WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department is reviewing Thursday whether
relatives with temporary custody of Elian Gonzalez have alcohol-related
driving
violations and whether a new temporary custodian is needed for the 6-year-old.
"That matter is under review," Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder told
a
Washington news conference Thursday. "We will look at that, try to make
some
kind of factual determination and then decide what steps, if any, need
to be
taken."
A Justice official, who requested anonymity, believes the department has
authority, if necessary, to designate a new temporary custodian for Elian
other than his great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, who has cared for the boy
since
he was found in the Atlantic last fall.
"Back in November, there was an understandable desire to have him put in
a
comfortable environment, and I think the Immigration and Naturalization
Service acted appropriately there," Holder said. "Now that we have this
new
information, we'll have to look at it, and see, like I said, what steps
if any are
appropriate."
The U.S. government also is reviewing a request by Elian's father in Cuba
to
have his temporary custody shifted to another great-uncle in Miami.
On Wednesday, a senior Cuban official said Elian is surrounded by "drunks"
after it was revealed that two of the boy's great uncles have been convicted
of driving under the influence.
Ricardo Alarcon, head of Cuba's National Assembly and Fidel Castro's key
man for U.S.-Cuba relations, said the convictions prove the uncles' Miami
home is no place for Elian -- the boy at the center of an international
custody
battle pitting Castro's government against Cuban exiles in Miami.
"Practically everyone surrounding him either has been, or may be in the
future, joining the prison system in the U.S. That's not the best interest
of the
child," Alarcon told reporters in Havana.
He said Elian was "surrounded by two drunks."
Armando Gutierrez, a spokesman for the Miami relatives, dismissed the
criticism. "Elian is surrounded by love. Alarcon does not know the word
'love,"' he said.
Elian was clinging to an inner tube when he was rescued off the coast of
Florida on Nov. 25 after a boat wreck that killed his mother and 10 other
people.
Elian's relatives and other Cuban exiles in Miami want to keep him in the
United States, saying his mother died to give him freedom. But Cuba's
government is staging a massive campaign to have the boy returned to his
father in Cuba, plastering the walls of major cities with "Save Elian"
posters
and holding daily rallies with rousing speeches, choir performances and
poetry readings.
Florida state records show Gonzalez, 49, with whom Elian has been living
in
Miami, was found guilty of driving under the influence at least twice from
1991 to 1997.
Records show his 62-year-old brother, Delfin Gonzalez, also has been
found guilty at least twice of driving under the influence.
Meanwhile, Cuba's Communist Party daily Gramma published a letter
Thursday from Elian's grandmothers to Attorney General Janet Reno and
INS Commissioner Doris Meissner asking them to return Elian.
"No material good exists that can compete with the value of the family,
and it
is humiliating for us that people are still questioning our love and the
future
that awaits Elian at his home," the letter, dated Feb. 4, said in Spanish.
"We appeal to your sensibility knowing also what family values mean to
the
North American people and the importance placed on them," it said.
Castro and Elian's father and grandparents joined hundreds of people --
most of them children -- at the imposing Fortress of San Carlos de Cabana
to demonstrate in favor of the boy's repatriation. With the towering stone
walls as a backdrop, costumed members of a children's drama group sang
songs, read poems and performed skits dedicated to Elian.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.