Published Tuesday, May 9, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Elian outing in Washington brings criticism in Miami
Motive behind party questioned
By Frances Robles. frobles@herald.com
WASHINGTON -- For the first time since flying to the nation's capital aboard a U.S. Marshals Service plane two weeks ago, Elian Gonzalez appeared in public over the weekend -- at the home of a Washington, D.C., power broker who opposes the Cuba trade embargo.
The boy's presence Saturday at the tony Georgetown home of Smith Bagley, grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds and a big-time Democratic donor and fund-raiser, inspired criticism in Miami.
``What's he doing there?'' Spencer Eig, attorney for Elian's Miami relatives, said Monday. ``It doesn't look right.''
But a source close to the Cuban Interests Section said the idea behind the party was innocent enough -- to get the Gonzalezes out of the Wye Plantation, a rural estate where they have lived in seclusion with Cuban visitors for two weeks.
``It had to do with going out of their way to show he's not a hostage,'' said the source, who asked not to be identified.
The choice to hold the outing at the Bagleys made sense, the source said. Bagley is a wheeler dealer married to the former U.S. ambassador to Portugal. Elian was hardly his first famed guest: He's hosted Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barbra Streisand and Gen. Colin Powell.
Bagley offered $10,000 to Bill Clinton's legal defense fund and is the money behind the Arca Foundation, an organization devoted to more contact and fewer trade restrictions with Cuba. As chairman, Bagley heads what is much like the Cuban American National Foundation of the other side of the
Cuba debate.
Arca's $72 million has offered millions to organizations that sponsor things like university study in Cuba and marine projects. In 1998, it gave $75,000 to the Miami-based Cuban Committee for Democracy, whose chairwoman is Elena Freyre. The group actively argues for a less hardline U.S. posture
toward Cuba.
Bagley is a former national finance chairman of the Democratic Party.
``Smith Bagley is financier of not the anti-embargo movement, but the pro-Castro movement,' said Jose Cardenas, director of the Cuban American National Foundation's Washington office. ``He's openly hard-core, low-key but very committed. He and his wife are the prototypical power couple --
wanting to impress their similarly minded friends with, `We are so tied in that we can serve up to you Juan Miguel and the little raft boy.' It bugs me.''
Sean Garcia, executive director of the Washington office of the Cuban Committee for Democracy, said Bagley is known as a man who puts his money behind his philosophies. ``This is a person genuinely interested in the future of Cuba and Cuban people.''
Garcia said the excursion was a positive sign that the family was not just reacquainting themselves to each other, but to society.
Reached at home Sunday night, Bagley declined to comment. ``I'm not going to get into this,'' Bagley said ``Not now.''
Monday, a secretary said he and Arca director Donna Edwards were out of the office and unavailable.
Gregory Craig, the attorney for Elian's father, did not return calls. Neither did officials from the Cuban Interests Section.
The outing prompted more discussion about how Elian is coping with his transition to Washington and the reunion with his father.
Elian has been kept out of sight at the Wye Plantation, where he is said to be attending classes and playing with his visiting Cuban schoolmates.
One new fact: He was taught last week to ride a bicycle by a U.S. marshal assigned to protect the family.
There was little information about how Elian enjoyed himself at the party, except a photo of him leaving the Bagley home that showed him looking downward with his hands tucked in his pockets. In Havana, the Cuban Communist Party daily Granma on Monday made a one-paragraph reference to the outing
buried in a lengthy report about public demonstrations in South Florida over the weekend. The article said Elian ``shared some pleasant moments with [Smith Bagley's] son, a boy his age.''
``I hope someone finds out what condition Elian is in, because he didn't look happy,'' said Armando Gutierrez, the spokesman for the Miami relatives.
Among the guests at the gathering were Elian's father, stepmother and baby half-brother and Cuba's top diplomat in Washington, Fernando Remirez, who brought his wife, Patricia, and two children.
Cuba watchers said the visit should not come as a shock.
``It's no surprise that the conservative sector finds it distasteful,'' said Gillian Gunn Clissold, director of the Caribbean Project at Georgetown University. ``What are they supposed to do, stay in their house and not talk to anyone?''
Herald staff writers Ana Acle and Jay Weaver contributed to this report, as did Herald research editor Elisabeth Donovan.
Elian's Miami kin to attend hearing
By Ana Acle. aacle@herald.com
The Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez will travel this week to the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta, where they hope to speak to Elian's father during the appeal of the boy's political asylum case.
If both sides of the family attend the hearing, it will be their first time in a room together.
But the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell said Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, will probably not attend because ``he's not needed there.''
Elian's great-uncle, Delfin Gonzalez, and cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, will travel to Atlanta on Wednesday, the day before oral arguments. Great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez and family spokesman Armando Gutierrez will first travel to Jersey City, N.J., today for a Wednesday rally with Alina Fernandez,
Fidel Castro's daughter. They would join the other Gonzalezes in Atlanta in time for Thursday's hearing.
Fernandez, who left her homeland in 1993 in disguise and with a fake passport, has denounced her father and agreed to speak before congressional hearings to support the notion that Elian should stay in a democratic country.
``We were invited by the Jersey City mayor to attend,'' Gutierrez said. ``I'd like Lazaro to get out of Little Havana and meet other people.''
Depressed by the government's snatching of the boy from their Little Havana home, the Gonzalez family has kept out of public view.
Lazaro and Angela Gonzalez still occupy the Little Havana home, but said they hope to move. They were being urged by Delfin Gonzalez to do so. Angela continued to go to her job as a seamstress in a Hialeah factory, but Lazaro said he has not been able to work as a mechanic at Metro Ford.
He has spent the past week milling about at relatives' homes, waiting for the legal case to be resolved and meeting with attorneys. Many issues -- including whether the family can meet with Elian, his father or government-appointment psychiatrists -- remain unresolved.
Their daughter, Marisleysis, has returned to the home occasionally only to gather her belongings and has been staying with an aunt at an undisclosed location. She has not returned to her job as an assistant loan processor with Ocean Bank.
``There are too many memories in the home,'' Lazaro Gonzalez said.
He has been approached by strangers offering their support in cafeterias, grocery stores and outside his home.
A small crowd still gathers outside the Little Havana home where angry and mournful signs are displayed on the chain-link fence. New signs pop up with daily developments. On Monday, a sign suggesting that Elian seems unhappy was displayed beside a photo of the boy's visit Saturday with
Democratic Party benefactors Elizabeth and Smith Bagley.
Herald staff writer Frances Robles contributed to this report.
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