Elian’s Grandmothers Fly to N.Y., Ask for His Release

Fighting back tears amid flashes of anger, the grandmothers of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez on Friday urged that he be returned to Cuba “to finish with this tragedy, which is so hard for us as a family.”

“What I want to say is I feel nobody has the right to make him an American citizen,” Mariela Quintana, the boy’s paternal grandmother, told an emotional news conference at John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly after arriving here from Havana.

“He is born in Cuba. He lives in Cuba. He is a Cuban. Nobody outside has the right, either the Congress or the president, to change his status.”

Raquel Rodriguez, Elian’s maternal grandmother, pleaded: “I want that my daughter will be in peace, and she will not be in peace until Elian is home.”

Elian was found adrift off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving Day. His mother and 10 others drowned after their boat capsized while trying to flee the Communist-led island.

Despite his grandmothers’ pleas, the relatives caring for Elian--who has become the focus of an international tug of war--remained defiant Friday.

“I hope the church members and the congressmen and all the people promoting the [grandmothers’] trip take Elizabet’s mother to the Statue of Liberty,” said a family spokesman in Miami. “Let her see the symbol of why her daughter lost her life to bring Elian back to freedom.”

Elian’s relatives in Miami said they had no plans to allow the boy to travel to New York but added that his grandmothers were free to visit him in Miami.

The grandparents retorted that they would not go to Florida.

“With respect to the family that is in Miami,” Quintana said bitterly, “they have no right to keep the child there. We are requesting the church to help return the child to Cuba.” Elian’s grandmothers were accompanied to the United States by a delegation from the National Council of Churches.

Family members in Florida also stressed Friday that they would not allow Elian’s grandmothers to take him back to Cuba.

“That has to go to court so that justice and the law of this country can resolve this problem,” said Delfin Gonzalez, one of the boy’s uncles. “The boy is going to be raised here with a healthy and clean mind.”

That view was seconded by Marisleysis Gonzalez, Elian’s cousin, who told Miami television stations that the youngster has said he does not want to return to Cuba.

“He asked me, ‘Are they coming to pick me up?’ ” she related. “And I said, ‘Well, they are here to see you. Do you want to leave with them?’ And he said, ‘No, I want to tell them that I don’t want to go back over there.’ ”

But during the news conference, Raquel Rodriguez said: “We talk with that child every day. This child says to me and to the father that he wanted to return. . . . He says, ‘Please take me to Cuba.’ ”

When asked why the grandmothers had waited so long to come to the United States, Rodriguez replied: “We didn’t come before because we always received the promise that the child was going to be returned very quickly. That didn’t happen. . . . We decided not to wait for more promises. We came here because the church invited us and helped us to come.”

The National Council of Churches is supporting Elian’s father in the custody battle. Before leaving Cuba, Bob Edgar, the church’s general secretary, said the trip was designed to appeal to the American people. Representatives of Cuban clergy also traveled on the plane.

“As people of faith, our prayer is to take Elian Gonzalez home,” Edgar said, adding that the visit to the United States would be brief.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has ordered that the boy be sent back to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. But family members in Florida sued, charging that Elian’s constitutional rights were violated because the INS declined to consider asylum petitions they had filed.

The federal judge assigned to Elian’s case recused himself Friday, citing facts that could warrant his disqualification. U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King revealed that his son has political contacts with the boy’s relatives and that his daughter is serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Miami. The case was shifted to Judge William M. Hoeveler.

And Congress is expected to enter the battle over Elian in earnest next week, when a handful of House and Senate Republicans--led by Florida lawmakers--plan to formally introduce legislation to declare Elian a U.S. citizen. That would mean he would no longer be subject to the INS ruling.

Although some GOP leaders are uncertain how much support the citizenship bill will receive, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has pledged fast action on the measure. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) is co-sponsoring the legislation.

If the bill is passed and signed by President Clinton, the boy would be turned over to a Dade County, Fla., court, which then would be free to resolve the custody battle as it would any other local dispute.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, already has issued a subpoena for Elian to appear at a hearing--a move designed to keep him in the United States.

At the news conference, Rodriguez was asked what she and Quintana would say if they could see Elian.

“There are so many things we want to tell him,” she replied. “I don’t know if we can talk and ask questions. Maybe we are going to cry a lot.”

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Times staff writer Art Pine in Washington also contributed to this story.