<b><small>Elian may have been coached on comments, psychologist says </b></small><br><br>The Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez fired another shot in a battle of political rhetoric Thursday - an edited
Friday, April 14th 2000, 12:00 am
By: News On 6
Elian may have been coached on comments, psychologist says
The Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez fired another shot in a battle of political rhetoric Thursday - an edited videotape of the 6-year-old telling his father that he didn't want to go to Cuba.
The Spanish-language network Univision broadcast the home video of Elian on Thursday morning, and it was rebroadcast by other networks. The boy's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, taped the segment Wednesday night after negotiations with the Justice Department fell apart.
While Elian's message was embraced by many in Miami, the reaction by some child psychologists was not so favorable. Legal experts say the video would have little weight in a courtroom.
Dr. Robert Butterworth, a Los Angeles psychologist and expert on the effects of traumatic events on children, likened Elian's television appearance to "one of those videos that they release after people are taken hostage, saying they're being treated OK."
He also suggested that Elian's statements might be influenced by something akin to "parental alienation syndrome." That term applies to a child who's alienated from one parent by exaggerated or unfounded criticism, typically in a divorce.
"Basically what that means is when you're with one side, and you don't have much contact with the other, you're heavily influenced," Dr. Butterworth said, adding that the influence is greater on younger children.
Dr. Butterworth described the videotape as an act of desperation designed to not only elicit sympathy, but to "inflame the crowd."
But it may not resonate with the same vigor outside the Cuban-American community.
"They're trying to rally support," said Dr. Rodolfo de la Garza, vice president of research at the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on Latino issues. "But I think the bigger question would be this: How many Mexican children would be allowed to stay here under the same circumstance? How many Haitian children? How many Colombians? And the answer is none."
Dr. de la Garza said that Cuban-Americans generally have not identified with the Latino community in the United States.
"But now they're kind of stuck," he said. "They want to act and have all Latinos act with them. . . . This is a case where they do not want to be dealt with the way other Latinos are dealt with, because if that were the case, they'd have no standing."
Ironically, some Cuban-Americans saw a little of Fidel Castro in Elian's impassioned video appearance.
Indeed, Cuban analysts say, young Elian sounded much like the passionate Mr. Castro, whose irreverent and defiant tone is legendary with Americans.
Not that Mr. Castro is the only Cuban to have such traits. But as the most visible and public Cuban for more than four decades, Mr. Castro is credited with best representing the Cuban personality. Many on the island consider him "the most Cuban of Cubans."
Pedro Freyre, chairman of the Facts About Cuban Exiles, an anti-defamation group in Miami, said the video was chilling. "Oh my God, he was imitating Fidel. . . . It was horrible. Fidel is the great puppet master and we are his titeres [puppets]."
Dr. Butterworth suspects that Elian's statements were rehearsed.
"When you hear words on the tape, like 'that old woman' - I don't know if that's something he would come out with by himself," he said.
Elian's videotape was broadcast on the same day that a federal appeals court issued a temporary stay to keep him in the United States while his fate is decided. Legal experts theorize that the tape, however, was intended more for a public audience than for judges.
In a more typical custody dispute, a judge might, in the privacy of chambers, try to learn a child's preferences. But the opinions of a child, especially a young child who hasn't fully developed cognitively, might not carry much weight, said Bob Horowitz, associate director of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law.
Dr. de la Garza, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, said, "If you give a kid lollipops and take him to Disney World every day, or the equivalent, where's he going to want to be? What people don't want to say . . . is that the typical working class, lower-middle class Cuban-American child in Miami will face greater danger from drugs, school violence, poor medical attention in Miami than he would in Cuba."
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