‘Operation Reunion’ Seen as Harsh but Necessary

In the end, it took just three minutes. But it was three minutes of raw intimidation.

Family lawyer Kendall Coffey, on the phone with a mediator, heard the front door being smashed off its hinges. Federal agents stormed into the little white house. One agent, in green riot gear, armed with an automatic rifle, burst into a bedroom where Elian Gonzalez was being hidden. A Spanish-speaking female agent grabbed the scared 6-year-old and ran to an unmarked white van.

Elsewhere in the house, agents pushed through doors, menaced occupants and shouted at cousin Marisleysis Gonzalez, “Give me the boy! Give me the . . . boy!” she said later. Outside, federal agents dressed in riot gear sprayed the anti-Castro crowd with pepper spray.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, Operation Reunion was over.

The raid was part of a plan that had been in the works for weeks. There were opportunities to grab the child before Saturday--at the Miami hospital where Elian’s cousin was admitted, at a nun’s house in Miami Beach where the family met with Atty. Gen. Janet Reno 10 days ago.

But when the mission was finally launched, the images of gun-toting officers shocked more than just those in the house in Little Havana, as camera crews quickly beamed the scene to television audiences around the world.

Reno and Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner defended the agents’ rough tactics, saying they were needed in case there were weapons in the house. Other police officials said that they had reports that there were guns in the house behind Elian’s.

“We had been told on occasion that people were threatening to have weapons,” Reno said, adding: “There were discussions of weapons in the crowd, weapons in the home, whether weapons were present on the grounds.”

But some people--including many elected officials from Florida--denounced the government for storming the little stucco home as though it were a crack house or an organized crime hide-out occupied by violent criminals rather than by a boy and his relatives.

Senator ‘Repulsed and Outraged’

“I am repulsed and outraged at the government’s use of force to seize a boy in a family’s home at the point of a gun,” said Republican Sen. Connie Mack of Florida. “These are the tactics of the Cuban government, not a free democracy which respects human rights and the rule of law.”

Current and former law enforcement experts praised the mission as a textbook rescue. They said the storm-trooper arrival, the shouting and the brandishing of weapons, while appearing harsh, are the surest ways to prevent violence. Stunning and intimidating residents in a house prevent real resistance, they said.

“You want to go in with enough force to absolutely dominate the scene. Your message is, we’re not here to talk, the time for negotiations is over; we’re here to get the little boy and get out of here as soon as possible,” said retired FBI official Clint Van Zandt, who has helped quell Cuban prison riots in Atlanta and Talladega, Ala.

He said agents have no way of knowing what to expect when they get inside the house. “You want to have speed, surprise and the potential to deal with any violence on the part of your adversaries. You never know who might go for a knife, a frying pan or a shotgun under their mattress.”

Gerald M. Caplan, dean of the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and a former federal law enforcement official, agreed.

“In these situations, it’s always better to have more [force] than less,” he said. “It’s troubling when agents go in with weapons and there’s a child in the closet. But when these operations go off peacefully, as this one did, you’re criticized because it seems like you used unnecessary force. However, when you encounter armed resistance and people get hurt or killed, you’re criticized for not being prepared enough.”

A federal law enforcement officer with oversight responsibilities for Operation Reunion said timing was the single most crucial issue in the mission.

“Early in the morning, as opposed to any other different time, was the best option available,” he said. He added that the raid had to be done before daylight--and before the crowds outside grew and traffic increased.

The element of surprise was key, he said, because they didn’t want the family or the crowd to be able to resist.

Safety of Raid Considered a Success

“Nobody got hurt,” he said, sizing up the operation. “I guess the crowds were throwing some items at the guys as they left. But from the standpoint of safety, it went pretty easy.”

INS spokeswoman Maria Cardona said that although the helmeted agent who stormed into the bedroom to find Elian had a rifle, “It was not pointed at anyone at any time. . . . It is considered law enforcement procedure to have your weapon at a 45-degree angle.”

Still, family members were outraged. “This is not justice and I blame Janet Reno for this,” said Marisleysis Gonzalez. “This child was crying ‘Don’t take me.’ A 6-year-old boy with a gun at his head. This is not the American way.”

Family attorney Coffey, the former U.S. attorney in Miami, called the raid “an hour of shame.”

“It was one of the most disgraceful moments for our system and our government that I can recall,” he said.

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Times staff writer Mike Clary in Miami contributed to this story.

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A Look at the Rejected Deal

Elian Gonzalez was taken from the home of his Miami relatives after all-night talks fell through between Miami negotiators acting as intermediaries for the family and U.S. officials. The last deal under discussion between U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and the Miami relatives:

* Location of reunion: Lazaro Gonzalez, 49, Elian’s great-uncle, and his daughter Marisleysis, 21, would bring the boy to a neutral hotel or conference center near Washington--either Wye Plantation, a center on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that has been used for Mideast peace conferences, or Airlie House near Warrenton, Va. The boy’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, would meet the relatives there. Miami relatives countered that the meeting would take place in the Miami area.

* Custody: Formal custody would be transferred to the boy’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. The Miami relatives agreed to grant temporary custody to Elian’s father.

* Length of time: The Miami family’s intermediaries proposed that all family members stay at the neutral location until a federal appeals is completed, in late May at the earliest. But Juan Miguel Gonzalez faxed back a counterproposal in late evening that called for a much shorter joint stay.

Source: Justice Department, AP, Times Washington Bureau