By Tamara Lytle, Washington Bureau. Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 11:50 p.m. Mar. 1, 2000
WASHINGTON -- A month ago, Elián's two grandmothers went to Washington to tearfully press their case that the boy belongs in Cuba with his father.
On Wednesday, the Miami relatives hoping to keep the boy here went to Washington with moving statements of their own. They sent the one person who was sure to captivate the powerful: 21-year-old Marisleysis Gonzalez, the cousin who contends that Elián has made her promise never to
leave his side.
In tearful testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the young woman who has served as a sort of surrogate mother to Elián for three months told the panel that the boy has so bonded with her and his other Miami relatives since he arrived on Thanksgiving Day that he doesn't want
to leave. The child was one of only two survivors from a raft that was lost at sea, killing 11, including his mother.
"He tells me every morning, in these words, 'I love you very much, mi prima.'"
The committee hearing was held to give its members a general overview of life in Cuba, said Jeanne Lopatto, a spokeswoman for Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who is committee chairman. It took place largely at the urging of Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., who is chief sponsor of legislation
to grant Elián U.S. citizenship.
The panel also heard from Alina Fernandez, a daughter of Fidel Castro and one of his harshest critics, musician Juan Formell, who left Cuba even though his father is one of Cuba's most influential musicians, and Mel Martinez, the county commission chairman for Orange County, Fla., who arrived
in the United States via the so-called "Peter Pan" flights of the 1960s.
Without a doubt, however, Marisleysis Gonzalez was the voice everyone came to hear.
"That hearing room was riveted on her," said José Cardenas, Washington director of the Cuban American National Foundation. "There were people crying in the room. Every eye was on her and never deviated throughout her testimony."
Gonzalez, who sleeps in the same room as Elián, also testified Wednesday that the only way to know the true feelings of the boy's father is to have him come to the U.S. and speak free of Fidel Castro's influence. She said Juan Miguel Gonzalez cannot do so in Cuba because his
conversations are being monitored and taped by the Cuban government -- and that sometimes he asks his son to join him in revolutionary songs.
"The grandmothers came here," Marisleysis Gonzalez said. "Why haven't they allowed the father the right to come here?"
She also said that the Elián's father calls frequently, sometimes three times a day, and his relatives here believe he may be trying to indicate that he does not want the boy returned to him in Cuba.
She quoted the father as saying, "I appreciate everything you're doing for my son. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"
Cardenas said Gonzalez's Senate testimony was made possible by Mack, who is leading the fight there to win U.S. citizenship for Elián. A key part of the effort, Cardenas said, is contradicting statements that Elián's father did not know his ex-wife was bringing the child to the
U.S.
"His office was the one that really wanted this opportunity to basically insert into people's consciousness that there was a story out there that was not being told," Cardenas said. "They wanted to talk about some of the things that the grandmothers were saying and to get a
rebuttal."
The message wasn't lost on Hatch, who said Cuba should allow Juan Miguel Gonzalez to come to the U.S. and state his wishes for his son.
"I would call on Fidel Castro to do that -- unless he's afraid that the father, his wife and son would stay here in this country," Hatch said.
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's senior Democrat, said it was a mistake for the committee to interfere in an immigration issue that soon will be disputed in federal court.
"A young boy belongs with his parent, not with distant relatives," said Leahy. "Because we all oppose Fidel Castro does not mean we should oppose this boy being with his father."
Leahy also took the opportunity to criticize Castro and at the same time chide Cuban-American activists and some Republicans for playing politics with the child.
"I can't help but feel more of these people have been interested in their own political agenda than the interests of the little boy," Leahy said.
Mack bristled at that suggestion. He said the status of a citizenship bill for Elián is uncertain, but that Wednesday's hearing was designed to draw more attention to the boy's plight.
The testimony of Marisleysis Gonzalez was partially balanced by that of Manuel Gonzalez, a great uncle of Elián who believes the boy should be with his father.
"Every son needs the character of his father … so that the child might follow the right path," said Manuel Gonzalez, who is trying to wrest temporary custody of Elián away from his brother, Lázaro. "It seems to me the family that brought him up, the family
that gave him nurturing to date, the family that understands him … should provide the therapy the child needs at this time."
Other witnesses at the hearing, including Castro's estranged adult daughter, Alina Fernandez, said sending the boy back to Cuba would sentence him to oppression in a land where parents do not have the right to decide what is best for their children.
"What I cannot understand, however, is how a nation such as the United States of America can allow a dictator to manipulate and take advantage of U.S. laws, and use them for personal political gain," said Fernandez, who fled Cuba in disguise and now lives in Spain.
But Marisleysis Gonzalez said she does not believe Elián's father really wants him back in Cuba. Instead, she said, Juan Miguel Gonzalez has told relatives he too wanted to flee Cuba.
Marisleysis Gonzalez also said Elián is so attached to her now that he follows her to the bathroom in the middle of the night and waits outside the door for her because he fears being separated.
"I really asked this little boy what he wants," she said of whether to return him to Cuba. "All he said was these words: 'No. My mother brought me here and I want to stay here.' He asked me to promise I would never leave his side."
Staff Writer David Cázares and Sun-Sentinel wire services contributed to this report.
Copyright 1999, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida Interactive, Inc. |