Talks To Resolve Custody Of Elian Gonzalez Have Broken Off
ROSEMARY CHURCH, WORLD NEWS: Juan Miguel Gonzalez is in the United States, where he says he is looking forward to a reunion with his son Elian. But talks that could bring them together have broken down in Miami. The boy's relatives and the U.S. immigration department are at odds over the procedure. CNN's Miami bureau chief John Zarrella reports.</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives played a trump card Thursday night - they produced two child psychologists who said they had been studying Elian. Both said Elian is at great emotional risk if he is returned to Cuba.</s>MITCHELL SPERO, PSYCHOLOGIST: If he is taken from the care of his great uncle, his great aunt and his cousin, he will most likely suffer irreversible emotional damage.</s>ZARRELLA: One of the psychologists pronounced Elian is afraid of his father.</s>ALINI LOPEZ-GOTTARDI, PSYCHOLOGIST: His fear is based on Elian's direct experiences with his father whom he says - whom Elian says, frequently expresses his anger in an out of control and abusive manner.</s>ZARRELLA: The statements from the psychologists came a few hours after talks between the INS and attorneys representing the Miami relatives broke off. INS officials told the family proceedings will now begin to transfer Elian to the care of his father. The INS charged the family attorneys refused to discuss how to turn over the boy to his father.</s>ROBERT WALLIS, INS DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We still hope for an orderly process for reuniting Elian with his father.</s>ZARRELLA: The family charged that the INS refused to give them a guarantee that Elian's father, Juan Miguel, wouldn't return to Cuba once he got the boy. As events played out, a group of women and children gathered in front of the home of Elian's great uncle, a symbolic gesture of unity with the family. (on camera): INS officials say it will still be several days before they are ready to transfer Elian to his father. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.