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Elian Gonzalez's grandmother wanted to defect, nun says
Copyright � 2000 Nando Media
Copyright � 2000 Associated Press
MIAMI (February 21, 2000 12:24 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
The nun who arranged a reunion between Elian Gonzalez and his Cuban
grandmothers started advocating for the boy to stay in the United States
after learning that one of them wanted to defect, The Miami Herald reported
Sunday.
After meeting with the grandmothers last month at her home in Miami
Beach, Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, the president of Barry University, said
she was abandoning her neutral stance.
O'Laughlin was influenced to change her position by several things she had
been told about the case by people she trusted, Michele Morris, a
spokeswoman for Barry, said Sunday.
O'Laughlin didn't want to divulge the information to the media after the
reunion because she heard it secondhand, Morris said.
The Miami Herald reported that one of the grandmothers told O'Laughlin
directly that she wanted to defect. But O'Laughlin said Sunday in a
statement that "unfortunately the article had some misinformation. I never
met with the grandmothers alone."
"While some of the specifics noted in the Herald contributed to my
decision, it is untrue that I heard any of that from the grandmothers. Any
information attributed to them came from other sources," the statement
said.
The Herald's executive editor, Martin Baron, said in a statement Sunday:
"We can say without hesitation that our story was an accurate account of
what Sister Jeanne told us."
Elian was found clinging to an inner tube on Thanksgiving Day off the
Florida coast. His mother and 10 others traveling with him in an effort to
flee Cuba drowned.
O'Laughlin was told by people she trusted that Elian's father, Juan Miguel
Gonzalez, and his family knew about the voyage to Florida 10 days before
the boat left Cuba, Morris said.
The Herald quoted the nun as saying she learned that Elian's father had
been physically abusive to the boy's mother.
"This talk of defecting got me to thinking; if one of the adults wanted out,
perhaps it was not a good place for the child," she told the Herald.
There was no immediate reaction from Elian's family in Cuba or from the
Cuban government. O'Laughlin has been maligned by Cuban media since
saying Elian should stay with his relatives in Miami.
When O'Laughlin first told reporters she had changed her mind about
remaining neutral, she said she believed Elian had bonded with his 21-
year-old cousin Marisleysis Gonzalez. She also said she sensed fear
emanating from the grandmothers, which she believed was caused by the
Cuban government.
Elian is currently staying with relatives in Miami. The U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service has ruled in favor of his return to Cuba and to his
father, but Elian's U.S. relatives are challenging that decision in federal
court.
A Miami judge will hear arguments Tuesday to decide whether the court
has jurisdiction in the case. The judge, U.S. District Judge William M.
Hoeveler, was hospitalized Sunday and Chief U.S. District Judge Edward
B. Davis said he will preside over the hearing.
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