Elian Gonzalez Case: Miami Relatives Invited to Meet with Mental Health Case Experts
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is seen as a defining week in the battle over Elian Gonzalez. Federal officials say the 6-year-old Cuban boy should be turned over to his father in a matter of days. In an effort to speed up that process, they've scheduled a rather important meeting later today with Elian's relatives in Miami. CNN's Susan Candiotti now live from southern Florida with the very latest from there. Susan, good morning.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. That meeting, according to government officials, is slated to begin at 1:30 this afternoon, with Elian's great uncle Lazaro Gonzalez and with or without the boy's cousin Marisleysis, who is said to be hospitalized again over the weekend with complications from stress over the boy's ordeal. Now, Elian is not invited to the meeting with mental health case experts. Family attorneys tell me, they have not yet decided whether to bring the boy anyway. U.S. Immigration has not excluded the possibility of a second meeting with Elian with the proviso that the Miami relatives agree to a peaceful transfer of custody, and if Elian's father agrees to such a meeting. U.S. government officials suggest today's meeting should last no more than three hours. Attorneys for the Florida relatives of Elian Gonzalez say the boy's great uncle not inclined to, quote, "help the INS," by surrendering the boy to another location. They do not know how demonstrators would react if force became necessary to remove the child.</s>LINDA OSBURG-BRAUN, GONZALEZ FAMILY ATTORNEY: We will recommend to Lazaro that he obey the law. We cannot control the crowds. We can speak to the crowds and Lazaro has. In this country, there is a right to protest peacefully, and there is a right to speak freely, unlike the people in Cuba demonstrating on demand. Lazaro welcomes the support of the community, but cautions about safety. He will obey the law in letting INS pick up the boy in his house. But he is in the moral obligation, and in the moral dilemma of not contributing to do anything that will harm Elian in any kind of way.</s>CANDIOTTI: If the Florida relatives do not willingly turn over Elian, INS could get a court order to force the family here to comply. Of course, attorneys here could also try to get the judges to agree to a stay while they continue their efforts in the circuit court of appeals in Atlanta, where they do expect to file a brief by 4:00 this afternoon. Also attorneys are trying to revive their battle in family custody court here in state court to see whether they can get an evidentiary hearing, during which they say could prove that the boy would fade, quote, "imminent harm" if he were returned to Cuba. Susan Candiotti, CNN, reporting live in Miami.</s>DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Susan, thank you. And while Elian Gonzalez remains in Miami, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, his father, is pressing his case from Bethesda, Maryland. Since his arrival in the U.S. last week, the father has been at the center of a flurry of activity. CNN's Lucia Newman has more on that end of the story.</s>LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Juan Miguel Gonzalez left early for his attorney's office to meet with health care experts appointed by the Justice Department to determine the best and least traumatic way to achieve the custody transfer of Elian to his father, a transfer Attorney General Janet Reno is confident will take place this week.</s>JANET RENO, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is a very special little boy. His father did a darn good job of raising him until he was 6 with his -- along with his mother. It's time we reunite them and it's time we do it in a peaceful way. Elian deserves that.</s>NEWMAN: Four houses away from the diplomatic residence where Elian's father is staying, demonstrators chanted and prayed for Juan Miguel Gonzalez to walk out of the house with his family and agree to stay in the United States. Among them was his uncle, Delfin Gonzalez, who, for the third day in a row, came out to try and meet with his nephew.</s>DELFIN GONZALEZ, ELIAN'S GREAT-UNCLE (through translator): I know my nephew wants to talk to me, but he's being pressured. They don't let him. I want to invite him to lunch with his wife and son to discuss things.</s>NEWMAN: But if Juan Miguel Gonzalez heard the demonstration, he didn't let on as he said goodbye to his attorney and his children who'd been visiting. Justice officials tell CNN they've received assurances Elian's father will remain in the United States throughout the appeals process. But they also say Gonzalez has made it clear he has no intention of staying here forever.</s>ERIC HOLDER, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: He said, some people have the feeling that I want to stay in this country. And he said it is just the opposite: I want to take my boy and go back to Cuba.</s>NEWMAN (on camera): In the meantime, Justice officials indicate they may be willing to grant part of Mr. Gonzalez's request to bring a bit of Cuba to the United States. This could include allowing some of Elian's Cuban classmates and his teacher to come to this country. Lucia Newman, CNN, Bethesda, Maryland.