Elian's Dad Speaks Out With Anger
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP)
-- Flashing anger at those responsible for
keeping his
son in Miami, the father of Elian Gonzalez said Thursday he
feels like ``breaking
the neck'' of politicians fighting the boy's return to
Cuba.
Repeating previous
statements that he has no intention of coming to
Miami to pick
up the boy, Juan Miguel Gonzalez told ABC's ``Nightline''
that Elian's
U.S. relatives don't ``have any feelings.''
The interview
was conducted as Attorney General Janet Reno sought the
return of the
6-year-old child, even while the custody case headed to
federal court.
``The issue is
a father who wants his son home and grandparents who
want their grandson
home and these are bonds that should be honored,''
Reno told her
weekly news conference Thursday.
Gonzalez asked
whether, if he went to Miami, his son would be handed
over. ``No,''
he said, answering his own question. ``Miami Cubans would
just entangle
me in their political games.''
Speaking in Spanish,
with a simultaneous translation, the father grew
angry when he
was asked about a news report that he didn't work
anymore, didn't
live in his own home and was under psychiatric
treatment.
He called the
report ``a lie,'' and added: ``Perhaps I might be a little bit
crazy because
I would feel like breaking the neck of all those SOBs''
opposing Elian's
return. He cited ``the politicians in Miami and those who
... have behaved
in a manner that is contrary to what our relatives should
have done.''
At another point,
Gonzalez said he ``what I would like to do is go down
there with a
rifle.'' Told by interviewer Chris Wallace the remark was
inflammatory,
the father responded: ``Isn't it inflammatory what they are
doing with my
son?''
An attorney for
Elian's Florida relatives, who are caring for him now, said
they would go
to federal court next week to challenge the Immigration
and Naturalization
Service's ruling that he must be returned to his father in
Cuba
The INS, meanwhile,
rejected a second asylum petition filed this week
on behalf of
Elian by his Florida relatives. Justice Department
spokeswoman
Carole Florman said that only the boy's father could
represent his
son before the agency. Ms. Florman said the new petition
contained ``no
new information.''
Elian was found
clinging to an inner tube in the Atlantic off Florida on
Thanksgiving.
His mother and others fleeing Cuba with him had drowned.
Reno voiced concern about the boy.
``My hope is
that people will look at this little boy and get him into a
situation where
he can live a normal life without television cameras and
the world in
his face,'' she said.
``Do you remember
when you were 6? There were some days I wanted
to run away
from home and there were other days when I wanted my
mommy so bad
I couldn't stand it. ... I certainly think the experience of
most people
is that a 6-year-old is too young to speak for himself.''
To allow time
for a federal court challenge, Reno said Wednesday the
INS indefinitely
would extend its Friday deadline for turning the boy
over. She brushed
aside a state court ruling delaying the boy's return and
said any challenge
to the INS would have to come in federal court.
She explained
Thursday that the boy's status is an immigration matter,
solely in the
jurisdiction of federal law.
``I believe that
the people involved in this situation care about the little
boy and want
to do what's right by him and I think they have also
indicated a
faith in the legal process. Let's let that happen,'' Reno said.
Reno refused to spell out precisely the department's options.
Justice officials,
requesting anonymity, said they could go to federal court
on their own
for a ruling that the state court order does not overrule the
INS decision
or for an enforcement order to carry out the INS decision.
But they said
they wanted to choose the least provocative course, and,
though they
would not say so directly, that course appeared to be waiting
to respond to
any federal court action filed by the Florida relatives.
Spencer Eig,
attorney for the boy's Florida relatives, said they would ask
a federal court
for relief next Tuesday.
``The government
should have respected the temporary protective order
of the Florida
family court, as it was based on preventing imminent and
irreparable
harm to the child,'' Eig said. ``Now we will take the case to a
court they cannot
ignore.''
Cuban President
Fidel Castro appeared at a rally in Havana on Thursday
as his countrymen
kept up their pressure for the boy's return. He did not
address the
demonstrators.