The Washington Times
January 27, 2000
 
 
Elian and grandmothers meet at home of a nun

                         By Alex Veiga
                         ASSOCIATED PRESS
 

                              MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Elian Gonzalez was
                         reunited with his grandmothers yesterday at a "neutral
                         site" that had to be arranged by the U.S. government
                         because of the personal and political passions
                         swirling around the 6-year-old Cuban boy.
                              Elian was driven to a nun's house in Miami Beach
                         to see his grandmothers, who had flown in from
                         Washington. The visit lasted about an hour and a
                         half.
                              The grandmothers picked the boy up and were
                         shaking as they hugged him and kissed him, said
                         Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, who monitored the reunion
                         while relatives waited in the next room. The
                         grandmothers broke down crying after Elian walked
                         out of the room, the nun said.
                              "It took him a little while to warm up, but after a
                         little bit he became very animated," said Sister Peggy
                         Albert, who also watched the reunion.
                              Elian has been in the middle of an international
                         dispute and a power struggle among his relatives
                         since he was found clinging to an inner tube off the
                         Florida coast Nov. 25. He had left Cuba with his
                         mother, who died along with 10 other persons when
                         their boat capsized.
                              The Immigration and Naturalization Service has
                         ordered him returned to his father in Cuba, but the
                         boy's relatives in Miami are fighting the order in
                         federal court so he can remain with them.
                              Mariela Quintana and Raquel Rodriguez had not
                         seen their grandson since before he left Cuba. The
                         grandmothers came to the United States last week to
                         appeal to the American people and Congress to send
                         the boy back to his father in Cuba.
                              In their time together yesterday, Elian and his
                         grandmothers played with an Etch-a-Sketch and
                         stuffed animals, and the women showed him a photo
                         album and letters from his classmates in Cuba, Sister
                         Albert said.
                              "They just came to him and they hugged him and
                         they sat down at a table and they were seeing an
                         album of pictures," said Elian's cousin Marisleysis
                         Gonzalez, who brought Elian to the room.
                              The grandmothers did not comment as they left
                         the house and were driven away to a helicopter.
                         They later got on plane to Washington.
                              The grandmothers had also come to Miami on
                         Monday, but they left without seeing Elian. The
                         Miami relatives insisted that any reunion take place at
                         their home in the Little Havana neighborhood, but the
                         grandmothers said they were uncomfortable going
                         there. Anti-Castro Cuban immigrants have been
                         holding protests around the home.
                              After long negotiations, the Justice Department
                         ordered Elian's relatives to bring him to the home of
                         Sister O'Laughlin, president of Barry University, who
                         has long been involved with helping immigrants. The
                         Justice Department said it had the authority to do so
                         under the arrangement letting the boy stay in this
                         country pending further immigration proceedings.
                              As the grandmothers drove up to the house, a
                         few people tossed flowers at their car. About 200
                         demonstrators were waiting outside the house; some
                         cheered and others booed as the grandmothers
                         passed.
                              Sister O'Laughlin said both sides were so nervous
                         and mistrustful about the meeting that she had to
                         show them there was no chance Elian could be taken
                         away.
                              Sister O'Laughlin said she was "showing that
                         windows couldn't be opened, that doors couldn't be
                         opened, that there were no disappearing trap doors."
                              When the grandmothers arrived, they trembled
                         with fear, the nun said.
                              "There was pain on both sides, there was hurt on
                         both sides," Sister O'Laughlin said. "The greatest
                         element, however, was that of fear."
                              Elian's father, in a letter printed in the Communist
                         Party newspaper Granma, asked to be included in
                         the reunion by telephone. Sister O'Laughlin said a
                         nun took a cell phone from Mrs. Quintana, the
                         paternal grandmother, after it rang.
                              As Elian returned to his relatives' home in Miami,
                         a crowd waiting outside roared with approval. Elian's
                         great-uncle Delfin Gonzalez faced the crowd while
                         holding a crucifix above his head.
                              "Tomorrow they're going to make me an
                         American citizen," Elian said in an interview
                         broadcast over the Spanish-language Radio Mambi
                         while driving back to his relatives' home.
                              On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Trent
                         Lott indicated he has no solid plans for handling
                         legislation to give Elian U.S. citizenship. That would
                         remove the boy from the jurisdiction of the
                         Immigration and Naturalization Service, the agency
                         that ordered him back to Cuba.
                              "There are a lot of extenuating circumstances," the
                         Mississippi Republican said. "Obviously it could
                         come up next week. But there are a lot of people
                         looking at this issue and there may be developments
                         between now and then."
                              President Clinton supported the grandmothers'
                         cause, hinting he might veto the citizenship legislation
                         if it passes.