Elian's Saga. Posted 9:15 a.m. Thursday, May 11, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Closing chapter starts for Elian
By Jay Weaver. jweaver@herald.com
ATLANTA -- Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives arrived in court this morning to fight what could be their last battle in trying to keep the boy in the United States.
Lazaro Gonzalez, his daughter Marisleysis, his brother Delfin and their attorneys arrived at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court shortly before 9 a.m. Gregory Craig, who represents Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, also arrived, as did government attorneys.
The relatives were greeted by about 25 supporters outside the courthouse, many waving Cuban and American flags. By the time Craig arrived, the crowd had grown to about 100.
The 6-month-old family feud over Elian Gonzalez's fate was supposed to be condensed this morning into a crucial 40-minute hearing on the third floor of a granite courthouse in Atlanta that was once the legal battleground for the civil rights movement.
But the hearing took more than an hour and a half, apparently because the judges were peppering the attorneys with questions.
At 9 a.m. sharp, attorney Kendall Coffey, representing the Miami relatives, was to rise from a table on the left side of the courtroom to convince three judges of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Elian has a right to apply for asylum and that he faces political persecution back in his
communist homeland.
Coffey, assisted by seven lawyers, had 20 minutes to make his case. The child's appeal was brought by his Miami great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez.
Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler, flanked by five Justice Department lawyers at a table on the right side of the courtroom, were expected argue that the 6-year-old boy is too young to seek asylum and that his father wants to return with him to Cuba. Kneedler had 15 minutes to make his
case for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
And Craig, representing Elian's father Juan Miguel Gonzalez, was to follow with a simple request of the judges: don't let this dispute drag on any further for the sake of a young boy and his dad. He had five minutes to make his case on behalf of the father, who is staying with his son in
Maryland and did not attend the hearing.
The 11th Circuit Judges James Edmondson, Joel Dubina and Charles Wilson -- picked randomly for this high-profile case -- were perched on a horseshoe-shaped, dark-wooden bench in front of the lawyers' tables in an area called the well. Behind the bar 136 spectators were expected, including
Elian's Miami relatives and a dozen members of the media.
The trio is expected to issue a ruling at a later date on whether the INS must give the boy an asylum hearing.
The brief timetable for oral arguments is common in the appellate court and comparable to the time set for major appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court.
LEGAL HISTORY
The setting for the showdown over Elian, which will unfold in courtroom 338, is rich in architectural detail and legal history. The gray-granite building, originally both a U.S. Post Office and courthouse, was constructed in 1911 in the Renaissance Revival style.
It was part of the historic Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, until 1981. That year, the Atlanta branch broke off to become the 11th U.S. Circuit Court. The building was named in 1990 after the late Chief Judge Elbert Parr Tuttle of Atlanta, one of the South's leading civil
rights advocates.
During the 1950s and '60s, Tuttle helped decide landmark cases on Jim Crow laws, voting rights, jury discrimination, employment discrimination, reapportionment and school desegregation.
Today's hearing has not generated high interest among Atlantans, although TV trucks have been parked on narrow Forsyth Street outside the courthouse. Atlanta Police and U.S. Marshals have already set up metal barricades outside the courthouse entrance in preparation for what they expect to be a
crush of reporters and photographers and perhaps a few hundred demonstrators.
APPOINTED BY REAGAN
Of the three-judge panel, Edmondson, 52, is the senior member, appointed to the 11th Circuit Court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.
Dubina, also 52, a former federal magistrate in the Middle District of Alabama, was appointed by President George Bush in 1990. And Wilson, 45, of Tampa, who served as the top federal prosecutor in the Middle District of Florida, was appointed by Clinton in 1999.
In a preliminary ruling last month, in which the trio barred Elian's removal from this country until his relatives' appeal is over, the judges showed sympathy for the Miami relatives' case. The crux is this: Immigration law says that any alien, including a boy as young as Elian, may apply for
asylum. The judges seemed to take a literal interpretation of the law, which does not impose any age restriction on asylum applications, and noted that the INS should interview the boy -- even if it goes against his father's wishes.
CONTRASTING VIEW
Their view contrasted sharply with U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore's decision in March that upheld Attorney General Janet Reno's broad powers to reject Elian's asylum requests on grounds that only his father can speak for him. Juan Miguel Gonzalez withdrew the boy's applications, made on
his behalf by his Miami relatives.
Lawyers for the boy's Miami relatives fear that even if they win an asylum hearing for Elian, it could lead nowhere. An INS asylum officer could reject the child's asylum application, without the agency beginning formal removal proceedings of Elian.
That would deprive the child's lawyers from being able to appeal the asylum officer's decision to an immigration court in Miami. And it would allow Elian's father to take the boy back home to Cuba soon after his hearing, a process that takes two to three months.
``We think if we go to the INS, the hearing will not be fair because they have prejudged the merits of his asylum claim,'' Garcia-Pedrosa said. ``We're looking at the possibility of asking the appellate court to fashion a remedy that calls for a fair asylum hearing.''
Herald staff writer Andres Viglucci and Herald Online News Reporter Madeline Baro Diaz also contributed to this report.
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KEY PLAYERS
Key players in today's hearing before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The three-judge panel that will judge the Elian Gonzalez case:
Joel Dubina: Appointed by President George Bush in 1990 . . . Served four years as a federal magistrate in the Middle District of Alabama -- a Reagan appointee . . . Received his law degree from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
James Edmondson: The senior member of the panel . . . Appointed in 1986 by President Reagan . . . directed Reagan's 1984 reelection campaign in Gwinnett County, Ga. . . . A Georgia native who received his law degree from the University of Georgia.
Charles Wilson: Served as the top federal prosecutor in the Middle District of Florida in Tampa for five years . . . Appointed to 11th Circuit by President Clinton less than a year ago . . . Graduate of the University of Notre Dame law school . . . Hillsborough County court
judge for four years and federal magistrate for another four years.
Representing Elian's Miami relatives:
Kendall Coffey: U.S. Attorney in Miami from 1993-96 . . . Represented Miami Mayor Joe Carollo in his successful attempt to overturn the 1997 mayoral election because of vote fraud . . . University of Florida law school graduate . . . Ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 1992.
Representing the U.S. Justice Department:
Edwin Kneedler: Deputy solicitor general since 1993 . . . successfully argued the Elian Gonzalez case before U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami . . . University of Virginia law school graduate . . . Joined solicitor general's office in 1979 . . . Has argued more
than 60 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court
Representing Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez:
Gregory Craig: Influential Washington, D.C., lawyer . . . Member of President Clinton's impeachment legal team . . . Yale law school graduate . . . Helped defend John Hinckley . . . Advised Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy during William Kennedy Smith rape trial . . . Helped
negotiate release of Ricardo Montero Duque and Ramon Conte Hernandez, the last two imprisoned Bay of Pigs soldiers. |
Demonstrators seen coast-to-coast
By Ana Acle. aacle@herald.com
From Miami to Jersey City, D.C. to L.A., hundreds of demonstrators marched to federal courthouses, waved Old Glory, sang the national anthem, shouted ``God Bless America!'' and listened to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.
Their cause: to keep Elian Gonzalez in America.
``Americans to Keep Elian Free'' exercised their civil liberties Wednesday with rallies in 15 major U.S. cities and even down under in Melbourne, Australia.
``This is an American issue,'' organizer Mark Da Cunha, 29, said in Miami. ``It involves individual rights which should concern all Americans.''
An Atlanta federal appellate court will consider today whether the boy can pursue asylum against the wishes of his father. Rescued alone off the South Florida coast, Elian lost his mother in a deadly voyage to the United States. His Miami relatives filed the asylum application.
The idea to hold ``American'' nationwide demonstrations sparked quickly through the Internet from CapitalismMagazine.com where Da Cunha, of Freeport, Bahamas, serves as publisher. Da Cunha was joined by organizers at California's Ayn Rand Institute and others who felt their voices weren't being
heard.
``Cuban Americans have not been very successful in getting their message to non-Hispanic Americans because they were using too many signs and slogans in Spanish, and they were waving the Cuban flag, confusing the message,'' said Steve Bosson, 45, a bilingual salesman in Miami.
Waving the Cuban flag is not meant to portray solidarity with Castro's regime or show disrespect to the United States, said Rolando Espinosa, president of Cuban Educators in Exile.
``We've been misinterpreted,'' Espinosa said. ``We still love our homeland, but we support Americans.''
Among the signs in the Miami crowd: ``Oh Say Did You See By The Dawn's Early Light The Abuse of Elian's Human Rights,'' ``In Cuba the REAL Parent is the State,'' and ``Born in the USA? Defend the Constitution of the USA.''
Seized from his Miami relatives' home by federal agents, Elian is living in seclusion in Maryland with his father. The court ordered he not be removed from the country through the appeals process.
Bosson criticized the raid: ``If the executive branch of the government is able to step on the Constitution and sacrifice even one person's life, for whatever reason, and the American public allows it to happen, then we become a country without the principles for which this nation was founded.''
In Los Angeles, more than 300 people demonstrated outside the West Los Angeles Federal Building, waving signs and both U.S. and Cuban flags.
Organizer Scott Holleran said: ``Elian Gonzalez is forever etched in history as Anne Frank is etched in history.''
In Jersey City, 200 people rallied near the Statue of Liberty to hear Fidel Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, and Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez.
Fernandez, who fled Cuba seven years ago in disguise and with a fake passport, now lives in Spain. ``This tragedy would not have happened if Cuba was free,'' Fernandez said. ``I know all too well the drive to escape the suffocation of repression.''
In Atlanta, 60 demonstrators chanted in front of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building.
``All we are asking is that Elian have his day in court, and that the judges investigate whether the father is able to speak freely,'' said Jack Coello, a Cuban-American lawyer who lives in Atlanta.
More demonstrations are expected in Atlanta today.
In Washington, D.C., a few dozen gathered outside the Department of Justice.
David Crawford, 13, of Silver Spring, Md., attended the demonstration with his parents and held a sign that read: ``In Cuba, This Would be Illegal.''
Herald staff writers Frank Davies and Andres Viglucci and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Playmates from Cuba allowed to stay longer
BY FRANCES ROBLES frobles@herald.com
WASHINGTON -- On the advice of mental health experts, the government will allow Elian Gonzalez's four playmates from Cuba and their parents to stay in the United States for two more weeks, the State Department said Wednesday.
Two government advisors evaluating Elian said that he needs stability and that the continued presence of the children from Cardenas was important for that. But they did not mention any benefit from the presence of a Cuban pediatrician, so her visa was extended only through the weekend.
The decision to let the playmates remain came as Havana fumed over what the Cuban government said was deliberate trickery and delays in granting visas for Elian's three sets of grandparents, including the parents of his stepmother.
The Communist Party newspaper Granma accused the United States of ``lies, deceits and tricks.'' It said a plane had already been dispatched from the United States to pick up the grandparents when they learned the visas had not yet been granted.
``We're a very united family, so this has struck deep in our hearts,'' Elian's grandfather, Juan Gonzalez, said at a government-arranged news conference in Havana. ``We're going to insist. We're dying to see our grandson.''
The boy's maternal grandmother, Raquel Rodriguez, expressed regret that she won't be in Washington for Mother's Day. Cuban government officials said the United States promised to come through with the six travel permits early this week so that the extended family could be with Elian during
today's court hearing in Atlanta.
``All I have left is Elian,'' Rodriguez lamented.
VISAS PENDING
A federal government source said the head of Cuba's diplomatic mission here was notified before the plane departed that the visas were still ``under review.'' Officials questioned why anyone would make elaborate travel plans before having necessary documents in hand.
``No such commitment was given to any particular issuance of these visas,'' State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said, noting that the government had agreed to rush the request.
``And in terms of some of the Cuban government's characterizations, let me say that the Cuban government and their spokesmen are well known for some of their inaccurate and intemperate remarks. So we will not dignify their charges, nor change our position, which is to respect and follow the rule
of law in this case.''
He added that there is no set period for reaching a decision. The visas for the children who are currently visiting Elian took several weeks to be approved. The grandparents applied last Friday, and his stepmother's father applied Monday.
The current batch of visitors was expected for just two weeks, to be replaced by another group of children. That plan was rejected at Dr. Paulina Kernberg's suggestion, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
A teacher who is holding classes for Elian and his friends at the Wye Plantation in Maryland has a three-month visa.
COMFORT LEVEL
``What he's comfortable with is the current group of playmates,'' INS spokeswoman Maria Cardona said. ``For him to feel part of the group, family and environment, it's best for the children to remain.''
Kernberg and social worker Susan Ley issued their second report today, but it was sealed by the federal court.
``Overall, it was very glowing,'' Cardona said. ``It talked continually about how he feels he's part of the family, played well with others and is adapting well to others, the environment and schedule of classes.''
Asked if the experts cited any troubles or concerns, Cardona said, ``There are details in there I can't talk about.''
At first, government officials had decided against renewing the visa for Elian's doctor, Caridad Ponce de Leon. At Juan Miguel Gonzalez's request, her visa was extended until Monday so officials could decide whether to prolong her visit.
Ponce de Leon came under fire after U.S. Customs agents confiscated tranquilizers and antibiotics from her as she entered the country. Sen. Bob Smith (R-Vt.) jumped into the fray, suggesting Elian was being drugged.
Cardona said the controversy around the doctor would not play into her visa application.
``She doesn't have any drugs on her now,'' Cardona quipped.
Civic leaders search for way to close ethnic rift
By Karen Branch-Brioso. kbranch@herald.com
Behind closed doors, Miami's power elite met Tuesday night to produce a strategy to bridge the gaping ethnic divides exposed by the Elian Gonzalez crisis.
Black, Hispanic and white non-Hispanic business leaders from three groups vented passionate -- and divergent -- opinions, according to some who spoke to The Herald on condition of anonymity. But it led to a loose agreement to present a unified public face in a mission for peace.
Among the proposals: enlist religious leaders to help on the day a court decides Elian's fate; buy newspaper advertisements calling for unity; establish a course on cultural and historical differences between ethnic groups.
``It's a work in progress, said car dealer Ed Williamson, co-chair of the civic leadership circle called the Non-Group, which invited the Hispanic group Mesa Redonda and the local chapter of Boulé, a national fraternity of black professionals.
``I'm not a sociologist. But there are many issues among a lot of groups in this county and not just the three that were most represented there. And I don't think the two hours when most people were there is long enough to address them all.
One attendee said there was a sense civic leaders failed to properly prepare for street protests that erupted when federal agents removed the 6-year-old from his Miami relatives' home -- and for the angry reactions to the protests.
NO PREPARATION
``Everyone knew something was going to happen and didn't prepare, a source told The Herald, noting the group agreed to have a plan in place in time for the decision by a federal appeals court that will hear the case today.
The most immediate likely outcome will be to enlist synagogues and churches to open their doors for community expression at the next expected pressure point: the day the appeals court rules.
``That would happen either the day of the decision or the day we see that unfortunate picture of Fidel [Castro] embracing Elian, Williamson said.
The group of about 55 people also tentatively adopted three other strategies offered by businessman Carlos Saladrigas aimed at making peace among Miami-Dade's ethnic groups:
Run full-page ads in Diario Las Americas, The Miami Times, The Herald and El Nuevo Herald with a message signed by leaders from diverse ethnic groups. Its gist, according to Williamson: ``We won't put up with hatred or prejudice or xenophobia.
Create a course for Miami-Dade public schools to promote historical and cultural understanding among the county's diverse ethnic groups -- and allow any community member to attend.
Enlist academics from local colleges and universities to produce a socioeconomic study of Miami-Dade that would offer solutions to disparities.
Williamson said the group will assign task forces to spearhead each of the strategies -- and to recruit a larger and more diverse circle of support.
He said the meeting came about when two Non-Group members, including one who belongs to Mesa Redonda, suggested a joint conference. Williamson, who opened the meeting by asking attendees to keep the discussion confidential, declined to identify the two. University of Miami President Edward T.
Foote II -- a Non-Group member -- sent out pre-meeting letters to the invitees, some said.
Speeches became passionate at times, particularly when architect Ron Frazier of Boulé took the floor. He cited hot-button topics such as unequal immigration policy for Haitians and Cubans; the difficulty for non-Spanish-speaking native Miamians in getting jobs in an increasingly Latino
community; the poor record of Cuban business interests in employing African-Americans; and the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.
Frazier declined comment to The Herald.
SUGGESTIONS
One Cuban-American speaker suggested an investigation into the federal government's handling of Elian's case -- and another suggested the group publicly agree to accept the court decision, no matter the outcome. Neither proposal was adopted.
A member of the Non-Group said the group should include among its goals preparing the community for the return to Miami-Dade of native Janet Reno -- the Attorney General who made the decision to forcibly remove Elian from his relatives' home.
Few opinions were were changed, said one attendee:
``People are still being nice to each other and intellectually dishonest with each other, the source said. ``People say one thing at the meeting and something else on the cell phone with their buddy who was also at the meeting after they leave and something else when they get home.
Still, said Brodes Hartley, president of Community Health of South Dade and the leader of Boulé: ``I felt it was a good first step -- and that's all it was, a first step. There's much work to be done, but we have people willing to sit down and listen to each other.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald |