wfn.org | U.S. Church Officials Differ over Cuban Boy's Future

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

11-February-2000 
00073 
 
    U.S. Church Officials Differ over Cuban Boy's Future 
 
    by Chris Herlinger 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
NEW YORK - While two of the religious officials mediating in the custody 
dispute over six-year-old Elian Gonzalez have publicly disagreed over 
whether he should be returned to Cuba, the battle over his future has 
become an increasingly bitter row between Elian's relatives in Miami and 
his family in Cuba. 
 
    The public disagreement between Robert Edgar, the new general secretary 
of the National Council of Churches (NCC), and Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, a 
Roman Catholic nun and the president of Barry University in Miami, follows 
a week-long visit by the boy's grandmothers to the United States. 
 
    Elian was discovered off the Florida coast in late November, the sole 
survivor of a failed attempt by his mother and other Cubans to reach the 
United States.  The boy's Miami relatives are trying to keep the boy in the 
U.S., arguing that he will be better off here than in communist Cuba.  But 
Elian's closest relatives in Cuba, including his father, want the boy to 
return home. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has 
ruled in their favor, but the Miami relatives are fighting the INS decision 
in federal court. 
 
    The NCC, the country's largest ecumenical agency, sponsored the 
grandmothers' visit. The NCC believes Elian should go back to his father in 
Cuba.  The grandmothers' visit to the U.S. allowed them to publicly 
campaign for that goal.  The grandmothers - Mariela Quintana and Raquel 
Rodriguez - visited New York City, Washington and Miami and met the 
national media, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, members of the U.S. 
Congress, and, finally, on Jan. 26 at O'Laughlin's residence in Miami, 
their grandson Elian. 
 
    O'Laughlin had originally offered her residence as a "neutral meeting 
place."  But in an opinion piece published by the "New York Times" on 
Feb.1, she announced she had changed her mind and now believed Elian should 
remain in Miami. 
 
    She said she had changed her mind after witnessing undue interference 
by the Cuban government authorities.  "As I watched the grandmothers' Cuban 
escort keep close telephone contact with Havana during and after that 
visit, I came to feel that the Cuban government was attempting to exert 
control over these events," O'Laughlin wrote.  "Even more troubling, I saw 
signs of anxiety in both the Miami relatives and the grandmothers: 
trembling, furtive looks, ice-cold hands. 
 
    "I saw fear in Elian, too, and I became a wiser woman at that moment, 
wincing at my own naivete," O'Laughlin said. 
 
    In a letter of response, published in the "New York Times" on Feb. 5, 
Edgar said he was disappointed that O'Laughlin had abandoned what he called 
"a neutral role."  He added that she had taken a partisan position based on 
"limited contact" with the parties involved. 
 
    In fact, he said, concern about security was foremost in the minds of 
the grandmothers, as crowds "yelling `he won't go back' thronged the 
approach to the home [of O'Laughlin], and an anti-Castro group moved in 
next door." 
 
    Edgar repeated the NCC conviction that the boy should be returned to 
Cuba, adding that it was wrong for O'Laughlin and others to suggest that 
the boy could "best grieve and heal with those he has known for 
two-and-a-half months." 
 
    That, he said, "lacks understanding of the ties that bind parent and 
child." 
 
    What has become a bitter custody battle  - exposing the bitter 
40-year-old division between the predominantly conservative Cuban community 
in Miami and the government of Fidel Castro in Cuba - has become even 
uglier since the grandmothers' return to Cuba on Jan. 30. 
 
    On Feb. 9 the "New York Times" reported that two of Elian's 
great-uncles in Miami had been convicted of driving under the influence of 
alcohol.  Experts on child custody law told reporters that the convictions 
might make it difficult for the Miami relatives to claim in court the boy 
would be better off with them in Florida than with his family in Cuba. 
 
    The NCC has been criticized in some quarters for its intervention. 
Conservative newspapers such as the "Wall Street Journal" and "New York 
Post" have described the NCC as pro-Castro.  "The Presbyterian Layman," a 
conservative publication not officially affiliated with the Presbyterian 
Church (USA), also questioned how the NCC, which has financial problems, 
could afford to charter a Lear jet to bring the grandmothers to the U.S. 
 
    The NCC said the use of the plane and other expenses had been funded by 
private donations.  It had intervened in the Gonzalez case at the request 
of the Cuban Council of Churches, a long-time NCC partner, and the NCC's 
actions should be seen in the context of a history of humanitarian 
assistance to Cuba. 
 
    At the same time, Edgar said, the NCC had never claimed to be neutral 
in the case. 
 
    Edgar told ENI he was not surprised by the criticism of some 
conservatives.  "They will always want to see the [NCC] in a negative 
light," he said.  When asked if the Gonzalez case meant the NCC was gaining 
greater visibility, Edgar said: "I hope it's a positive public profile." 

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