GOV DOC: MARISLEYSSS 'TOO EMOTIONAL, TOO ANGRY' TO SEE ELIAN!

Link

By Michael J. Sniffen Associated Press Writer Wednesday, April 26, 2000; 12:42 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON  A child psychiatrist who interviewed Elian Gonzalez for the government recommended that his Miami relatives reconcile their differences with his father before they are allowed to visit the 6-year-old Cuban boy, a Justice Department spokeswoman said today.

Dr. Paulina F. Kernberg, of Cornell University Medical College, advised Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner that "Elian needs more private time with his family and she believes that before the Miami relatives see Elian they need to work out their differences with Juan Miguel," Justice spokeswoman Carole Florman said.

Kernberg spent 2= hours Tuesday with the Gonzalez family at their new retreat on Wye River Plantation on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She spent some time alone with Elian, some alone with the father and some with the entire family including his stepmother and 6-month-old half brother, Florman said.

"The doctor reported that Elian needs to feel there is no tension between his family and his Miami relatives before any sort of extended family meeting," Florman said.

Kernberg was one of three doctors consulting for the government who interviewed the father and Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez, who had been caring for him, before Saturday's raid. They recommended that the boy be quickly reunited with his father.

A Justice official, requesting anonymity, said Kernberg told Meissner that Lazaro Gonzalez's 21-year-old daughter, Marisleysis, "is clearly not ready to see Elian, because she is too emotional and too angry to be a positive influence for him." Kernberg has not interviewed Marisleysis, but the young woman has conducted several televised news conferences describing her anger over the raid that took Elian from her home in Miami.

Meantime, little pieces of Elian life in Cuba are being brought to him in America as his family, the courts and the Senate consider the case.

In the latest stop on his five-month odyssey, the young boat wreck survivor was moved to the secluded and wooded Maryland retreat Tuesday with lots of room to play. There, he awaits visits by his former kindergarten teacher and a 10-year-old cousin, who left Cuba today en route to the United States.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said visas would be expedited for four of Elian's playmates to come from Cuba. "A young 6-year-old ... needs to have someone to play with," he said.

Kernberg reported that Elian "is doing very well, is playful and interactive and displays a sense of belonging to a close family unit," Florman said today.

"The doctor found that he teases his father and helps to take care of his brother and plays what she called 'the proud big brother' role," Florman said. "He calls his stepmother 'Momma' and they look and interact very much like a close-knit family."

Kernberg gave Elian toys to play with, including green toy soldiers with guns to see if he had any negative reaction to memories of the raid in which he was taken by heavily armed Border Patrol agents from the Miami home, Florman said.

"The doctor said he played with them regularly like a normal 6-year-old boy and at the end picked them up with his other toys and put them in his toy box," Florman said.

"He drew a picture of Juan Miguel as a strong, sturdy man standing on top of a mountain  a sign he looks up to his father as a protector," Florman said Kernberg reported.

The doctor found that the boy tires easily, and she concluded he needs private time "away from the spotlight in natural surroundings" to rest emotionally, Florman said.

Meantime, one of the eight Border Patrol agents who entered Lazaro's house Saturday morning as part of the "high-risk team" to retrieve Elian told Immigration and Naturalization Service officials he "had never encountered this much resistance," INS spokeswoman Maria Cardona said today.

"The agents said the crowd around the house was extremely aggressive and hostile," Cardona reported. "The female agent, Betty Mills, was pushed to the ground on the way in."

As the agents approached the door, several people formed a human chain and had to be pushed aside. The agents identified themselves and asked for cooperation, "but they did not get it despite the family's promise to just open the door peacefully if we came to get Elian," Cardona said.

"There was a couch pushed against the door, so the agents had to breach the door to get inside. Inside all the while, family members and supporters were screaming at the agents."

Cardona said the agent pictured holding up an automatic weapon as he encountered a terrified Elian in the arms of supporter Donato Dalrymple had the safety lock turned on. "He made a specific decision to keep the safety lock on because he feared he would encounter a physical struggle and didn't want the gun to go off accidentally," Cardona said.

There has been no indication that Juan Miguel Gonzalez wants to see the Miami relatives, who made repeated unsuccessful efforts to see Elian when he was at Andrews Air Force Base. Security officers at Wye would bar them from entering without permission, said Drew Wade, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshal's Service.

Doris Meissner, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said today on NBC's "Today" that Kernberg told her "something I found very touching  that the father is not hostile to the Miami relatives, he is very hurt. They have said very cruel things over recent weeks and the adults need to sort that out before the child is involved."

Attorney General Janet Reno failed to quiet Republican criticism of the raid during a meeting Tuesday with a bipartisan group of senators. Congressional hearings are scheduled to begin next week.

With the drama moved a thousand miles to the north, Cuban-Americans in Miami upset over Elian's seizure called a general strike. Workers stayed home, students skipped school and businesses closed, bringing honking cars and Cuban flags to the streets of Little Havana. Several baseball major league baseball players honored the strike.

Attorneys for the Miami family filed a motion Tuesday in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking that a guardian be appointed to check on Elian's well-being. The court directed attorneys for Juan Miguel Gonzalez to file a response by this afternoon, stating any reasons why this shouldn't happen.



EDITOR'S NOTE  Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek and Christopher Thorne in Queenstown, Md., contributed to this report.

) Copyright 2000 The Associated Press

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), April 26, 2000

Answers

Folks if any of you that are reading this post had refused to comply or interfered with those federal agents, as did those Miami Cubans, you would have been arrested on the spot and be in serious trouble. Of course that did not happen to Lazoro and his bizaro little group, but it should have. I ask you to just stop for a minute and imagine the mayhem and screaming that went on in that house during the recovery of Elian. Just Mari alone would be enough. Those agents should all get medals for showing the professional restraint they did.

-- Sifting (through@the.rubble), April 26, 2000.

That's quite a yap she's got on her. I have a feeling we're never gonna hear the end of it from this psycho-bitch. And she thinks she would be a better parent to Elian than his father?? LOL!!!

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 26, 2000.

Hawk,

Gotta *snicker* bout your "yap" comment...She does have big mouth..

My Hawk, now what were you thinking...?????

---looking to kick 'the dog'.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 26, 2000.

The only thing I can think is that she thought this was going to be the child she never had. As I said in another thread, I listened to some of her audio-video coverage and when I heard her say,"He can't live without me" I had to turn it off.

Mari is 21 and childless. I don't know the customs for Cuban- Americans. Arianne Horta is 22 and already has a 5-year old that she sent back when the boat first broke down. Five months of care does not a parent make. No offense to 21-year-olds, but I have a daughter the same age and she RUNS on emotion. Then again, she KNOWS this, and has no inclination to include a child in her life.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000.

Anita, that was about the same time that I turned off my TV only I used a crescent wrench from 12 feet away to do the job.

-- Sifting (through@the.rubble), April 26, 2000.

Sifting:

STILL rolfmao over that one....

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 26, 2000.

OPPSS

Oh heck you know what i meant.....ROFLMAO

$3000 computer and i still dont know how to use a spell chek on here...........

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 26, 2000.

The news is drying up fast, but if anyone understands why Mari has been hospitalized EIGHT times in 5 months, please tell ME.

Stardom on the wane

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 27, 2000.

Theres Mari, Donato, Lozaro,

Three stooges that thought they could make dough,

By pimping the kid,

But Mari they hid,

Eight times to get her off blow.

-- Ra (tion@l.1), April 27, 2000.

A Day in the Life of Marisleysis

Here she is, on her way to the hospital...
(got a bad bunch of crack that day)

Here she is, pouting again on national news,
with a ring in her nose...

Here she is, crying again...
(ran out of crack that day)

Here she is, whining again on the news...
(nice fingernails.. good for snorting crack)

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 27, 2000.

I don't want to wake up Manny, but has anyone noticed how LL hasn't been posting much since this whole thing with Marisleysis started?

Hoping it's not true,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), April 27, 2000.

LadyLogic,

Let me ALSO say that you've been a Heck of a sport on this forum, and in putting up with what you do.

Best Regards,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), April 27, 2000.

Anita:

Good question, I too also would like to know wuz up w/the hospital stuff.

Hawk, down boy, LMAO

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

PS, Hawk,

The fingernails .... you Do NOT snort crack, you smoke that...but those nails would be good for lines...

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

It seems the fisherman isn't really a fisherman. He seems to be confused about his marital status as well.

The plot thickens.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 27, 2000.

INS asked this family to care for Elian when he first arrived.

so why has this girl been hospitalized?

ok, 1) the govt and the media start "picking on the family" and making them out to be the bad guy, 2) a custody battle is stressful enough (if any of you have ever been through one), 3) so is helping a child deal wiht the death of a parent.

How would you like to be on the wrong end of the US govt and the media? (ask any whistleblower).

i think i can see a reason for a high level of stress and on a 21 year old kid? come on. i only hope those of you that are treating the miami family as scapegoats have the wonderful opportunity to be on the same end of this kind of situation to help you develop a bit of mercy towards others.

-- tt (cuddluppy@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

Thanks for the link Anita. De Fisherman reminds me of that caretaker for OJ. What the hell was his name?

-- they all become nameless after their ill-gotten claim to fame on the heels of someone elses misery.

His cousin pegged him right == hypocrite

-- (doomerstomper@usa.net), April 27, 2000.

tt:

I have 'HAD' the misfortune of being 'involved' in this manner. I know a lil something about all the mess, and the emotions...

GAL, guardian ad litem, ladium, I forget, at any rate, should HAVE been appointed 1st. HOME STUDY by child protective study for family?

BEEN THERE DONE THAT< passed

Thank you.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

Anita:

thanks for the link, BTW, will he EVER change the green shirt?

LMBO

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

"

Published Wednesday, April 26, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News

Gonzalez cousin's star power appears to be on the wane

BY TIM COLLIE Sun-Sentinel

WASHINGTON -- In the capital of Cuban exiles, she's equal parts Eva Persn, Madonna figure and Spanish soap opera star. She can rouse crowds, make congressmen weep and send young men into romantic swoons.

But in the chilly streets of the nation's capital, Marisleysis Gonzalez may be just one more provincial with a cause whose five months of fame are rapidly concluding.

``For a lot of us, the story hasn't changed, except now Marisleysis and the rest of the family are wearing winter coats,'' said Richard Noyes, a media analyst with the Washington-based Media Research, a press watchdog group.

``But I'm not sure what else there is left for her to do,'' said Noyes, a longtime observer of Washington media rituals. ``There are some people who have described her and the family as crazy. But they've come across to me as sincere people who are in a lot of pain.

``The fact is they have more access to representatives up here than most citizens, and they can have more press conferences. But in the end, the story may be fading and I don't think she has a lot of options left.''

If anything, Gonzalez may have squandered what little good will non-Cuban-Americans had toward what was clearly a difficult custody question, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

``A lot of us haven't had the experience of escaping from a communist country, of having grown up in a communist system and all the tragedy that entails, so people were a bit sympathetic to this family,'' Jamieson said.

``But that press conference on Sunday raised the question of how well this woman was taking care of this child in the first place,'' Jamieson said. ``I saw a very overwrought, seemingly irrational behavior. These bizarre allegations about the photo, the hair, it was very disturbing.

``You heard two things: How much they loved the boy, and how much they hate Castro. What you didn't hear throughout this was a lot of care for the boy's ultimate well-being.''

For a novice, Gonzalez has had a nice run. On Saturday, her long, stirring live interviews from the damaged Little Havana home eclipsed Leonardo DiCaprio's Washington visit for Earth Day.

On Easter Sunday, she dominated a 90-minute press conference, admonishing reporters to pay attention, demanding an audience with President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, and giving a forceful soliloquy on the importance of mothers.

A second scheduled press conference was canceled, however, Monday. And the 21-year-old woman who has been at the center of the Elian Gonzalez saga since the beginning retreated with her family to a Georgetown hotel.

Some wondered if she might be hospitalized once again, which would be the ninth time since Elian arrived in the United States, and suggested she might want to come home.

``Marisleysis is not the best spokesperson in the world for this cause,'' said Dario Moreno, a professor and frequent critic of exile politics at Florida International University. ``She's not very well-educated, she's too emotional and she has a heavy accent.''

The young woman's appeal only briefly crossed the Miami-Dade County line, Moreno and others said. Now it seemed to be receding back to Little Havana.

On Sunday, she seemed to sense her appeal was fading.

At one point, some 15 minutes into a repetitive, rambling rehash of Saturday's snatch of the boy, Gonzalez, a junior bank officer and community college dropout, snapped at reporters: ``Whoever doesn't want to listen to this, or is tired of listening to this: This could be your child.''"

Hawk must be right, it's either crack or something similar. "This could be your child." Perhaps her hospital visits were in psychiatric wards? I'm glad the government will protect me and my kids from psycho cases like her.

-- (hello@anyone.home), April 27, 2000.

Anyone who has NOT, should READ the link...sorry anita, just did, cuz i'm at work..

Donato said "I'm the boys savior?" ---- OMGosh, how sad

Donato worried about family getting angry? For what the truth?

Donato told Maryuseless to quit whinning about doctoring photos, DONATO KNEW the TRUTH!!!

Lets see 4 marriages, ashamed of the fact, for obvious reasons, he lied and got caught.

SHAME ON THE MEDIA MONGREL. And to top it all off...

HE CLEANS HOUSES NOT FISH.......SOB.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

Stomper you are thinking of Kato Kaitlan, the caretaker for OJ who is at least a thousand times smarter than this idiot Donato. The Fisherman will be back to scrubbing crappers before summer starts.

-- Sifting (through@the.rubble), April 27, 2000.

Consumer:

If anyone goes back to the original reports on Friday, November 26, 1999, they'll find that it was Ciancio who took off his shoes and pants and dove into the water to rescue Elian. Ciancio simply HANDED him to Dalrymple, who was there only to listen to his oldies on the radio. Had Dalrymple not been along, I feel sure Ciancio could have heaved him over the side of his boat himself.

tt: Elian was RELEASED to these relatives after they proved related and showed up to fetch him at the hospital. I, personally, don't think Mari is on drugs, at least not recreational drugs. I suppose she could have asthma. Some pictures have shown her with oxygen being applied and asthma DOES have a tendency to kick in under stressful situations.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 27, 2000.

Anita and others.

I hesitate to post this information as it is for sure third hand. I will tell you that this was given to me not 10 minutes ago by a friend of over 34 years. He has lived in Miami for 19 years and runs a retail store in downtown proper. He is very close to the Cuban community and is not one to BS. He does not personally know or has he ever met the Gonzales family or Donato. That being said this is what I have been told:

(1). The entire situation has been orchestrated and financed by the powerful Anti-Castro faction in South Florida. This is the same group that has virtually taken over the Miami area and IS the political machine, similar to the Richard Daley Empire in Chicago.

(2). The Gonzales group has been managed and prepped by some very heavy hitters and everyone down there knows all about it. They realized from the start they had to clean-up the family to make them media presentable. The Father is a serious drunk and they watch him 24/7 to keep him in line. The Daughter is apparently a known drug user but not to any extreme degree. She has a less then desirable rep but that could be BS. She does have some unknown mental problems but that should come as no surprise to those who have seen her on TV. This Donato is simply a paid shill and the real rescuer allegedly refused to be involved with the Cubans. The word down there is that Donato has made a ton of enemies, in and out of the Cuban community. There are some other powerful groups down there besides the Cubans.

(3). With Elian now gone from the area and out of the clutches of the Gonzales group, the speculation is that there will be some serious infighting as the national spotlight is removed from Little Havana. The financial support for Donato and the Gonzales family will expire and my friend said there are all sorts of rumors as to what these Miami Family folks will do to extend their celebrity and find ways to make some money from it. This could anger TPTB and result in some serious backlash. Please let that happen.

(4). The very emotional Cubans are screaming that Janet Reno better not ever return to South Florida to live as her life wouldnt be worth a plug nickel. This is street talk now but who knows with these people. The large black population in the Miami area is ready to erupt as they are feeling even more disenfranchised than usual. Should make for a red-hot summer down there.

This whole situation has been exploitation at its best but the end result was not achieved. Now, it is time for someone(s) to pay and pay they shall.

-- Sifting (through@the.rubble), April 27, 2000.

Anita,

Thanks for the update, from his interview, I agree with ya.

Still have a problem with the 'family' showing 'up' w/out social service involvement. I went thru PURE HELL with my niece. Not whinning never sorry, but I know 1st Hand who is MINDING the store.

Should have had a Home Study done 1st to check out family. Wondering if this was done first before possesion of child? Sooo many balls dropped on this one.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), April 27, 2000.

Sifting:

SOME of what your friend says can be verified. For instance, we know that the mayor was elected by the anti-Castro cubans. He was quite put off that he wasn't informed of the "rescue" mission. DUH! His brother was also arrested by the Miami police during an altercation following the "rescue" mission. There was a very sound reason why the search warrant acquired to "rescue" Elian was requested to be sealed until the operation was complete.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 27, 2000.

Sifting, good information, and there is probably a good deal of truth to it. I had guessed since around January that this charade was being funded by Republicans, but a sort of Cuban-American mafia wouldn't suprise me either, in fact they are probably working hand-in-hand. This certainly gives me a better perspective on why the hotheaded "Pastor" Jose Miami acted the way he did over on EZ last weekend. Someone offered Elian's father $2 million to stay in the U.S., and I think that's why the Miami family wanted to talk to him in person. Marisleysis is doing all this crying in front of the cameras, not because she cares about Elian, but because her payoff just got a lot smaller now that he is gone. She's going to try to sue the Feds for "ruining her family", to try to make up for what she would have got if she could have convinced Elian and his Dad to defy Castro.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 28, 2000.

Here is what was reported when she went to the hospital on April 4...

Elian's cousin taken to hospital following TV interviews

April 4, 2000 Web posted at: 4:25 PM EDT (2025 GMT)

MIAMI (AP) -- Elian Gonzalez's cousin Marisleysis was hospitalized today after she grew faint during a round of TV interviews. And outside her home, family supporters broke through a barrier and chanted in protest of efforts to return the boy to Cuba.

After Marisleysis Gonzalez finished an early morning interview at La Carreta, a Little Havana restaurant, she turned pale. She put her head in a friend's lap and then hurried into a bathroom.

Paramedics took her out of the restaurant on a stretcher, and she was taken to Coral Gables Hospital, where she was in stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Laura Hernandez said.

She gave no details, but family spokesman Armando Gutierrez said she had been vomiting and hospital personnel were trying to feed her. He said Marisleysis would stay in the hospital overnight.

Marisleysis' father, Lazaro Gonzalez, visited his daughter at the hospital, then emerged to criticize the federal government's handling of the dispute over Elian.

"The government is going to destroy this family," he said. "We are only trying to protect this child."

Outside the Gonzalez family home this afternoon, about 200 angry protesters broke down a barrier keeping them away from the home, screaming, "Elian is not leaving!"

Housewife Olga Hernandez said the protesters broke through the barrier because "they saw a bus and they thought they (Immigration and Naturalization Service officials) were coming to take him."

The protesters linked arms and formed a human chain around the home. City of Miami Police just stood by and watched.

Earlier this year, Marisleysis Gonzalez was hospitalized for exhaustion. Friends have said she often spends days in bed, too tired to move.

Elian's mother drowned in November while trying to bring him to the United States; the boy was rescued off the Florida coast.

Marisleysis Gonzalez and other U.S. relatives have been battling with the boy's Cuban father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to keep him in their custody. The U.S. government and the courts have backed the father's efforts.

Marisleysis, a loan processor in her early 20s, had arrived at the interview at about 6:30 a.m. today, after conducting a news conference for local television at 11 p.m. Monday.

During the interviews, Gonzalez challenged Elian's father, who is her cousin, to come to her house and to talk to her about why he wants to take the boy back to Cuba.

She said she had not told Elian that his father might be coming to the United States as soon as today. She said the last time she told Elian his father might be coming, he cried the entire weekend, and then the father didn't come.

"As a precaution, I will not tell him until everything is certain," she said. She said that when someone tells Elian his father might be coming, "All he asks me is 'Please don't let them take me."'

*******

I knew a girl who was an ex-crackhead, through a friend of mine. Actually, I think it might have been "crank", but I don't think there is much difference, it's all poison. She had screwed herself up so good with the drugs that she had to have a premature hysterectomy and was unable to have children. The part about sleeping all day and going to the hospital so many times from exhaustion are classic signs of drug abuse, withdrawal, and resulting depression. I don't know it for a fact, but this Marisleysis has all the signs of a druggie and an emotional basket case. If she is involved with the Cuban mafia, they probably made sure that none of the details of her problems would get out into the media.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 28, 2000.