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Morning News

Attorney General Janet Reno Urges Cooperation in Resolving Elian Gonzalez Custody Case; Cuba Plans More Protests to Express Outrage

Aired January 13, 2000 - 10:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: From Washington to Havana, there is much agreement that Elian Gonzalez should be returned to his father in Cuba, but outside of those national capitals, the opinion is much more divided. Miami's Cuban-American community, which has embraced the 6- year-old, has rallied against his return. Nonetheless, the nation's top lawyer says it will be the laws and not emotion that determine Elian's fate. Attorney General Janet Reno spoke just minutes ago. You saw it live here on CNN.

Mark Potter is in Miami he has reaction to her comments -- Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.

In her morning briefing that we just saw, Attorney General Reno made the point -- the legal point that Elian Gonzalez's immigration case belongs in the federal courts, not in the state courts. But she made another point as well, and she made it over and over, and that is that everyone involved in this case, she said, should try to come together to figure out what is best for a 6-year-old boy who has been through so much trauma. And it's obvious from listening to her that she believes he belongs with his father in Havana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think the process that was used by INS is a fair, good process. We are just trying to make sure that people understand that what is at issue is a father who wants his son home and grandparents who want their grandson home. And these are bonds that should be honored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: The attorney general said there should be no further argument over what the boy himself wants because he is simply too young to decide. She said it is up to adults to come together to figure out what is best.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RENO: There is a little 6-year-old boy who survived one of the most traumatic events that any child could experience: to lose his mother there in the Gulf Stream, to float for as long as he did and live to come ashore under the circumstances that he did. We've just got to think about that little boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: The attorney general would not specify whether the Justice Department was thinking of asking a federal judge to order the family to return the boy, and she would not speculate on what the government would do if the family refused to do that. Her point, she says, is that she hopes it simply does not get to that point.

Mark Potter, reporting live from Miami.

KAGAN: Mark, before we let you go, what about the little boy in question? Is Elian just continuing to go to school and go about as much of a normal life as he can in all this?

POTTER: Well, yes, he's still going to school, but it's not a normal life. He goes to school every day surrounded by cameras, he comes home, he plays in the yard, the cameras are there to record everything he does. It's a semblance of a normal life, but it's far from normal, and that's the attorney general's point: It is time to return him to normalcy.

KAGAN: Good point: far, far from normal. I heard an analogy to the "Truman Show," that every act that he is doing is being followed by a camera.

Mark Potter, following this case in Miami. Thank you, Mark -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The Gonzalez case has sparked a firestorm in Cuba. The latest display of outrage came last night in the capital city of Havana, and an even larger protest looms tomorrow, Friday, in Havana.

CNN's Martin Savidge now live from Cuba with more on this -- Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.

The Cuban government has been organizing protests and rallies almost from the very day that young Elian Gonzalez showed up on American shore. The latest protests are actually protest meetings that are held in the evening hours nearby here in Havana at the Convention Palace. They're usually attended by several hundred people. Among those in attendance last night was Cuban President Fidel Castro.

These are carefully planned out. There's usually a large encompassment of children, usually up on stage singing and performing. And each night in the speeches, there's a particular theme. Last night was mostly concerned with the medical condition of the young boy. They said, physically, he is fine. It is his mental state of mind that they are concerned about, believing he is suffering mental trauma with the separation from his father, with the loss of his mother, and also the separation from his grandparents. Among those who spoke was Elian's personal physician who said that she is greatly concerned that if this goes on, the damage, mentally, could be irreparable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CARIDAD PONCE, ELIAN GONZALEZ'S DOCTOR (through translator): If he's not removed from that infernal circle, we can expect unpredictable and irreversible trauma. If this is prolonged, what could happen to Elian? Many Cuban and foreign colleagues have already predicted the terrible consequences of this captivity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Now, another similar protest is being planned for tonight. This time, it's going to involve mostly children both in the audience and on the stage. And then on Friday, the Cuban government is going to sort of up the emotional ante with a very powerful statement in the form of a protest of about 100,000 people through the streets of Havana; 100,000 people mostly made up of women and mothers. They will be parading down the Malecomb (ph) -- that's the main roadway that lines the ocean front here -- ending up in front of a building that houses the U.S. Intrasection.

Friday was to be the day that young Elian was thought to come back here. That is not going to happen. Clearly, what the Cuban government hopes to send with the emotional images is a strong message to the United States, hoping to win sympathy, urging that young Elian be returned here as soon as possible.

Reporting live in Havana, Martin Savage, CNN.

HEMMER: Martin, thank you.

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