Temporary stay against Elian's transfer

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, APRIL 14. In what seems to be a drama with no early end in sight but one in which the Justice Department appears to have boxed itself into, the relatives of the Cuban lad, Elian Gonzalez, have won some more time. As the 2 p.m. deadline for the handover of Elian on Thursday passed and the Justice Department showed little to no evidence of forcing the transfer, the relatives in Miami-Dade county did not wish to take any chances. Apprehensive of use of force, they moved a Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta for an injunction against the boy's transfer to Cuba.

A single Judge in the Federal Appeals Court obliged and ruled that Elian cannot be taken out of the country until such time a ruling is made on the claims of his relatives. But even as officials were saying that this did not prevent the re- union between Elian and his father, Mr. Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the Justice Department is now saying that this may not be sought for another three or four days.

The Federal Appeals Court has also said that the Clinton administration must file its response by later today; and a final ruling on this is not expected until next week. In the streets of Little Havana, outside the home where Elian is staying, thousands of demonstrators cheered wildly as the deadline passed and the injunction issued. Protestors had promised to form a human chain to prevent Elian taken away by Federal Mashals.

Emotionally, the situation is getting a little dicey as accusations are flying all around who was responsible for the showdown. Relatives of Elian are making the point that they were forced to move in the direction of the courts after going no where with the Justice Department.

On the other hand, there is also the argument that delaying the re-union between Elian and his father is doing a great injustice to the emotional stability of the six-year lad. Meanwhile, in a stepped up war of nerves, the family released a home video that shows Elian pointedly telling his father that he did not wish to go to Cuba.

The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, has argued that he is trying to stay out of the case and has backed the manner in which the Attorney-General, Ms. Janet Reno, has been handling the issue. But Mr. Clinton stressed that the bottomline was to uphold the law and avoid politicising the matter. ``... I do believe that it is our responsibility to uphold the law and we are doing our best to do that,'' he said.

But the Justice Department and the Attorney-General are taking a lot of flak for the manner in which this crisis has been handled. Ms. Reno wished to go to Miami to personally sort out the issue with the family, but is now being taken to task for making a high profile trip without anything tangible in return. More important, the point is being made that for all the tough talk on what would happen when the deadline passed, the Justice Department did nothing. Apparently, the Department which has been heavily criticised for the manner in which it handled other crisis such as the one with Branch Dravidians in 1993 is keen on playing it extremely carefully this time around.

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Section  : International
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