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3 agents in Elián raid back colleague's claim
By Alfonso Chardy. achardy@herald.com. Posted on Thu, Apr.
11, 2002 in The Miami Herald.
Three Immigration and Naturalization Service agents who took part in the Elián
González raid testified Wednesday that there was anti-Cuban paraphernalia
in the Miami district office, backing similar claims by a fellow agent who is
accusing the INS of discrimination and is seeking a transfer to another
district.
Testifying publicly for the first time at a federal employee grievance
hearing, INS agents Julián Hernández, Ramón Cabrera and
Gwenn Reed echoed claims made by fellow agent Rick Ramírez -- who also
took part in the raid -- that there were comments made and items displayed that
could be construed as anti-Cuban exile.
But they differed on whether the sentiment was widespread, encouraged by
supervisors or simply tolerated.
Cabrera, who is Cuban American, testified that fellow agents -- not
supervisors -- were responsible for some of the controversial items, including
cup holders bearing the image of a Cuban flag with a line slashed across it.
However, all three said they heard widespread discussion about an alleged
comment made by the top INS manager at the time, Robert Wallis, gloating that
Reed had aimed a gun at Mario Miranda, the former bodyguard to the late Cuban
exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa. Miranda had helped guard Elián's Little
Havana house.
The picture of the INS agent pointing the gun at Miranda, sprawled on the
ground, became a symbol of the exile community's loss of clout in the aftermath
of the Elián raid. Wallis could not be reached for comment, but he is
expected to testify today, according to Ramírez's attorneys.
Rodney Germain, an INS spokesman in Miami, said "there were some
isolated incidents previously, but as soon as managers were made aware of these
incidents, action was immediately taken.''
The hearing before the board, a quasi-judicial arbitration panel for federal
employees, comes two years after federal agents carried out a predawn raid on
April 22, 2000, to remove Elián González from the Little Havana
home of the boy's Miami relatives. The boy, who survived a sea voyage in which
his mother drowned, became the center of an international custody battle when
his father in Cuba demanded his return. His uncle in Miami -- Lázaro González
-- refused to return the boy to Cuba.
Armed with automatic weapons and firing occasional rounds of tear gas, about
30 agents seized Elián despite the objections of about 100 protesters who
climbed over barricades to try to stop the raid. Some threw rocks, garbage cans
and chairs at the agents.
Echoes of the emotional Elián saga were replayed Wednesday in a
conference room at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Miami. Present were some of the
hard-core demonstrators who for months stood guard outside the boy's Miami home
at 2319 NW Second St. They sat in the audience as INS agents testified in front
of Richard Vitaris, an administrative law judge presiding over the proceedings
of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.
Ramírez, a Mexican American, is asking the board for a transfer and a
finding of discrimination. A ruling isn't expected until late April.
As Reed testified, Miranda sat in the audience. Behind him sat José
Basulto, head of Brothers to the Rescue. In another nearby row sat Miguel
Saavedra, head of the exile group Vigilia Mambísa.
Asked later if Reed had said anything while he pointed a gun at him, Miranda
said: 'Yes, he told me "don't move, [expletive], or I'll blow your head.'
''
During the proceedings, Ramírez's attorney -- Larry Klayman of the
Judicial Watch legal watchdog group -- asked Reed whether Wallis had made any
congratulatory statements about the photo of Reed pointing the gun at Miranda.
Reed said Wallis never said anything to him directly. He also said he had
not seen the items described by other agents -- such as the ''banana republic''
banners, the cup holders and a box with a cartoon of a boy that read, "Elián:
kick me.''
But two other agents, both Cuban Americans, recalled seeing the cup holders,
the banners and the box.
Cabrera said he had no problem with the banners but took issue with the cup
holders. ''I'm Cuban American and the cup holder offended me,'' Cabrera said.
Separately, Ramírez's lawyers accused the head of the INS at the time
-- Doris Meissner -- of ordering the destruction of a Dec. 29, 1999, e-mail that
quoted other INS officials as saying the agency considered granting political
asylum to Elián instead of returning him to his father.
The e-mail, first mentioned Tuesday at the start of board proceedings,
contained hand-scrawled notes at the bottom in which its author -- INS official
Rebeca Sánchez-Roig -- said Meissner ordered the destruction of the
document.
Meissner said Wednesday she didn't recall ordering that a specific document
be destroyed. In a call to The Herald, she acknowledged ordering that no notes
be kept of conference calls to avoid leaks of sensitive discussions.
''The issue of taking notes was an issue of very substantial concern because
I had asked that there be no notes taken of teleconference calls that we had,
for the obvious reason that the notes could leak and compromise the sensitivity
of the issues that were being discussed,'' Meissner said. | 
