Relatives of EliÃ¡n counseled

MIAMI - The Miami relatives of EliÃ¡n GonzÃ¡lez met Monday with a team of government-sponsored counselors appointed to help ease the transfer of the boy's custody to his father. <br><br>Delayed once

Tuesday, April 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MIAMI - The Miami relatives of EliÃ¡n GonzÃ¡lez met Monday with a team of government-sponsored counselors appointed to help ease the transfer of the boy's custody to his father.

Delayed once during the day, the meeting was a prelude to government negotiators outlining the place and time for transferring the 6-year-old from the care of his Miami relatives. Immigration officials have said they want the father, Juan Miguel GonzÃ¡lez, to take custody this week.

Government authorities have said they might call for the transfer to take place as soon as Wednesday, and that the instructions would go out after Tuesday's meeting.

Over the weekend, however, attorneys for the family continued to say they would refuse to cooperate in turning over EliÃ¡n. There was no indication that position had changed Monday and a family attorney said the meeting had produced no agreement.

Monday's discussions were cordial, an attorney for the Miami relatives said after emerging from the hourlong gathering.
"It was satisfactory to the extent that everybody got to state their point of view," attorney Manny DiÃ¡z said. "No specific conclusion was reached."

Unsubstantiated reports swirled throughout the day in Miami. For example, one local television station reported that Mr. GonzÃ¡lez would be flying to Miami on Tuesday for an expected reunion with EliÃ¡n.

The report was denied early Monday evening by a Cuban government official.

Judge has questions

Meanwhile, a state court where the Miami relatives turned for a last-ditch attempt at keeping EliÃ¡n made it clear the relatives' pleas had little legal merit. Circuit Judge Jennifer D. Bailey did not issue a ruling but ordered the Miami relatives to file a brief by Tuesday morning showing why she should hear the case.

In a tone bordering on admonishment, Judge Bailey questioned their approach to the case, citing their failure even to prove they delivered a copy of their lawsuit against Juan Miguel GonzÃ¡lez to him. She also said they have shown no evidence the child would be harmed if returned to his father, and - in a question punctuated by underlines - wondered how any ruling she issued could overrule the decision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The lack of an agreement left the potential for a showdown over the boy, who has lived four months with the Miami family of his great-uncle, LÃ¡zaro GonzÃ¡lez.

Fishermen found EliÃ¡n floating in an inner tube off Florida's coast on Thanksgiving. The boy was one of three survivors from a capsized boat that had carried him, his mother and 12 others from Cuba. His mother and the others drowned after the boat capsized.

Immigration officials ruled in early January that EliÃ¡n should be returned to his father. The Miami family challenged that ruling and lost in a ruling handed down last month by a Miami federal judge. The family is appealing that ruling.

The boy's father arrived last week in Washington, where he has stayed at the home of a Cuban diplomat. The father was joined in Washington by his new wife and infant child.
Mr. GonzÃ¡lez's arrival accelerated efforts by the Justice Department to reunite him with EliÃ¡n.

Mayor, Reno to meet

The struggle of his Miami relatives to keep EliÃ¡n in the United States has become a celebrated cause among Miami's large population of Cuban exiles.

The mayor of Miami, Joe Carollo, was planning to fly Tuesday to Washington for a meeting with Attorney General Janet Reno. The mayor said he would ask the attorney general for a 30-day delay in her plans to reunite the father and son.

But the counselors advising the government have said the Justice Department should move quickly, a view shared by other counselors at the scene of Monday's meeting.

"The more the family struggles with this . . . then the child is placed in greater stress," said Alan Delamater, a University of Miami child psychologist.

The transfer also should occur in a place that would cause the least trauma to EliÃ¡n, he said.

"It should obviously be in a private setting," Dr. Delamater said.

Government officials have said they want to avoid having the transfer occur at the home of LÃ¡zaro GonzÃ¡lez, where demonstrators routinely gather. Several groups have promised civil disobedience, including threats of blocking agents sent to retrieve EliÃ¡n from the home.

Ms. Reno announced the role of the counselors Friday. She named two psychiatrists and a psychologist to help ease the trauma of changing EliÃ¡n's caretakers.
Ms. Reno also offered the family an incentive if they would cooperate in EliÃ¡n's transfer.

Incentive for family

If the Miami relatives cooperate in the change of custody, the Justice Department would seek to keep EliÃ¡n in the country during a pending court challenge to the father's custody.

Otherwise, the father would be free to leave for Cuba once he gained EliÃ¡n's custody, Ms. Reno said.

The spokesman for the Cuban government in Washington, Luis FernÃ¡ndez, emphasized Monday that Juan GonzÃ¡lez would be willing to stay in the United States if he were asked by Ms. Reno.

Monday's meeting originally was to begin at 2:30 p.m. at the University of Miami. But the family asked that the government instead meet across town at Mercy Hospital, where EliÃ¡n's cousin and primary caretaker was hospitalized.

The cousin, Marisleysis GonzÃ¡lez, has been hospitalized several times in recent weeks, complaining of exhaustion from the ordeal.
Government negotiators agreed and showed up at the hospital just after 5 p.m.

LÃ¡zaro GonzÃ¡lez, his wife and EliÃ¡n already had arrived there, although Elian apparently did not participate in the discussions - and neither did Marisleysis, a hospital spokesman said.

The meeting lasted a bit more than an hour.

Government officials left without speaking to reporters gathered outside the hospital. A little later, EliÃ¡n emerged from the hospital carrying balloons and in the care of a family spokesman - presumably to return to the great-uncle's home in Miami's Little Havana.

Staff writers David LaGesse and Alfredo Corchado in Washington and The Associated Press contributed to this report.