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Friday April 7, 2000; 9:58 AM EDT

Juan Miguel Divorced Elian's Mom Years Before Boy's Birth

The Clinton administration wants Cuban raft boy Elian Gonzalez returned to his rightful father. But Juan Miguel Gonzalez's legal claim to that title may not be as strong as once thought.

Six-year-old Elian, it turns out, was actually born more than two years after Gonzalez divorced the boy's late mother Elisabeth Brotons in 1991, undermining claims that the Cuban hotel worker has an unquestionable right to the boy's custody.

"Juan Miguel and Elisabeth met in junior high and were together, by his estimate, a total of 15 years," reported The Miami Herald on Friday. "They were married in 1985, then divorced in 1991, a decision prompted, according to relatives, by Elisabeth's miscarriages and resulting depression."

Seven of Brotons' earlier pregnancies ended in miscarriage, which apparently caused Juan Miguel to seek an end to his marriage. But Gonzalez claimed to United States immigration officials that he and his ex-wife decided to continue to try for children two years after their marriage broke up. Gonzalez has offered no explanation for the strange decision.

Despite Elisabeth's successful pregnancy and Elian's healthy birth, Juan Miguel declined to reconcile the split with his ex-wife, and instead took a new wife who bore him a son last year.

Cuba's state newspaper Granma claims that the divorced couple went to a specialized obstetrics hospital in Havana and, after faithfully following doctor's orders, Elisabeth conceived Elian. But the boy's paternity has never been established scientifically.

Further weakening Juan Miguel's claim on the boy; Brotons had sole legal custody over Elian -- though neighbors in Castro's Cuba say the boy often spent time with his biological father.

-- watcher (watcher@watching.you), April 10, 2000

Answers

As far as we know, the kid's father IS his father. Give him back to him.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), April 10, 2000.

So if Juan Miguel is Elian's father...or another, then what? They go home to be a family? NOT!

Elian will ultimately, at an early age, as ALL Castro's children, be sent to "re-education", to till, harvest and work the sugar/tobacco (horrors) fields and see his family/father perhaps once a month. But he will be cared for.....wow!

Great life, huh?

-- WhoMe? (WhoMe?@home.com), April 11, 2000.

Who me?,

And when a similar situation occurs with an American child in someplace like North Korea or Iraq, do you want their governments keeping the kid to protect him from the great Satan?

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), April 11, 2000.

Frank..the answer is the same. NO child should have to reliquish "family" or his "father" to work in the fields by gov order, whether it be Cuba, No. Korea or Iraq...

Elain will not be with his father for much more than a few months...good grief!

What problem do you have with this?

-- WhoMe? (WhoMe?@home.com), April 11, 2000.

Who me?,

The kid's father is in the U.S. right? If Juan Miguel WANTED to "escape" Cuba, don't you think we'd find some reason to let him stay here? Then we could keep the kid here and make everyone but Castro happy. But maybe coming to America isn't everyone's only goal in life.

Good grief indeed!

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), April 11, 2000.

Frank,

What would the U.S. stance be if Elian's mother had made it to Florida alive, and then died?

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), April 11, 2000.

Frank, I agree with you.

And so what if the boy isn't Juan Miguel's son. He has helped raise him, support him, he loves him, the boy knows no other dad, and apparently his wife didn't object to him being the boy's father, biological or not.

And not everyone sees the U. S. as the best place in the entire world to live. When I see all the tons of stuff, and more stuff, being handed to this child, it makes me sick. There is more to life than the consumerism mentality of the U. S. Not all countries are demented with the mania of owning stuff and more stuff.

I spent a lot of time working in the field when I was a kid, and I think it made me healthier and taught me what real work is, as opposed to the American ideal of work. Would I want to do that forever? No. But then ask millions of service workers here, exactly how much fulfillment they get from there fast food jobs.

I recently attended a meeting where six American teenagers were present among mostly adults, and I have never seen such spoiled, hateful, rude and arrogant kids in my life. I left in the middle of the meeting.

Boys belong with their fathers.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), April 11, 2000.

Sure boys belong with their fathers. In Cuba the state is the father.

Didn't anybody see the very first interview with Juan Miguel after Elian was rescued? He didn't want the kid. Wonder why the media hasn't re-played that?

-- (papacastro@da.da), April 11, 2000.

Seems this debate maybe moot now.

http://www.time.com/time/daily/0,2960,42916-101000411,00.html

Politics May Dictate a Truce on Elian Handover Washington's new resolve to reunite the boy with his father may have forced Cuban exiles to cut their losses

Janet Reno's firm resolve to return Elian Gonzalez to his father appears to be paying off for the Clinton administration, with the mayhem threatened in Miami until last week now looking increasingly unlikely. Miami-area mayors and Cuban-American activists are to meet the attorney general on Tuesday to discuss ways of easing the handover process, which will be outlined in a letter delivered the same day to Elian's great-uncle Lazaro. The date for the handover is expected to be Wednesday or Thursday, after which Juan Miguel Gonzalez and his son may wait out the Miami relatives' appeal process in Washington.

But while discussions continue over how, where and to whom Elian should be handed over, the question of whetherhe should be reunited with his father appears to have faded from the agenda. And even the demonstrators gathered outside Lazaro's Little Havana house now appear to have resigned themselves to the inevitability of Elian's transfer to his father's care. "We have fought the battle," Ramsn Saul Sanchez, who has led demonstrations outside the house, told the New York Times. "What Elian is going to remember is that these people here did not betray him." His use of the past tense is significant, however: Sanchez explained that rather than a confrontation, the demonstrators planned one last candlelight vigil, adding that "We will cope."

The sea change in atmospherics surrounding the handover appears to reflect political realities for all parties concerned. Spurred on, no doubt, by poll numbers that consistently reflect Americans being two to one in favor of returning Elian to his father, the Clinton administration has reasserted government authority in the matter. Previously, the administration's uncertainty  and Vice President Gore's desertion  had emboldened Cuban exile community to threaten turmoil if the government attempted to remove Elian from his great-uncle's home. But Reno's approach over the past week has been to lay down the law to the Miami relatives, and then be flexible about the details of its implementation. And that's left the exile activist leadership with little choice, because a last stand in defiance of Washington in a battle that can't be won on the streets might prove fatal to their long-term political standing in the capital. But although the drift in the Elian Gonzalez saga is now away from confrontation, nothing is quite certain in a case that has ignited such fierce emotions.

 TONY KARON

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R E L A T E D S T O R I E S : "I Love My Child" TIME Magazine

The Players TIME Daily

D I S C U S S: What should be done for Elian?

P H O T O E S S A Y: The Battle Over Elian

N E W S F I L E: Cuba

WRITE TO US

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Copyright ) 2000 Time Inc.

-- (moot@moot.moot), April 11, 2000.

To my eyes, Elian and Juan Miguel look exactly alike, older and young version. I cannot dispute this.

-- U.S. not the Holy Grail (t@xedtodeath.com), April 11, 2000.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr (pic), near Monterey, California

I think a DNA test is in order.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), April 12, 2000.

Leave Cuba and President Castro alone,You hatemongering Republican Assholes.Still pissed off,eh,that Castro taught everyone there to read and write?Still mad at him for kicking Batista,Meyer Lanski and all the other Gangsters and Hoods out of HIS Country?BTW,the Kid belongs with his Dad,the Rest of the imported Felons,drunk Drivers that the Media calls the Kids "Relatives"should have been deported long Time ago.Read the Article in Salon.com,about these Characters.

-- John Doe (here@home.living), April 12, 2000.

John, great article on salon. Most people don't even know who Batista is. Did you know that Cuba has very good medical technology? They have free national health care, and a place for women to go with high-risk pregnancies, where they are cared for and receive the latest in prenatal care.

And while I think Castro is not a benevolent dictator, he at least has tried to keep social programs going. Some dictators would have lived it up like Saddam Hussein with multi-palaces and wealth, and said to hell with the people.

The U. S. has hurt themselves and Cuba for years by denying trade with Cuba.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), April 12, 2000.

If Castro's Cuba is such a neato place, why doesn't he have free elections? Why do people continue to risk their lives to escape this paradise? Don't forget, Mussolini made the trains run on time.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), April 12, 2000.

If Elian's mom had defected from Chile, and his Chilean dad wanted him back, would the the current father-defenders be demanding that he be returned to Chile?

-- (Scuba@Cuba.andAruba), April 12, 2000.

If Elian's mom had defected from Chile, and his Chilean dad wanted him back, would the the current father-defenders be demanding that he be returned to Chile?

-- (Scuba@Cuba.andAruba), April 12, 2000.

Of course. Why do you ask?

By the way, all this talk about how awful Cuba is; it's given me an excuse to go there and find out. I'll let you know, whenever I get back.

JOJ

-- Jumpoff Joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), April 12, 2000.

Elian's mother died trying to give him a better life. Turning him over to Fidel Castro would make a mockery of her sacrifice. Tell Castro to send Elian's ENTIRE extended family remaining in Cuba to get him, then grant them exile the minute they arive. It would be interesting to see how many opt to return to "pappa" Fidel.

This IS different than if they were defecting from Chile.

Let's tell Fidel what to really do with that cigar (and I don't mean "a Lewinsky").

-- Flash (flash@flash.hq), April 12, 2000.

This debate is starting to have the same flavor to me as the Ezboard vs Spinoff being "right or wrong".

Lars said: "If Castro's Cuba is such a neato place, why doesn't he have free elections? Why do people continue to risk their lives to escape this paradise?"

Probably for the same reasons Yourdon and his sysops don't have "free elections" on whether their forum should be censored or not. They have in their minds the answer of what's good for thier turf, and so does Fidel Castro. Obviously not everyone agrees with Castro's ways, and knowing the USA has free speech and all that, they risk their lives for their own view of paradise.

-- Chris (!@#$@pond.com), April 12, 2000.

Chris,

Funny, but I was going to say the same thing in a different way. Here in America where people HAVE the freedom Elian's mother wanted, some people choose to GIVE IT UP as evidenced by participating in a censored rather than a free forum. Maybe they'd be HAPPIER in Cuba.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), April 13, 2000.

Good thing that EZB posters don't have to risk their lives to be able to post here.

Give every adult Cuban a gun and some ammo and let's see how long Fidel is around. Something tells me he'd have a lot of cigars stuffed where they'd do the most good!

-- Flash (flash@flash.hq), April 13, 2000.

to Watcher: SO WHAT? and your point would be?????????

-- i see (so@what.com), April 14, 2000.