wfn.org | NCC CUBA TRIP HOPES TO WIN ELIAN GONZALEZ'S RETURN

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

Contacts:
    NCC News, New York, 212-870-2312 (Roy Lloyd) or
212-870-2252 (Carol Fouke)
    December 30-January 1: Above numbers or
212-662-9999 (Fouke) or
203-431-6092 or 203-438-7928 (Lloyd)
    January 3-4: Havana c/o Hotel Copacabana, (537) 24-10-37
     (Carol Fouke, On-Site Media Liaison)

132NCC12/30/99

NEWS ALERT -- JANUARY 2-5, 2000, HAVANA AND CARDENAS, CUBA
NCC CUBA TRIP HOPES TO WIN ELIAN GONZALEZ'S RETURN TO HIS
FATHER

WHEN:   January 2-5, 2000

WHERE:  Havana and Cardenas, Cuba

WHAT:   Two (U.S.) National Council of Churches
representatives plan to travel to Cuba to meet with six-
year-old Elian Gonzalez's father and other immediate family
members in Cardenas and with U.S. and Cuban government
officials and the Cuban Council of Churches, the NCC's
partner/host, in Havana.

WHY:        The NCC is making public its heretofore behind-
the-scenes effort to win Elian's return to his father.
"This visit prepares us to testify on behalf of the family,"
said the NCC's Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell.

DETAILS:

Dr. Campbell and the Rev. Oscar Bolioli travel by invitation
of the Cuban Council of Churches, which is the NCC's partner
in the effort and is making on-the-ground arrangements.  Dr.
Campbell today (Dec. 30) shared her travel plans with the
White House.  She and the Rev. Bolioli expect to meet with
Vicki Huddleston, Principal Officer at the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana and with Ricardo Alarcon, President of
Cuba's Popular Assembly.

"Our hope all along has been for Elian to be returned
quickly to his family," said Dr. Campbell, who expressed her
concern that the child's interests be placed first, ahead of
political interests.  "Our concern is humanitarian, not
political," she said.  "We hold that except in cases of
abuse, children are best served when they are with their
parents, and all indications are that this is a good, loving
father.  It's not the `way of life' but the care within the
home that's key to a child's well-being.  Those who say
Elian should stay in the United States because `the way of
life is better' ignore the meaning of family."

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Dr. Campbell, with more than three decades' experience in
global, national and local ecumenism and human service, has
served as the NCC's General Secretary (chief executive
officer) for the past nine years.  On January 1, 2000, she
turns that office over to the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, who
asked her to make the Cuba trip based on her more than two-
decades' long relationship with the Cuban churches and her
experience with U.S. and Cuban governments.  The Rev.
Bolioli is Director, NCC/Church World Service Latin America
and Caribbean Office.  Carol Fouke of the NCC's
Communication Department will accompany the team as media
liaison.

The National Council of Churches, headquartered in New York
City, is the nation's leading ecumenical organization, whose
35 Protestant and Orthodox member denominations comprise 52
million congregants.  Church World Service is the NCC's
humanitarian assistance ministry and works in more than 80
countries, including the United States.

In a systematic way over the past eight years, the NCC/CWS
as responded to specific requests for help from the Cuban
Council of Churches and its Medical Commission for food,
medicine, medical equipment and other goods to meet the
needs of the most vulnerable members of Cuban society -
women, children and the elderly.  The more than 40 shipments
are valued at $10 million.  The NCC also has advocated
consistently for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

The NCC team is scheduled to arrive in Havana late Sunday
night, January 2, and to stay at Hotel Copacabana.
Preliminary schedule/logistics - to be finalized/confirmed
by the Cuban Council of Churches - anticipate spending
Monday, January 3, in Cardenas to visit Elian's family, and
Tuesday, January 4, in Havana, with departure early morning
Wednesday, January 5.

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