wfn.org | Elian's Grandmothers Deliver Message to Janet Reno

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

and Doris Meissner

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

Contact:  NCC Media Liaison, 212-870-2227

NCC1/22/2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WE WANT TO SEE ELIAN AND WE WANT TO RETURN WITH HIM TO CUBA,
ELIAN'S GRANDMOTHERS TELL U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO

 January 22, 2000, WASHINGTON, D.C. ---- In a meeting
today with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Immigration
and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner,
Elian Gonzalez's grandmothers said they "not only want to
see" their grandson, "but we also want to return with him to
Cuba."

Mariela Quintana Garrido, Elian's paternal grandmother,
and Raquel Rodriguez Rodriguez, his maternal grandmother,
were accompanied by representatives of the (U.S.) National
Council of Churches and Cuban Council of Churches for what
the Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, the NCC's General Secretary,
described as a "very personal meeting."

 "Our mission was to open a dialogue, a conversation
with the Attorney General," Dr. Edgar said, noting that
every person around the table was a grandparent.  "The
Attorney General showed enormous compassion for these two
courageous women."  The grandmothers' statement-handwritten
in Spanish along with a typewritten translation into
English-was given to Janet Reno and Doris Meissner.  "We
await their action and their decision," Dr. Edgar said.  The
full English language text of the grandmothers' written
statement follows.

To:  Janet Reno

The retention of Elian in the United States adds to the
tragedy of the family over the loss of Elizabeth.  For us,
the significance of returning Elian to his family will honor
his mother's memory, return the family to normality and,
more importantly, return Elian to the normality of life with
his father, brother, family, friends at school, his toys,
dog and parrot.

We are grateful to you for affirming Juan Miguel's paternity
rights, but we have felt frustrated over delays in complying
with this right.  We ask that you return Elian to his
immediate family and not to his distant family where there
has not been a previous relationship.  This is the reason
for being here, and we thank you for this interview.  We
only have Sunday to see Elian and we not only want to see him,
but we also want to return with him to Cuba.

Sincerely,
Mariela Quintana Garrido
Raquel Rodriguez Rodriguez
22 January 2000
 -0-