NATION
Page 14 THE BATTALION
Reno flies to Miami for Elian dispute
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney
Genera! Janet Reno traveled to Miami
Wednesday to try to personally help settle
the four-month-old, international dispute
over custody of 6-year-old Cuban ship
wreck sur\ ivor Elian Gonzalez.
“She’s planning to work out a resolu
tion, trying to meet with the parties con
cerned to seek a cooperative settlement in
this case,” Justice Department spokesper
son Myron Marlin announced.
Meantime, federal ollicials continued
working on a letter telling Elian’s Miami
relatives to give him up Thursday, or per
haps Friday. But they missed their infor
mal target of sending it by early afternoon.
Marlin said Reno would meet with the
Miayii relatives who have cared for Elian
since he was found last Thanksgiving
floating in the Atlantic off Florida after the
boat carry ing him, his mother and others
sank during an escape from Cuba. Elian’s
mother and 10 others drowned. But Reno
was not planning to deliver the letter of in
structions herself, he said.
Reno also met with community lead
ers in Miami, where angry Cuban exiles
have vowed to prevent the boy’s return to
his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, in Cuba
because it is ruled by Fidel Castro, whom
they lied.
Reno was taking
a dramatic step in
the government’s ef
fort to help forge a
last-minute separate
peace between the
Miami relatives and
Elian’s father that
could lead to a
prompt and peaceful
transfer.
Earlier Wednes
day, Juan Miguel
Gonzalez indicated,
however, in a meet
ing with the Rev. Joan
Brown Campbell that
he was through with
negotiating. “He is going to simply ask
now that the attorney general issue a court
order and that the boy be returned imme
diately to him,” she said.
She said he is “frustrated because the
negotiations broke down, and he doesn’t
have his son.”
Nevertheless, the Cuban American
National Foundation, a Cuban exile group,
said it still hoped to set up a meeting.
The Justice Department was not pre
pared to wait forever and planned to issue
instructions for Elian’s transfer in a letter
to his Miami relatives
Wednesday afternoon.
“We are continu
ing to encourage that
the adults meet at the
same time we are
moving forward with
finalizing the letter,
which we expect to
send by early after
noon unless other
events make it unnec
essary,” Justice
spokesperson Carole
Florman said
Wednesday morning.
Shortly before
midnight Tuesday,
Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian’s great-uncle,
called off a meeting that had been sched
uled for today, saying the 6-year-old
Cuban shipwreck survivor did not want
to go. Elian was “extremely afraid”
about the proposed meeting in Washing
ton, family lawyer Roger Bernstein said
on NBC’s “Today.”
Justice's Florman said, “The best re
sult would be for Juan Miguel and
La/aro to agree on a turnover procedure
that makes them both happy and bene
fits Elian. But we’re not backing off our
position that a transfer needs to go for
ward quickly.”
Lazaro Gonzalez took the boy today
to the Miami Beach home of Sister
Jeanne O’Laughlin, the president of Bar
ry University, who hosted Elian’s grand
mothers during a visit in January. Fami
ly spokesman Armando Gutierrez said
the nun’s house would be a quieter set
ting for Elian.
The great-uncle had proposed her
house as a neutral setting for a meeting,
even though O’Laughlin said after the
grandmothers’ visit that she thought Elian
should remain in the United States.
The family’s decision to move the
boy to O’Laughlin’s house was viewed
by some observers close to the talks as
a positive step to remove him from the
crowds of Cuban exiles outside
Lazaro’s house in Miami’s Little Ha
vana who are protesting moves to return
him to Cuba.
It was learned that the letter ordering
that Elian be turned over to his father
calls for the transfer at Opa-locka airport
to occur at 9 a.m. Thursday, but it was
understood that if the letter was not sent
until late Wednesday, the transfer date
would be shifted to Friday.
“She's planning
to work out a res
olution, trying to
meet with the
parties concerned
to seek a coopera
tive settlement in
this case.”
— Myron Marlin
justice Department
spokesperson
Clinton backs Colon
gun show sales refoi
DENVER (AP) - President Clin
ton threw his support behind a ballot
initiative for new restrictions on
firearms sales at gun shows Wednes
day. But the state's Republican gover
nor boycotted Clinton’s appearance
even though he agrees with the presi
dent on the issue.
Some Columbine parents also were
resentful of the visit, w hich came one
week before the anniversary of the high
school massacre. They feared the
tragedy \
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