U.S. firm on Elian restoration

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, APRIL 8. The Justice Department headed by the Attorney General, Ms Janet Reno, has said that the re-union between the six-year-old Elian Gonzalez and his father, Mr. Juan Miguel Gonzalez, will take place next week. The relatives who are now looking after Elian have been given a choice: either to hand over the boy or be forced into doing it. Ms Reno, after a meeting with Mr. Gonzalez, said rather bluntly, ``The law is very clear. A child who's lost his mother belongs with the sole surviving parent''. She also made the point that it did not matter if Elian stayed back in the United States or as his father has said, goes back to Cuba.

The sop to the relatives of Elian and the angry Cuban exile community in Florida is that the Justice Department has given a few more days before they move to enforce the court order. Further, Ms Reno has now allowed two psychiatrists and one psychologist to determine how the transfer of Elian should take place. But the Justice Department has once again stressed that this is to determine ``how'' the transfer is to take place, not ``if'' he should be handed over.

In spite of all the tough words and actions of the Justice Department, it is also clear that no one in the administration wishes to see a confrontation between authorities and the Cuban exile community in Miami-Dade County. In fact, the White House, which has maintained that the letter of the law will be enforced, is apparently making sure that no spectacle takes place at the time of the transfer. The Cuban community has vowed to form a human chain to prevent the transfer of Elian.

What is evident now is that both sides are trying to find a way out of the impasse.What the Justice Department has done by way of showing flexibility is two things: first in agreeing to a group of three psychiatrists and psychologists to see how the transfer takes place; and secondly, in impressing upon the relatives of Elian and the Cuban community that if they allowed a peaceful re- union, the boy and the father could be made to stay back in the U.S. until such time as the Federal Appeals Court disposed of the case next month.

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Section  : International
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