["These documents conclusively prove that these were lies, lies,
lies, to the American people." Duh! What else is new? --MS]
June 8, 2000
Cuba, U.S. 'coordinated' Elian seizure strategy
By Tom Carter THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Clinton administration coordinated strategy with "the Cubans"
— presumably the Castro government — to return Elian Gonzalez to
Cuba, newly obtained documents revealed yesterday.
Government memoranda and e-mails obtained by a court order from
Clinton administration agencies reveal that the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) and the State Department were
involved in negotiations with the Cuban government to arrange a
January visit by Elian's grandmothers to the United States.
The documents, obtained by the public interest group Judicial
Watch under a Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent
court order, reveal:
• The State Department sought to work with "the Cubans" —
presumably the Castro government —in how to manage the way the
incident would be reported in U.S. newspapers and on television.
• INS Commissioner Doris M. Meissner ordered that discussions
with Cuba on the grandmothers' visit continue "with the
understanding that INS would not be involved."
• That the INS, to avoid official involvement, sought through
contacts in Miami and Cuba to have representatives of the
Catholic Church take on a public role as an intermediary.
Three months after the grandmothers' visit in late January, the
Justice Department seized the boy from his relatives' Miami home
in an April 22 predawn raid.
"These smoking-gun documents prove what we've suspected all
along, that the Clinton-Gore administration was doing the bidding
of Fidel Castro when it raided the Gonzalez home using 151 armed
federal agents," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.
A Justice Department spokesman scoffed at suggestions that it had
coordinated events with the Cuban government. Department
spokeswoman Carole Florman said: "Oh, please. These are internal
documents between U.S. government agencies about how we are
going to deal with a foreign government." "They clearly state
that Doris [Meissner] didn't want to be
involved."
There was some outrage on Capitol Hill nevertheless. "The
Clinton administration said they followed the law," said Rep.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Florida Republican. "These documents prove
that these were lies, lies, lies to the American people. What
they have done is to follow a plan that originated with Castro
and a terrorist state."
He said that he would ask the House Government Reform Committee,
headed by Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican, to investigate.
Earlier Republican threats to investigate the seizure subsided
quickly.
The government memoranda, clearly not intended for public
scrutiny, set out the government's aims in stark language. A
Jan. 15 memo regarding the "grandmothers" says "DM [Doris
Meissner] thinks it would be helpful to continue to discuss this
here in Washington and in Cuba because the grandmother's presence
in the US . . . could well facilitate Elian's return to Cuba."
The memo continues: "DM was FIRM about not having any INS
involvement in this initiative. If our conversations in Cuba can
proceed with the understanding that INS would not be involved,
then DM would be most interested in hearing more about this
idea."
Another document, an e-mail message titled, "Re: Daily conference
calls re: Elian," says "[Department of State] wants to have a
daily conference call to coordinate press guidance and
communications with the Cubans."
A State Department official insisted yesterday, despite the
e-mail setting out the department's wishes for coordination with
"the Cubans," that its strategy for dealing with reporters did
not involve the Cuban government. "We had press guidance
coordination everyday, including with the U.S. Interests Section
in Cuba, but never with the Cuban government," said a State
Department official on the condition of anonymity. "Absolutely
not. Never. Never."
The document, apparently written by an INS official, was dated
Jan. 19, two days before the grandmothers arrived in the United
States. The grandmothers remained in the country for about a
week, with a brief reunion with Elian in Miami and several days
of meetings with U.S. officials and members of Congress in
Washington.
Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez was plucked from the Atlantic Ocean
last Thanksgiving Day to become the center of an international
custody dispute between the Cuban government and the child's
anti-Castro Miami relatives, who had been granted temporary
custody.
Last week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
agreed with the Justice Department that Attorney General Janet
Reno was within her rights to determine the child's custody.
Miss Reno had ruled in January that the boy belongs with his
father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and not with the Miami relatives.
Elian, his father, stepmother and several children from his home
in Cardenas, Cuba, are staying in the Youth For Understanding
compound in the Cleveland Park neighborhood or Washington, D.C.,
pending the exhaustion of the court appeals.
Elian and his playmates spent much of the afternoon yesterday at
the National Zoo, stopping by the reptile house, making playful
animal noises as they went.
The Justice Department yesterday asked U.S. District Judge Henry
H. Kennedy Jr. in Washington to dismiss a second lawsuit brought
by Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, to prevent Elian from
leaving the country. Elian lived with his great-uncle in Miami
until the April raid.
The second lawsuit, filed in April, had been put on hold in case
the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifts an earlier
injunction keeping Elian in this country.
The government asked Judge Kennedy to dismiss the case because
the 11th Circuit had settled the issue when it upheld the
Immigration and Naturalization Service's decision to let Elian's
father, Juan Miguel, have custody and decide the boy's future.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
=================================================================
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths,
misdirections
and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and
minor
effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said,
CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
<A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
