The feds will take steps next week to reclaim Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives — and the little boy’s father will be free to take him home to Cuba when they’re reunited.
“There is nothing to stop him,” Attorney General Janet Reno said at a news conference yesterday after an emotional meeting with the dad, Juan Miguel Gonzalez.
The Justice Department has summoned the Miami relatives who have been caring for Elian to a meeting with three psychologists Monday to discuss how the handoff should take place.
“Early next week, we will give the relatives instructions on when and where Elian is to be turned over to his father. At that time, the INS will formally transfer parole and care to the father,” Reno said.
Reno would not specify the day the transfer was to take place and refused comment on what would happen if the Miami family gets a state Family Court to intervene in the case.
Juan Miguel — who hasn’t seen his 6-year-old son since the November boat wreck that killed the boy’s mother and 10 others fleeing Cuba — sounded confident after his meeting with Reno.
“I have been able to explain the suffering that I have been going through and the suffering my son Elian has been going through,” he said somberly in Spanish.
“The United States has assured me … I am going to have my child soon.”
The father spent four hours meeting with his Washington lawyer and also took a sightseeing tour of the capital’s monuments in a car with Cuban handlers.
Two Miami relatives, uncle Delfin Gonzalez and cousin Alfredo Martel, stopped by the Cuban diplomat’s house in suburban Washington where Juan Miguel is staying.
“They don’t want to see us,” the uncle said after a sheriff spoke to a Cuban official at the front door.
A short time later, Eduardo Burkhardt, representing a pro-Cuba group, came by and asked to meet with the father. He was allowed inside for 90 minutes.
Elian’s relatives in Miami have insisted Juan Miguel cannot speak freely while he’s living with Cuban officials, but Reno said she’s convinced the father loves Elian and honestly wants to take him back to Cuba.
“I wholeheartedly reject Cuba’s system of government. Mr. Gonzalez and I do not share the same political beliefs,” she said.
“But it is not our place to punish a father for his political beliefs or where he wants to raise his child.”
A team of psychiatrists and psychologists — including two from New York — have advised the government the reunion should take place quickly, she said.
The Miami camp has repeatedly demanded more time and promises that Juan Miguel and the boy would stay in the United States until legal avenues have been exhausted.
Reno said that if the Florida relatives hand over the boy voluntarily, the government will ask Juan Miguel if he’s willing to stay on American soil until the appeals are over — but it will not be a condition.
Lawyers for the relatives were dismissive of Reno’s proposal for a meeting with the psychologists, but did not say whether they would attend.
“Apparently these psychologists have already made up their mind. They have predetermined he should be reunited with his father,” lawyer Manny Diaz said.
“It’s truly amazing to us that professional psychologists would decide on someone’s well-being without taking the time to evaluate him,” he said.
Protesters outside the relatives’ house in the Little Havana section of Miami ranted about the timetable.
“If they come to get this boy, they’re going to have to do it over our bodies in front of all these cameras and the world will see there is no freedom or justice in America,” said Bertha Melendez.