ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

Federal Officials Meet With Family Lawyers Again Today

Aired March 30, 2000 - 9:01 a.m. ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a new deadline and a new offer in the Elian Gonzalez standoff. A decision on his parole status has been deferred until tomorrow morning, Friday, 9:00 a.m. Within the hour, federal immigration officials meet again with lawyers for Elian's Miami relatives.

Also, a new development from Havana. Cuban President Fidel Castro says Elian's father is ready to leave for the U.S. at a moment's notice if the U.S. promises to turn over the boy.

In Miami, meanwhile, thousands rallied last night in a protest against sending Elian back to Cuba.

For the very latest from Miami, let's go there now and join CNN's Mark Potter with us.

Mark, good morning to you.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.

We are outside the U.S. attorney's office here in Miami, where INS officials, Justice Department officials and attorneys for Lazaro Gonzalez and Elian Gonzalez and their family here in Miami, will be meeting in about a half hour to continue the discussions that they had last night.

Now, a government source last night said that there is some hope, some hope, that will could be an agreement. One person characterized the chance as about 50-50.

There was some common ground reached last night, but to be clear, there is still no deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): After nearly five hours of negotiations over the fate of Elian Gonzalez, INS officials and family attorneys failed to reach any agreement, except that they would meet again in the morning.

ROBERT WALLIS, INS DISTRICT DIRECTOR: The government will, therefore, defer revocation of Elian's parole status for a 24-hour period.

POTTER: At issue is an INS threat to revoke Elian's permission to remain in the United States unless the boy's uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, agrees in writing that if he loses his appeal in federal court he will allow Elian to be returned to Cuba.

Gonzalez's attorneys, however, say the government's demand is coercive and deprives him of other legal options. After the meeting, one of the attorneys said he had no idea how this will work out.

And a spokesman had a message for the public.

ARMANDO GUTIERREZ, GONZALEZ FAMILY SPOKESMAN: The family just wants to make sure everyone knows that they will never reach any agreement that would hurt the well-being of Elian Gonzalez.

POTTER: Meanwhile, Cuban exile supporters held a candlelight vigil and formed the shape of a cross in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. Others gathered at the home, where Elian is staying with his relatives.

The threat to revoke Elian's permission to remain in the U.S. is an emotional subject here, and two dozen mayors, including the county mayor, describe the government's demand as provocative.

MAYOR ALEX PENELAS, MIAMI, FLORIDA: If their continued provocation in the form of unjustified threats to revoke the boy's parole leads to civil unrest and violence, we are holding the federal government responsible, and specifically Janet Reno and the president of the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POTTER: Now the original plan was to revoke Elian's parole this morning -- in fact, it was to have happened about five minutes ago -- but because of the continuing negotiations, that was delayed. That will now happen at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, unless, of course, there is an agreement. And then the threat to revoke the parole would be lifted, at least for now.

Mark Potter, CNN, reporting live from Miami.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Mark.

Well, from the beginning, Elian's story has touched an emotional chord in Miami's Cuban-American community. As the dispute escalates, so do the protests demanding that he be allowed to stay in the United States.

CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us live from outside the Miami house, where Elian has been staying.

Good morning, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

It's all quiet at the house today, as demonstrators are taking a break at this early hour. But, of course, as you are well aware, thousands hit the streets last night in support of Elian's staying in the United States, which is indicative of the strong feelings among some members of Cuba's exile community here that the boy should not be sent home to his father in Cuba.

Demonstrators and those who organized those demonstrations are saying that nothing is planned for today. But, they add, things could change if they perceive that there is not a favorable outcome following the talks with the government this day. So if that's the case, this morning's calm could change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMON SAUL SANCHEZ, THE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT: We have been calling for the demonstrations to be nonviolent. We are doing our best effort to maintain in that fashion. Unfortunately, we cannot control everyone. And we hope that at the end of the day, when the situation is over, we have been able to send the message without having to feel sorry about any trouble in the community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: At any moment at this hour, we are awaiting for Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, to make his way over to those government talks. We expect him to be attending as he did last night.

We are told by government sources of those talks were, quote, "frank and direct," and that Lazaro Gonzalez was very emotional, because he felt as though if he had to turn over the boy, he perceived it to be a betrayal of Elian Gonzalez -- Carol.

LIN: Susan, you've spent many a day and night outside that family house. Can you give us a sense of how the family is feeling now on this emotional roller coaster?

CANDIOTTI: Well, they are getting a lot of support from people who have been coming out to the house and -- including last night, when people had come out and yelled and cheered at the end of the meeting, asking for the boy to be shown to the public. So at a very late hour the boy was brought outside to wave to all of the people, and they cheered him on.

You'll remember, Carol, that this family has said all along that they believe that the boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, could not speak freely in Cuba and that if he wanted his son back he would have to come here. But not alone, they said. He would have to come here with his entire family.

Well, now the ball in their court because it looks as though there's a strong possibility that the whole family will come.

So the question is, will the boy be turned over if the family comes? Sources who are very familiar with the case tell me that they hope that something can be worked out in the best interest of the child as long as, they put it, they do not meet in a controlled situation -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Susan Candiotti. And we will go to Janet Reno's regular briefing at 9:30 this morning, in about 23 minutes.

HEMMER: Further south now from Miami to Havana. Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, says the father of Elian Gonzalez is now ready to leave for the U.S. at a moment's notice if the U.S. can give Cuba certain assurances.

From Havana, our bureau chief there now Lucia Newman with -- live from Cuba, with more on this.

Lucia, hello.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning.

Well, indeed, President Fidel Castro surprised almost everyone in this country and certainly caught his critics in the United States off guard by announcing what can only be described as imaginative, indeed a bold plan to, what he says, put an end to the chaos surrounding the impasse in this Elian Gonzalez case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIDEL CASTRO, PRESIDENT OF CUBA (through translator): Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elian's father, is ready to travel to the U.S. right away to take charge of his son, Elian, as the boy's father, recognized by the INS and the judge Moore. He would be accompanied by the indispensable people, as decided by psychiatrists and psychologists, to begin without wasting a minute the re-adaptation to the nucleus of his family and school, while the appeal process is going on in Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, Bill, also accompanying the child's father would be, as Susan pointed out just earlier, his wife, Elian's half-brother, Elian's school teacher, 12 of his classmates, and this team of psychologists and psychiatrists. This would -- the plan would only work, says President Castro, however, if U.S. authorities agree to give assurances to the family that the father would be given custody of the child when he went to the United States.

Now, the idea is for the whole family to move into the home of the head of Cuba's diplomatic mission in Washington and stay there while the appeals process goes forward in Atlanta federal court. The idea, I repeat, is not for them to take the boy and then return to Cuba.

This is Lucia Newman, reporting live from Havana.

LIN: Of course, this story involves the law, as well as politics. Federal immigration officials are under mounting pressure from Cuba, Cuban-Americans, and now Congress.

CNN's Justice correspondent, Pierre Thomas, has more on the government's plans for Elian Gonzalez. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PIERRE THOMAS, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congressional Republicans vowed to stop Attorney General Reno from removing Elian from his Miami relatives, introducing legislation to make the boy a permanent U.S. resident.

SEN. BOB SMITH (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: If we don't make or take a vote on this, Elian Gonzalez likely will be dragged kicking and screaming from the arms of his Uncle Lazaro and sent off to Cuba.

THOMAS: Under assault, the Justice Department's demand that the boy's Miami relatives sign a statement promising to turn over Elian should they lose a federal appeal.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: For reasons I fail to understand, this administration yesterday significantly ratcheted up the stakes in this matter and unnecessarily turned this into a crisis situation.

THOMAS: But the top attorney for the Immigration and Naturalization Service says Justice officials are unwilling to allow endless legal maneuvers that would keep the boy from his father.

BO COOPER, INS GENERAL COUNSEL: The months and years of going from forum to forum and further postponing the reunion of his father and the 6-year-old boy? That strikes me, as a lawyer, as wrong. It strikes me as a public servant as wrong, and it strikes me as a parent as wrong.

THOMAS: Cooper says INS officials would not take immediate, dramatic action to remove Elian but made clear the boy's relatives should understand the ramifications if they choose to ignore the Justice Department.

COOPER: It doesn't mean that there will be someone there at 9:00 in the morning to collect him by force, but it does mark the beginning of the period where we will instruct them about how to effect the child's transfer.

THOMAS: If no agreement can be reached, the INS plan is to revoke custody and a short time later give a date and location for his transfer, perhaps even to his father.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

THOMAS: So what happens if the family rejects all the Justice Department's demands? That's the question Justice officials don't want to have to answer -- Carol.

LIN: Pierre, very specifically, then, what are the hanging points here?

THOMAS: Well, the great-uncle wants to be able to pursue all legal maneuvers, including perhaps going to state court. The Justice Department says they want this matter ended if the federal appeal fails, and that's what they are battling over right now in these negotiations -- Carol.

LIN: Following the details, thank you very much, Pierre Thomas.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.