Elian’s Relatives Say They Won’t Give Boy to Father

A day after Juan Miguel Gonzalez requested a visa to come to the United States to claim his son, the Miami relatives of 6-year-old Elian said that they would not turn the boy over to his father.

Despite long-standing public pledges by Elian’s great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, and his daughter that they would hand Elian over to his father if he came to Miami, the relatives have changed their minds, said Manny Diaz, one of their attorneys.

Elian’s father can come visit him at their Little Havana home, the relatives said, but they will not let him take his child while their court appeals for custody are pending.

Diaz said that taking Elian from his new surrogate family and giving him to his father would be disruptive for the boy. He also asserted that Elian says he is afraid his father will punish him.

A spokesman for the Justice Department scoffed. “It’s interesting how they just keep moving the bar,” said Carole Florman. “Just a few days ago, they were saying that, of course, if Juan Miguel came to the United States they didn’t want to keep the boy from his father. Now this.

“They keep making these kinds of vague allegations,” Florman said of the relatives’ suggestion that Elian is afraid to return to his father, “and it’s really unhelpful to the whole process.”

There is no information “to make us believe Juan Miguel is anything but a loving father,” she said.

The developments came at the end of a week of heightened tensions between the federal government, which wants to reunite Elian with his father, and Miami’s Cuban American community, which vehemently opposes the boy’s return to Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Amid threats of massive civil disobedience to prevent the removal of Elian from his great-uncle’s home, the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Thursday extended until at least Tuesday the possible revocation of his temporary immigrant status.

INS officials postponed the deadline despite failing to secure a written promise from the Miami relatives that they would give up the boy if they lose their appeal in federal court. Negotiations will resume Monday.

The relatives’ cause received a boost Thursday when Vice President Al Gore agreed with them that Elian’s status should be decided in state family court and endorsed legislation in Congress that would grant the boy, his father and six other Cuban family members permanent residency status.

That status would allow Elian, even if he returned to Cuba with his father, to come back to the United States as an adult. But because it falls short of full citizenship, he would not be able to vote, serve on a jury or receive certain government assistance.

The legislation faces an uncertain future in a Congress that so far has been reluctant to wade into an explosive international custody battle.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said Friday that he disagrees with the decision by Gore--the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee--to break from the administration policy of attempting to reunite the boy with his father through federal immigration proceedings.

Daschle said that he could not guess at the prospects for passage of the Senate bill.

“The circumstances, I should say, are rapidly changing, and I don’t know at this point whether anybody’s done an accurate head count on what the votes might be,” Daschle said. “Anything is possible in the next few days.”

The legal and political battles have unfolded since the boy was rescued from the sea last November after a desperate voyage from Cuba that took the life of his mother and 10 others.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has not set a date to begin debate on the bill, which has bipartisan sponsorship. Daschle, however, told reporters that he believes Lott wants to bring the measure up quickly.

The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.), a staunch conservative, and Florida’s two senators, Republican Connie Mack and Democrat Bob Graham. Smith’s office said that Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) are co-sponsoring the measure. A similar measure has been introduced in the House.

Karen Hickey, a spokeswoman for Smith, acknowledged that the measure does not yet have the votes to pass. She said that Smith had written a letter to Gore thanking him for his support and urging him to lobby Democrats to vote for the bill.

But several Capitol Hill staff members said that the vice president’s endorsement was unlikely to change the minds of many members of Congress, who have been making statements about the case since January. For instance, California’s two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, previously had spoken out in favor of reuniting Elian with his father. Spokesmen for the two senators said Friday that they have not changed position.

At the White House, spokesman Jake Siewert refused to say whether Clinton would veto the legislation if it reaches his desk, as indicated by the president’s past statements on the issue.

But Siewert stressed: “We don’t think that any change in legislation is necessary. . . . We think that the law is pretty clear in this case and it should be carried out.”

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Anderson reported from Washington and Fineman reported from Miami. Times staff writers Eric Lichtblau, Art Pine and Bob Drogin in Washington contributed to this story.