By Brian Bergstein
Associated Press Writer
Thursday , April 13, 2000

MIAMI –– Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives defied a government deadline this afternoon, refusing to return the boy to his father's custody and prolonging a wrenching custody battle that began when he was found at sea on Thanksgiving Day.

Lazaro Gonzalez had been instructed to deliver his grand-nephew to an airport near Miami at 2 p.m. EDT. Instead, he took his brinkmanship one step further: The child remained in the Little Havana home where he has lived for 4½ months. He appeared playful and cheerful.

Attorney General Janet Reno and Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, had no immediate comment after the deadline passed. Earlier, Reno said the government would act in a "reasonable, measured way" – and not try to remove the boy immediately after the government-announced deadline.

"We have the authority to take action," Reno said. "But responsible authority means not only knowing when to take action, but how and when to take that action."

After failing to reach an agreement with the family during a dramatic 2½-hour meeting attended by the Cuban boy, Reno ordered them to bring him to Opa-locka airport outside Miami at 2 p.m. for a flight to Washington. Fifty police cars ringed the airport and 200 officers were deployed to the area.

In Atlanta this afternoon, Lazaro Gonzalez's attorneys filed an emergency motion in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking the judges to prevent Elian from returning to Cuba until a full hearing could be held. The court took no immediate action.

Lazaro Gonzalez had insisted he would not relinquish custody of the boy he has cared for since Elian's mother drowned off the Florida coast nearly five months ago. "We will not turn this child over – not in Opa-locka, not in any 'locka,'" he said. "They will have to take this child from me by force."

Outside Lazaro Gonzalez's house this morning, police chained barricades together and thousands braced for Elian's departure. "War! War! War!" some shouted in Spanish; others renewed pledges of nonviolence. Many demonstrators headed to a side street that some feared the government would use to sneak in. Actor Andy Garcia and singer Gloria Estefan, both
Cuban-Americans, spent time with demonstrators and inside the house.

"We want no violence. We are a peaceful community," Estefan said after the deadline passed. "We urge every Cuban-American watching to join us in the effort."

Lazaro Gonzalez addressed the growing crowd with a bullhorn this morning and called for peaceful demonstrations. "We're going to set an example so that they do not take the child Elian, and we're not going to fight with anyone," he said. The crowd cheered wildly.

Government sources have said that if the relatives didn't deliver the boy, the Justice Department would be prepared to eventually send U.S. marshals and immigration agents into the Little Havana house to remove Elian.

Protesters have repeatedly said they would link arms and form a human chain around the house to block federal agents from going in.

It was learned that federal marshals and immigration agents sent to get the boy would likely arrive in minimum numbers wearing civilian clothes. The agents who actually would go to the house might not even be armed.

Reno said there was no intention of going into the house immediately if the boy was not produced by 2 p.m. She also proposed that the Miami relatives fly to Washington – without Elian – and meet with his father.

"We are trying to do this fairly, straightforwardly, without playing games with people," Reno said. "I am trying to work through an extraordinary tragedy without having to cause further disruption to the little boy."

Family attorney Manny Diaz bristled at what he called government demands. "Let the families speak to each other," he said. "Who knows what will come out in a family meeting?" It was unclear what was stopping the Miami relatives from doing so.

President Clinton also weighed in. "I've tried to do everything I can to stay out of it," he said in Washington. "But it is our obligation to uphold the rule of law."

Crowd control outside Lazaro Gonzalez's house is a local, not federal, responsibility. Reno and other federal officials have been assured by Miami police that they will keep order, the government official said. Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas renewed his call for peace.

Meanwhile, Elian, speaking in Spanish on a home video, addressed his father, saying: "I don't want to go to Cuba. ... I want to stay here." The video was obtained by the Spanish-language network Univision.

Gregory Craig, Juan Miguel Gonzalez's attorney, called on the news media to stay away from the boy because he "has been exploited enough."

The government plan had called for a plane to take Elian, and any Miami relatives who wanted to come, to Washington for a retreat at a neutral site with the boy's father. No Cuban diplomats would be present. After the meeting, the government said, "care and parole of Elian will be transferred to Juan Miguel Gonzalez."

In Florida Family Court, meanwhile a judge today rejected – as expected – the family's request filed earlier this week to intercede and prevent the INS from taking the boy. Judge Jennifer D. Bailey said she had no jurisdiction.

Reno's meeting with Lazaro Gonzalez, the boy's cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, and other relatives, was held at the gated Miami Beach home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, the nun who was host of a January meeting between Elian and his grandmothers from Cuba.

Elian moved from lap to lap at the table, and left the room only when the subject matter was too sensitive.

Marisleysis, the 21-year-old cousin who has regarded herself as a mother figure to Elian, reminded the protesters that Elian's mother gave her life to try to bring him to the United States. She said in a quiet voice, "They're going to have to come get him."

Elian was rescued by two fishermen while clinging to an inner tube in the Florida Straits on Thanksgiving Day. His mother and 10 other people fleeing Cuba drowned when their boat sank.

His Miami relatives have been caring for him ever since and have been fighting in court for an asylum hearing. The Clinton administration has ordered Elian back to his father in Cuba, saying only he can speak for the boy on immigration matters.

Elian's father, who has met with Reno and remained in the Washington area since coming to America last week, indicated Wednesday he was finished negotiating. A planned meeting in Washington with the Miami relatives was abruptly canceled this week after Lazaro Gonzalez said Elian did not want to go.

At the Cuban Interests Section in Washington late Wednesday, Juan Miguel Gonzalez told an ABC News anchor he had spoken to Elian twice, and only briefly, since arriving in Washington.

"I've tried to forgive them so many times already," he said of his relatives in today's New York Daily News. "After this I don't think I can do it again."

Jose Pertierra, an immigration lawer who met with Juan Miguel, said the father had no plans to defect. "He said, 'I like Cuba,'" Pertierra told "The Early Show."

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EDITOR'S NOTE – AP Writer Michael J. Sniffen contributed to this report from Washington.

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On the Net:

Immigration and Naturalization Service: http://www.ins.usdoj.gov

Miami relatives: http://libertyforelian.org

                                    © 2000 The Associated Press