Sutton
MIAMI, 21 (Reuters) - Viewed as a rising star in Florida politics, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas has been prominent among patrons and politicians orbiting Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez.
In a metropolis sharply divided over what should happen to the young castaway, Penelas has stood fervently with Elian's Miami relatives who feel that hatred of communism should trump Elian's father's wish to raise his son in Cuba.
He donated $1,000 during a fund raiser to pay the relatives' legal bills. He went to Washington to lobby for a meeting between Elian's father and the Miami relatives, who have cared for Elian since his November rescue at sea.
Penelas has been a frequent visitor at the Miami relatives' home, declaring to cheering supporters on April 15 that ``While this child remains in this house, there is hope.''
His many statements supporting the Miami relatives have led some residents to question his commitment to a battle so far removed from mayoral jurisdiction. ``Isn't he supposed to represent all in his county, not just Cuban Americans?'' a reader asked in a letter to the Miami Herald.
But nothing cast Penelas' leadership into question more than his March 29 remarks widely interpreted as a license to riot. Flanked by mayors of several south Florida burgs, Penelas said local police would not aid any attempt to wrest Elian from the Miami relatives' home and accused the Justice
Department of ''provoking'' Cuban Americans by trying to send the boy home.
``If their continued provocation in the form of unjustified threats to revoke the boy's parole leads to civil unrest and violence, we are holding the government responsible, and specifically (Attorney General) Janet Reno and the President of the United States for anything that may occur,'' he
said.
Penelas promptly found himself likened to Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus, who called out the National Guard to defy a federal order to admit black students to Little Rock Central High School in 1957.
Time magazine said Penelas ``all but tossed a match into the city's powder keg.'' The mayor won a spot on The Washington Post's ``Fools for Elian'' list for what the newspaper called ''a ringing declaration of nonprinciple.''
``He was an up and coming star -- and I use the past tense -- in the state Democratic Party,'' University of Florida political scientist Richard Scher said. ``I think he's tarnished his (star) considerably with his ill-considered remarks.''
Penelas, a 38-year-old lawyer and Democrat, was elected mayor of Florida's largest county four years ago, with strong support among predominantly Republican-voting Cuban Americans, as well as support of many blacks and non-Hispanic whites.
Seen as a consensus-building moderate, he is articulate and dapper -- People magazine named him its ``Sexiest Politician'' in 1999. Once perceived as a future governor or senator, he has been a strong fund-raiser for Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites).
Political experts have said that while Penelas sincerely believes Elian should stay, he may also be acting to retain support among constituents of Cuban ancestry, who make up 40 percent of the county's 2.2 million residents.
Penelas was born in Florida to exiles who fled Cuba after his father, a farmworker and labor organizer, was imprisoned. He has sometimes -- but not always -- sided with exile positions on Cuba-related issues.
He asked the State Department to deny visas that would let Los Van Van perform a second concert in Miami in December 1999, fearing it would endanger the city. The Cuban band's October 1999 performance in Miami spurred a near-riot by a small group of Cuban exiles who believed the band supported
Castro.
But he ordered the June 1999 edition of Cigar Aficionado magazine back on the newsstands at Miami International Airport, calling a local sales ban ``censorship.'' Airport officials had banished the magazine, which had Fidel Castro on the cover, because it portrayed Cuba as an exotic travel
destination and questioned whether the U.S. embargo against Cuba should end.
Such Cuba-centric politics at the municipal level baffle the rest of the nation, political analysts said.
Penelas has said his comments were misinterpreted and has made numerous appeals for calm and respect for the law.
State Democratic Party spokesman Tony Welch said reports of Penelas' political suicide are mistaken. His role in the Elian standoff may not weigh outside Miami, he suggested.
But Scher said the only way Penelas could regain his former stature is to broker ``some kind of miracle solution'' that would end the battle over Elian satisfactorily for all involved -- something no one anywhere has been able to do.
Clinton: Reunite Elian, His Dad
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON, 21 (AP) - President Clinton said a court ruling has stripped Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives of all arguments against transferring temporary custody of the boy to his father. ``That is the law,'' Clinton said amid reports that the government was preparing to forcibly take the
6-year-old boy.
Clinton commented Thursday, a day after a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Atlanta said Elian must remain in the United States until the court decides whether he should get an asylum hearing. A hearing was set for May 11.
The ruling was viewed by the Miami relatives and their allies as a victory, but Clinton said it reinforced the administration's case for Elian to be reunited with his father.
The Washington Post reported today that Attorney General Janet Reno has decided to remove Elian from his great-uncle's home in Miami and has instructed federal law enforcement officials to determine the best time to do so. The report quoted unidentified government officials as saying they
expected to move by the middle of next week.
Asked about the report, Justice Department spokeswoman Carole Florman said Reno remained open to a voluntary settlement, but declined to discuss whether she has made any decision about forcibly removing the boy. She said, ``For obvious reasons, we've always said we wouldn't discuss a law
enforcement action in advance.''
The New York Times, quoting government officials it did not name, said today that law enforcement action is now all but certain and would be carried out by immigration agents and federal marshals who have been quietly arriving in Miami in recent days.
A lawyer for the Miami relatives indicated today that the great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, who has control of Elian, and other family members will not assist federal agents' attempt to take the boy.
``So he's not going to cooperate?'' attorney Jose Garcia-Pedrosa was asked on CBS' ``The Early Show.''
``Without a psychological evaluation that says that that is in the best interest of the boy in the opinion of a professional, not a lawyer or an immigration official, that's correct,'' Garcia-Pedrosa replied.
Clinton, making his strongest statement to date on the case, said he knew of ``no conceivable argument'' against the custody transfer.
``I think he (the father) should be reunited with his son,'' the president said. ``That is the law. And the main argument of the family in Miami for not doing so has now been removed.
``Their main argument was if we let him go back to his father before the court rules, he might go back to Cuba. The court has now said he shouldn't go back to Cuba. The Justice Department agrees with that.''
Clinton generally has been standing back and leaving the decisions in the Elian case to Reno, who last week ordered the Miami relatives to turn over the boy. The family refused.
``The attorney general is leading the effort,'' presidential spokesman Joe Lockhart said Thursday. ``The president has been briefed and has had input. Is she making the decisions here? Yes.''
Less than two hours before Clinton spoke, Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, asked Americans to write to Clinton and Reno, urging them to act decisively to end the five-month father-son separation.
``Don't let them continue to abuse my son,'' the elder Gonzalez said, referring to the Miami relatives who have been caring for Elian since he was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving Day. Elian and two others survived, but his mother and 10 others fleeing Cuba
drowned when their boat sank.
``I was promised that I was going to be reunited with my son,'' he said, speaking in Spanish near his temporary home in suburban Maryland. ``Two weeks have gone by and it hasn't happened. I have always understood, I have always thought, that the United States is a country which abided by its
laws.''
He asked Americans ``to send message and write to the president ... to the attorney general of this country so they should act immediately (to) reunite me with my son,'' he said, speaking through a translator.
Thursday evening, Elian spoke on a cordless telephone in the yard outside his Miami relatives' home and blew kisses into the phone. Family spokesman Armando Gutierrez said the boy was talking to his father.
Lazaro Gonzalez offered to bring the boy to a meeting with his father after being assured by the court ruling that the boy could stay in the country, an attorney for the family, Linda Osberg-Braun, said Wednesday. But that promise seemed clouded by today's statement from another lawyer,
Garcia-Pedrosa.
Previously, the Miami relatives had said they would meet the father only if it was without the boy. Juan Miguel Gonzalez's lawyer, Gregory Craig, said Thursday that discussions between his client and other family members can take place only after the father regains custody of Elian.
In Fort Lee, N.J., Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) urged Elian's feuding relatives to get together ``without government officials or lawyers'' to try to end the impasse. Earlier he had split with the administration by supporting permanent resident status for Elian, his father and other
relatives in Cuba.
Kids Wanting Asylum Face Hurdles
By Laurie Asseo, Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON, 21 (AP) - Elian Gonzalez signed his asylum application himself but legal experts say that doesn't necessarily mean he is mature enough to pursue the case against his father's wishes.
``I've never even heard of a 6-year-old pressing an asylum claim before,'' says District of Columbia lawyer Michael Maggio, who has been practicing immigration law for 22 years. ``This case is a parent's nightmare.''
A child Elian's age ``doesn't really have the life experience and maturity ... to understand enough about which political system he professes allegiance to,'' added Bernard Perlmutter, director of the University of Miami's Children and Youth Law Clinic. ``The fact that Elian signed this
application does not at all convince me that he knew what he was signing.''
A federal appeals court Wednesday barred Elian's return to Cuba until it determines whether he must be given a hearing to seek asylum. Miami relatives want to keep the boy in this country but his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, wants to take him home to Cuba.
The boy was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast last Thanksgiving. His mother and other Cubans drowned when their boat capsized while trying to reach the United States.
Children ordinarily do not seek asylum against a parent's wishes. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Elian may be entitled to seek asylum on his own, and chided U.S. immigration officials for failing to interview him.
``Not only does it appear that (Elian) might be entitled to apply personally for asylum, it appears that he did so'' by signing an asylum application, the appeals court said.
Federal law says ``any alien'' in the United States can seek asylum - the right to stay here to avoid persecution in one's own country. The appeals court must decide after hearing arguments May 11 whether ``any alien'' means even a child of Elian's age acting against his father's wishes.
To be granted asylum, people must show they were persecuted or had a legitimate fear of persecution in their home country because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or political opinions.
Alberto Benitez, a George Washington University law professor who represents immigration clients, said that if Elian were allowed to remain in this country, ``I'm going to be one of the first lawyers to say here are Ethiopian and Somalian and Chinese kids who want to live here because life is
better in the U.S.''
The 11th Circuit Court's ruling referred to the 1985 case of a Soviet youth who did not want to return to his home country with his parents. In that case, a federal appeals court said a 12-year-old was ``presumably near the lower end of an age range'' of maturity to assert rights separate from
his parents.
However, several legal experts said there are instances in which a much younger child could be allowed to pursue an asylum claim - for example, a girl who faced genital mutilation if returned to her home country.
Miami lawyer Neal Sonnett, chairman of the American Bar Association's coordinating committee on immigration law, said that unless a hearing is held, it is not possible to determine what weight to give to Elian's views.
The 11th Circuit Court's order did not prevent the government from reuniting Elian with his father in this country and Attorney General Janet Reno was considering her next step. The appeals court also cautioned that ``no one should feel confident in predicting the eventual result in this case.''
The appeals court has not yet received the Justice Department's main brief in the case. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Thursday that government lawyers look forward to making their case next month that ``the father speaks for the boy and why that's the legally proper view.''
Benitez said lawyers for Elian's Miami relatives may have their eye on a federal law known as the Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows Cubans lawfully on U.S. shores for more than a year to be granted permanent resident status - a much easier process than gaining asylum.
The question of whether Elian can apply on his own behalf could arise there, too, Benitez said. But ``I'm fairly certain his lawyers are keeping that in the back of their mind,'' he said.
On the Front Line in Little Havana
By Alan Clendenning , and Mildrade Cherfils, Associated Press Writers.
MIAMI (AP) - The day begins with stretches and a regimen of sit-ups, push-ups and sprints for Bienvenido Comas.
The 27-year-old convention coordinator and seven friends follow it up by practicing a little civil disobedience, forming a ``human chain'' at the Little Havana home of Elian Gonzalez's Florida relatives.
Even at this hour - 5:20 a.m. - there are stalwarts watching over Elian.
Comas is a regular, often here all night. Over the past few months, he has talked of pro-Castro spies, of desperate measures, of another Waco. And people listen.
Their fear of a government attempt to take the 6-year-old boy away from his great-uncle's home is unshakable and is now well-known across the United States and across the Florida Straits, in Cuba.
Though their numbers dip to a hardy dozen or so overnight, the fervor remains the same, from the sign-waving chanting mobs to the quiet neighbors watching from their porch steps to those in the lawn chairs, sipping cup after cup of coffee.
-
A few minutes after Comas finishes exercising, police tell a group of men to remove the shirts they have wrapped around their faces. Masks are illegal in public in Florida, except on Halloween.
Miriam Duboy arrives as the sun peeks over the horizon. She is among a group of women dressed in black who gather every morning in a prayer circle.
Duboy is attending for the second time. The 55-year-old interpreter from Fort Lee, N.J., has an apartment on Miami Beach. She hopes Elian doesn't suffer if he is returned to his father.
Their prayers are drowned out by the overhead buzz of a television news helicopter.
As the lunch hour approaches and Miami's hot sun sends the temperature rising to 85 degrees, protesters chip in to buy water, cups, ice and snacks.
-
Though passions have run high, there have been only a handful of arrests at the Little Havana home. Once, when protesters pushed through the metal barricades, police just watched them go.
Police spokesman Delrish Moss sees it this way: ``If you're going to protest, if you're going to have an issue, this has certainly been the model of acting well, acting responsibly, in the midst of those passions.''
Andre Montoto is carrying a picture of Bill Clinton with an elongated nose, a la Pinocchio. Although he is only five years older than Elian, Andre has an opinion.
``At this point,'' says Andre, ``the only miracle that could happen is that his father says he wants to stay here, but for now I don't think that he's going to stay. I think that he should have more heart for his son.''
The crowd swells - people have finished work and dinner - and then begins the round of nightly news live shots. The crowds begin their chants of ``Elian No Se Va'' and ``Libertad.''
In a lawn chair, 30 feet away, sits Jorge Rosettiz, a large Cuban flag in his hand.
The 56-year-old bricklayer works for his son, but hasn't so much as mixed mortar for two weeks, attending the protests on a daily basis. He lives three blocks away from the demonstration scene.
American-born with a Cuban father, he grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Miami when he was 19.
``Until it's over, I won't do any work,'' he says. ``I'm draining all my money and I'm beginning to worry. Life is expensive.''
His son has other worries. ``He's afraid I'm going to get into trouble,'' Rosettiz says.
-
It's just turned dark and Gloria Santos, a 48-year-old Honduran maid, is walking around the masses for the first time. Her sign reads: ``Reno How Much Is Castro Paying You?''
``These people are seeking justice,'' she says as smoke from roasting pork wafts through the streets. ``These people want to give the child what he deserves: Liberty.''
There are no family news conferences this night. The crowd grows until the late news, then quickly dwindles. By 2:15 a.m., a stiff wind is blowing and many of the 50 or so people still on the scene huddle in sweaters and blankets. This late, with friends and neighbors asleep, the only bathroom
option is four portable toilets at the end of the street.
Fred de la Torre, a 50-year-old limousine driver, just got off of work, and arrives with a fat cigar in hand and four large cups of strong Cuban coffee from a nearby restaurant.
``Cafe? Cafe?'' he asks. ``Anyone else? Here's a little glass.''
De la Torre came over from Cuba in 1959 with his father and still has many relatives there, including his mother.
``The main reason for this,'' he says, waving his hand at his fellow campers, ``is to show the plight of the Cuban people.''
He translates for Gabriel Hernandez, 54, who came over in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, leaving two children behind. He's tried to go back, but his passport has a stamp that says ``No Return.'' He says he has no interest in becoming a U.S. citizen.
``Because I'm Cuban,'' Hernandez says with pride. ``I came here with the idea of returning.''
It's 4:30 a.m. and there are 25 people left. Maria Elena Queseda, 54, sits with four other women in lawn chairs, sipping coffee and talking quietly about how they have put more faith in God as the saga grinds on.
She's been on the graveyard shift for two weeks now.
``Even if we don't stop the federal government, we're a deterrent, especially because we're women,'' she says. ``It'll be ugly on television if it's women and children if there's violence on their part.''
It's now close to 5 a.m., and a group of 10 people start a cheer of, `Elian, Elian.'
It lasts for about 30 seconds - the first chant of a new day.
Gore Sees Elian 'Family Solution'
By Sandra Sobieraj, Associated Press Writer.
FORT LEE, N.J. 20 (AP) - Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) said Thursday he ``advised'' Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives to abide by the law as he rejected an appeal by the Cuban boy's father for public support for a reunion with his 6-year-old son while custody is litigated.
``That decision ought to be made according to what is in the boy's best interest. Usually a family court or a decision maker following those kinds of procedures gives tremendous weight to the views and preferences of a surviving parent, but not always if there are other factors involved,'' Gore
said on CNN's ``Larry King Live.'' He did not say what other factors should weigh into the decision.
Hours earlier, the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, asked Americans to help him persuade the Clinton-Gore administration to end the five-month father-son separation.
A caller to the talk show told Gore the Miami family was ``breaking the law'' by refusing an order, after their temporary custody was revoked, to return Elian to his father. ``Do you condone this lawbreaking?'' the caller asked.
``I advised them to abide by the law and they have said that they will,'' Gore replied.
Spokesman Chris Lehane later clarified that Gore has not spoken with Elian's U.S. relatives. ``That's a public counsel he's proffered,'' Lehane said. ``He has not been in contact personally.''
Earlier, in New Jersey, Gore urged the feuding relatives to get together ``without government officials or lawyers'' to try to resolve their increasingly entrenched and contrary positions.
Gore, pressed by reporters, refused to criticize the handling of the case of the shipwrecked Cuban boy by President Clinton's and his administration.
``I'm not going to get into that. I respect the way they're going about this and I hope we'll be able to get the family members together,'' Gore said during a round robin of local TV interviews in a Fort Lee school corridor.
Like the Miami area, where Elian is staying, New Jersey has a large number of Cuban-Americans.
``I think it would be a constructive step if the family members could all meet together without government officials or lawyers to try to reach a family solution to this,'' Gore said.
``I'm still confident that might happen. I think everybody wants this thing to be over in the way that's in the best interests of the child.''
Gore, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has made clear he will strongly compete for the 25 electoral votes of Florida, where many in the influential Cuban-American community oppose turning Elian over to his father for a return to Cuba. Some have surrounded the relatives' home in
Miami where Elian is staying and vowed to block his removal.
Gore declined to criticize those Little Havana demonstrators, either.
``I haven't been there to see the scene for myself. It's kind of hard to get a picture of it just from a television angle,'' Gore told New York's WNBC-TV.
He evaded repeated questions on whether he agreed with Attorney General Janet Reno's assessment that Elian should be with his father, who is waiting in Washington for a reunion and return to Cuba, while a court decides if the boy should have an asylum hearing.
``My position is the same as it has been. I think it would be a constructive step if the family members could all meet together without government officials or lawyers to try to reach a family solution to this and that's what I would recommend,'' Gore said.
100,000 Rally for Elian in Havana
By JOHN RICE, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA, 20 (AP) - About 100,000 chanting, flag-waving government supporters massed Thursday in front of the U.S. mission, venting anger at a U.N. human rights censure and at delays in the return of Elian Gonzalez.
The enormous crowd, called to the protest by the government, spilled out along Havana's waterfront, from a newly erected protest stage outside the U.S. Interests Section.
``The northern empire (the United States) has spent 40 years working to crucify this people,'' declared Baptist minister Raul Suarez in an Easter-themed message comparing the passion of Christ with the suffering of Cuba.
Poet Miguel Barnet complained that Elian had been exploited in the United States. ``They have converted that boy into an automaton, into a circus animal,'' he told the crowd. He said Elian ``is our child ... a child we are going to defend with our blood.''
Some protesters sat atop Havana's famous Malecon seawall while tens of thousands more stood packed together, waving small Cuban flags in unison. Some came on their own, others came in organized units from work, youth or Communist Party organizations.
``This delay is unjust,'' said Maya Peruren, a 32-year-old microbiologist. ``The boy should be at his father's side.''
Peruren complained that President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno ``have done nothing'' to reunite father and son. ``Everything is just words, nothing more.''
Trucks with loudspeakers roamed the streets of the Cuban capital and the front pages of newspapers announced the late afternoon rally.
``The people, angered and indignant, will unite once again to denounce and implacably condemn the imperialist maneuvers against our fatherland,'' according to the announcement in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde.
The rally mixed protests against U.S. sluggishness in returning 6-year-old Elian with protests against a censure of Cuba this week by the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
On Tuesday, the government gathered between 100,000 and 200,000 people for a protest march past the Czech Embassy in Havana because the Czechs sponsored the censure resolution. Cuban officials claim the United States was the true author of the document.
Taking a cue from official denunciations of the Czechs, a dance troupe at the rally bounced a giant figure of Uncle Sam with a smaller marionette dangling from strings. ``Look at the poor Czech. He dances like a puppet,'' they sang to an African rhythm.
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said on state television Wednesday night that the United States ``manipulates the topic of human rights against our country'' while giving aid ``in our country to a minuscule and absolutely unknown and unrepresentative (group of) paid traitors,'' a reference
to local dissidents.
Cuban officials also complained about the federal appeals court ruling in Atlanta barring Elian from returning to Cuba while court appeals over possible asylum are heard.
The chief of Cuba's Interests Section in Washington, Fernando Remirez and Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon said the judgment ``ignored the opinions of judges, psychologists and pediatricians'' about the Cuban boy's welfare.
In a joint statement read on television Wednesday night, they said that the U.S. government should have settled the case by turning Elian over to his father four months ago.
``The U.S. government knows ... of the dangers the boy runs and is responsible for his security,'' their statement said.
Clinton Leaves Elian Case To Reno
By Terence Hunt, Ap White House Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, 20 (AP) - While tempers flare and passions rise in the five-month Elian Gonzalez custody case, President Clinton is standing back and leaving the decisions to Attorney General Janet Reno.
``The attorney general is leading the effort,'' presidential spokesman Joe Lockhart said. ``The president has been briefed and has had input. Is she making the decisions here? Yes.''
Echoing his attorney general's words, Clinton said Thursday that the boy should be promptly reunited with his father, now that a federal court has ruled that Elian must stay in the United States until the court decides whether he should get an asylum hearing. A hearing was set for May 11.
``There's now no conceivable argument for his not being able to be reunited with his son,'' Clinton said. ``That is what the lawful process has said. The immigration law is clear and the determination of the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and a federal court are clear.
``So, I think he should be reunited and as prompt and an orderly way as possible,'' the president said.
While Clinton has expressed support for Reno's handling of the case, White House officials are frustrated it has dragged on so long without resolution. A senior official, expressing a view shared by colleagues, exclaimed in mock horror, ``Get this off TV.''
But so far, the administration has not been able - or willing - to find a way to end it. The case has exposed divisions between Clinton and Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites), who at one point endorsed legislation to extend permanent resident status to Elian, his father and other
relatives living in Cuba.
Elian's custody battle is not the first explosive political issue time that Clinton has relinquished to Reno.
The attorney general oversaw the government's handling of the standoff at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in 1993. Some 80 people died in a fire after an FBI tear gas assault Reno ordered.
Reno was quick to take the responsibility - and the blame. Clinton let her, and kept his distance.
Two years later, two men angered by Waco bombed the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 in the most deadly terrorist attack in U.S. history.
The president and Reno talked about the Gonzalez case for 45 minutes as they flew home late Wednesday from Oklahoma City and the dedication of a memorial to the 168 victims.
Lockhart declined to discuss their conversation but said Clinton ``believes the attorney general has moved forward in a deliberate way which he believes is appropriate, allowing all sides to have their say.''
Describing Clinton's role in the case, Lockhart said, ``I think the president has remained informed throughout this process, but the process has been spearheaded at the Justice department by the attorney general and at the (Immigration and Naturalization Service) by Commissioner (Doris)
Meissner.
Anti-U.S. Protest Planned in Havana
By John Rice, Associated Press Writer.
HAVANA, 20 (AP) - Furious at a U.N. human rights censure and at delays in the return of Elian Gonzalez, Cuban officials promised to mass more than 100,000 protesters in front of the U.S. Interests Section on the Havana waterfront on Thursday.
Trucks with loudspeakers roamed the streets of the Cuban capital and the front pages of newspapers announced the late afternoon rally at the newly built Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Open Stage, in front of the U.S. mission.
``The people, angered and indignant, will unite once again to denounce and implacably condemn the imperialist maneuvers against our fatherland,'' according to the announcement in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde.
The rally mixes protests against U.S. sluggishness in returning 6-year-old Elian with protests against a censure of Cuba this week by the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
On Tuesday, the government gathered between 100,000 and 200,000 people for a protest march past the Czech Embassy in Havana because the Czechs sponsored the censure resolution. Cuban officials claim the United States was the true author of the document.
On Wednesday night, Cuban state television dedicated more than three hours to a denunciation of the Czech government, accusing its diplomats here of being ``marionettes'' for the United States and of passing anti-Castro propaganda and even computers to local ``anti-revolutionary ringleaders.''
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said on he broadcast that Cuba has defeated U.S. efforts to invade the island and kill President Fidel Castro.
He said the United States ``manipulates the topic of human rights against our country'' while giving aid ``in our country to a miniscule and absolutely unknown and unrepresentative (group of) paid traitors,'' a reference to local dissidents.
Cuban officials also complained about the federal appeals court ruling in Atlanta barring Elian from returning to Cuba while court appeals over possible asylum are heard.
The chief of Cuba's Interests Section in Washington, Fernando Remirez and Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon said the judgment ``ignored the opinions of judges, psychologists and pediatricians'' about the Cuban boy's welfare.
In a joint statement read on television Wednesday night, they said that the U.S. government should have settled the case by turning Elian over to his father four months ago.
``The U.S. government knows ... of the dangers the boy runs and is responsible for his security,'' their statement said.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |