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Saturday Morning News

Reporter's Notebook: What Will Happen to Elian Gonzalez?

Aired April 15, 2000 - 9:36 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: I think we're moving to the Elian Gonzalez case.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's do that, yes.

PHILLIPS: It's not the easiest to follow, that's for sure. It's filled with emotions and legal maneuvering.

O'BRIEN: CNN's John Zarrella has been following the drama from his office in Miami. He joins us now to take your questions. That number once again, 404-221-1855.

And John, good to see you, sir.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning, Miles, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hello.

O'BRIEN: We've gotten some great e-mails this morning, so I want to get right to them. The e-mail box is just flooded over with great questions.

Let's go right to this one. This comes from Myra Gray up in Winnipeg, Canada. "The Miami relatives of the little boy are claiming the father is unfit. Has anyone inquired as to the fitness of these distant relatives to raise a naive 6-year-old boy?"

ZARRELLA: Well, there are certainly both sides on that story now. As far as the relatives are concerned, there have been numerous articles done in the local newspapers and reports done on exactly what their background is, so there have been background checks done on the Miami relatives.

And as far as anyone can determine, they are upstanding, decent, middle-class people who live here in Miami. And as far as the father's concerned, of course the INS back in December and early January, in Cuba, in Havana, went in to determine Juan Gonzalez's -- Juan Miguel Gonzalez's relationship with the boy.

They had to establish that he was indeed the father. They did two extensive interviews with Juan Miguel and determined that, in fact, he was the father, but he was also a -- from everything they could glean from the community and from the interviews with him, that he, in fact, was a loving and upstanding person himself. So all of that is, I think, for the most part, other than every once in a while we do -- you do get charges and accusations coming out, but for the most part, I think both sides are pretty much on the up and up.

O'BRIEN: All right, John, let's stay with the e-mail, shall we? This one comes from Clinton, Connecticut. Lucille Davis Grimm poses this query. "The mother of Elian seems almost forgotten. Did the dad know the mother and Elian were coming to the States? Did he understand that the mother wanted her son to have a better life than in Cuba? Did the dad approve? Is it possible this dad, his interest for Elian's return is a demand from Castro?"

Several questions, take a few of them if you can.

ZARRELLA: Well, to answer the last one first, it's impossible to say how much influence. The Miami relatives here insist that -- and the Cuban community here insist that Fidel Castro is pulling all of the strings and that if it were up to Juan Miguel Gonzalez, that they believe -- the Miami relatives and the Cuban community here believes he'd want his son living here. And in fact, he might even stay here. That's what they would like you to believe here.

As far as what he knew and when he knew it, from those interviews that I just talked about that the INS did with him down in Havana, it is -- he has said that he knew nothing of it. He went to see his son over the weekend and people said in the neighborhood -- came to him and said, Well, you know, your ex-wife, she's gone with him, and she went to the United States.

And the way the story is told, he then calls the Miami relatives and tells them, Hey, they may be coming, watch out for him, keep an eye out for my ex-wife and for my boy. And the next thing you know, Elian Gonzalez is found on an inner tube. The family in Miami sees him on TV. Oh, my gosh, that's Elian, goes to the hospital and claims him.

PHILLIPS: John, touching on a very controversial subject right now, Hazel has a question for you from Georgia.

Go ahead, Hazel.

CALLER: Good morning.

ZARRELLA: Morning, Hazel.

CALLER: How are you?

ZARRELLA: I'm doing fine.

CALLER: OK. My question is, yesterday I heard on the TV that the family's abusive. He was abusive to the mother and also to the child. What are his chances of him getting back his son? And also...

ZARRELLA: Well, understand...

CALLER: I'm sorry.

ZARRELLA: Let me answer that one first, Hazel. Understand that that was just an accusation, an affidavit filed by someone, and the information released late yesterday, last night, by the family spokesman, Armando Gutierrez. And there is nothing in any court record or filing by the government that we know of or by the family here that's been made public that indicates any kind of abuse by the father.

Now, we know that the family has said that the boy says he doesn't want to go back to his father. They had psychologists who the -- pro bono psychologists that they provided the family who have said that he doesn't want to go back to his father, he's afraid of him because his father is abusive. But again, there is nothing that's been substantiated or proven to our knowledge.

So it is really, at this point, just nothing more than an accusation.

PHILLIPS: And John, it -- I want to make the point too, it wasn't said on the videotape either. The videotape that aired with Elian speaking, he said he didn't want to go back to Cuba. He never said anything about not wanting to be with his father.

ZARRELLA: Exactly, Kyra, not a thing about not wanting to be with his -- In fact, he even said, you know, Dad, if you want, we'd like...

PHILLIPS: Stay here.

ZARRELLA: ... you know, I'd like you to stay here.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's go back to Connecticut via the Internet, Manchester, Connecticut, specifically, this query from T. Rapoza. "Why do you think the other news agencies think that this is such a big story?" I guess he's exempting CNN on this one. But in any case, we'll leave that aside. "Why are we being pummeled by it every minute of every day? I believe that if it weren't for such coverage, the situation would have been resolved long ago with Elian back in Cuba with his father."

ZARRELLA: Well, I'm not so sure that the news media's coverage of it has had anything to do with whether he would be back with his father any, you know, any sooner than now. In fact, if anything, the news media's coverage of this has probably laid out exactly the pros and cons and all of the frustrations within the Miami community.

And in fact, you know, it's really brought to light lots of things that probably many people in many parts of the nation don't understand about this Miami community. And I think that the fact that you're talking about the Cuban American community in Miami, you're talking about Fidel Castro, you're talking about a 6-year-old boy who came over on an inner tube, the -- every single ingredient is there in this story to have made it this just incredible story that we just all shake our heads at and say, Wow, this is just unbelievable. So I don't think that the media's by any stretch of the imagination overblown the significance of what is transpiring here in Miami, Washington, and Havana.

O'BRIEN: All right, Mr. John Zarrella, clearly a story with legs, as we say in the business, and some depth. Thanks so much for being with us.

ZARRELLA: My pleasure, Miles, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, John.

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