By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Apr 21 2000 (IPS)

The United States Justice Department is considering law enforcement action, possibly next week, to reunite Cuban shipwreck boy Elian Gonzalez with his father, who has been waiting in Washington to regain custody.

Attorney-General Janet Reno has decided to remove six-year-old Elian from the home of his Miami relatives, in order to bring him back together with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the Washington Post reported Friday.

US officials said Reno had instructed federal marshalls and Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) agents to determine the best moment to act.

The agents are reportedly studying a range of factors, from patterns of activities of anti-Castro demonstrators around the house where Elian is staying in Miami to weather conditions, in order to guarantee the child’s safety and well-being. Reno will reach a decision as soon as the best timing and methods are determined, said officials.

A law enforcement operation has been virtually decided on, and will be staged by INS agents and federal marshalls who have been slipping quietly into Miami over the past few days, according to the New York Times.

President Clinton told reporters that “I think he should be reunited with his father. That is the law.” The reunion should take place in the briefest, most orderly manner possible, he added.

Justice Department spokeswoman Carole Florman said Reno was still hoping that Elian would be turned over voluntarily. “The doors are always going to be open to the family for a negotiated settlement.” But for obvious reasons, she added, “if and when there’s a law enforcement action, we are not going to be previewing it.”

The Cuban government has not yet issued an official reaction, but analysts and authorities agreed that the decision to remove Elian from his Miami home would seem to be the only option left.

“Cuba has stated more than once that the solution to the terrible kidnapping of Elian cannot be a legal one, but must be, and could have been, administrative, according to the US government’s immigration regulations,” said an official communique released Wednesday.

The government of Fidel Castro would have liked to see the case resolved with determination on the part of the Clinton administration, after the INS recognised the father’s right to custody and set an initial January 14 deadline for the boy to be turned over by his Miami relations.

Elian has lived with his great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez in Miami since he was rescued at sea on Nov 25 after the boat in which he and his mother were heading to the United States sank. Elian and two other people survived, but his mother was among the 11 would- be emigrants who drowned.

Last week, the Justice Department revoked Lazaro Gonzalez’s temporary custody of Elian, but the great-uncle has refused to turn the boy over to his father.

A federal appeals court in Atlanta decided Wednesday that the boy must stay in the United States until it rules on an appeal brought by the Miami Gonzalezes, who are demanding that he be granted a hearing for political asylum. A hearing has been set for May 11.

Referring to the court decision that Elian must remain in the United States for the time being, even if he is reunited with his father, Clinton said there was “no conceivable argument” against Elian’s being handed over to Juan Miguel Gonzalez.

The president spoke to the press shortly after Elian’s father made a televised appeal to the US public, which triggered thousands of phone calls to the Justice Department in favour of the father being reunited with his son.

“Please, anyone who has feelings, anyone who knows a father’s love for his son, help me. Don’t let them smother this in politics. It’s just a father and his son,” said Juan Miguel Gonzalez.

Reno is also reportedly considering asking a federal court in Florida to issue an order for Lazaro Gonzalez to hand over the boy. If the great-uncle were to disobey such an order, he would face a prison sentence or fine for contempt of court.

One of the lawyers representing Elian’s Miami relations said Friday that Lazaro Gonzalez would not cooperate “without a psychological evaluation that says that that is in the best interest of the boy.”

US Vice-President Al Gore suggested that Elian’s father meet with Lazaro Gonzalez without the presence of government officials or lawyers, in order to work out a family solution.

That proposal was backed by Ramon Saul Sanchez, the leader of the Cuban exile organisation Democratic Movement, who warned around 50 people gathered outside the Gonzalez home in Miami that they could be standing next to an agent of the Castro regime.

The head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, Fernando Remirez, sent a message to the State Department earlier this week maintaining that armed individuals involved in terrorism in the past were planning to attempt to block any law enforcement action by US authorities.

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