By John Rice, .c The Associated Press
HAVANA, 27 (AP) - Elian Gonzalez's father expressed rage Thursday at the perceived treatment his boy's grandmothers received during their reunion with the child, blaming Cuban exiles for difficulties during the meeting.
``I felt very indignant,'' Juan Miguel Gonzalez told reporters in Havana. ``They just ruined everything.''
Gonzalez complained that during Wednesday's meeting in Miami Beach, the grandmothers' cellular phones were confiscated, making it impossible for him to speak freely with his son for the first time since the boy's Nov. 25 rescue off Florida's coast.
Gonzalez and his family have accused Elian's Miami relatives of listening in and cutting short telephone calls between father and son. He also believed the relatives had tried tell the 6-year-old what to say - and not say.
Ricardo Alarcon, president of the National Assembly and Fidel Castro's top man for Cuba-U.S. relations, complained that anti-communist protests held near the home of Barry University president Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, where the reunion took place, created ``infernal conditions'' for the
meeting.
Alarcon was accompanying Gonzalez during a meeting with a Pittsburgh delegation discussing sister city plans for Matanzas, Cuba.
Alarcon accused the Miami relatives of breaking an agreement not to make contact with the grandmothers during the meeting. Not only did Elian's cousin turn the boy over to the grandmothers, she also listened at the door and recounted what happened later, Alarcon said.
He said O'Laughlin cut short the meeting, which he said was supposed to last at least two to three hours under agreements with the U.S. government.
``It was like some people visiting a person in jail,'' Alarcon charged.
He also criticized the confiscation of the cellular phones.
``They prevented the boy from talking with his father and grandfathers. It would have been the first chance to talk with them without the pressures exercised by the kidnappers,'' he said, using the Cuban government's term for those advocating Elian's presence in the United States.
Earlier Thursday, the Cuban government said the grandmothers were subjected to ``betrayals'' and ``humiliations'' during their reunion with the child and criticized the nun who hosted the meeting.
In an editorial entitled ``Disgustingly Infamous,'' the Communist Party daily Granma said the tense 90-minute reunion was marked by ``deceits, lies, tricks, betrayals, humiliations, and inhuman and despotic treatment'' for the ``the loving and heroic grandmothers.''
``The university president entered the room repeatedly and in an urgent tone declared that the meeting was over,'' the editorial said.
Sister O'Laughlin said Thursday that she decided the boy should stay in the United States. While blaming both sides for the stressful encounter, she especially criticized Cuban officials' heavy-handedness.
``She should be a little bit serious,'' Alarcon said. ``What heavy handed? She didn't even allow a phone conversation with the father.''
Paternal grandmother Mariela Quintana and maternal grandmother Raquel Rodriguez brought letters and pictures from the boy's former classmates to the Wednesday night meeting.
About 200 chanting, flag-waving anti-communist demonstrators reportedly could be clearly heard inside the house. Some cheered and others booed as the grandmothers made their way inside.
The grandmothers later flew to Washington for meetings with more lawmakers in their fight to bring Elian back to Cuba.
Elian was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast. He had left Cuba with his mother, who died along with her boyfriend and nine others when their boat capsized.
The child's Miami relatives want him to stay in the United States. But his father, four grandparents and great-grandmother want him back, and Cuba's government has launched a massive political drive criticizing the United States and Cuban exiles.
AP-NY-01-27-00 2003EST
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