CNN
February 10, 2000
 
 
Justice Department reviews custodial issues for Cuban boy

                  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.