Elián saga might hound Obama visit
Some Cuban Americans are planning to protest Democrat Barack Obama's
visit to Miami on Saturday.
Posted on Fri, Jun. 20, 2008
By BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
Summoning a time of political upheaval in Miami, a great-uncle of Elián
González plans Friday to publicly denounce two Barack Obama campaign
advisors who helped send the boy back to his father in Cuba eight years ago.
One day before the expected Democratic nominee addresses a conference of
mayors in Miami, Delfín González will hold a 1 p.m. news conference
outside the Little Havana home where Elián lived with relatives for
several months in 2000.
Earlier this week, CNN reported that Elián, now 14 years old, has joined
Cuba's Young Communist Union. Obama was an Illinois lawmaker during the
2000 dispute and did not take a public position.
At issue are foreign-policy advisor Greg Craig, who represented Elián's
father in the custody battle with the Miami relatives, and legal advisor
Eric Holder, a member of Obama's vice-presidential search committee who
was deputy attorney general when the 6-year-old boy was seized by
federal agents and returned to Cuba.
''We're going to express opposition to Barack Obama's visit to Miami,
and explain how we're opposed to him having individuals on his campaign
who were associated with Elián's seizure in 2000,'' González said.
``Some wounds are so deep that they do not heal over time, such as
taking a child and sealing his fate to a communist dictatorship.''
González, 74, said he has not given money to Republican John McCain.
Asked if the Republican Party had put him up to holding the news
conference, González said, ``No, no, no. This is spontaneous between us
and the community.''
The Miami Herald was notified about the news conference by Republican
state Rep. David Rivera, of South Florida. He also provided background
information about the two campaign advisors.
''The link between Barack Obama and a Castro apologist like Greg Craig
is extremely relevant to Cuban-American voters because it provides
further insight into Obama's weak position toward the Castro
dictatorship,'' Rivera said.
Obama has called for lifting restrictions on travel and money transfers
by Cuban Americans to family on the island, and for initiating talks
with the Cuban government in the hope of sparking democratic reforms.
Asked to respond to the concerns about Obama's advisors, campaign
spokesman Josh Earnest issued a statement that focused more on the
candidate's proposal to change U.S. policy toward Cuba.
''Senator Obama -- like the vast majority of voters -- is looking to the
future, not the past, which is why he believes we should both: keep the
embargo to pressure the Cuban government to respect human rights and
lift travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban Americans so that
families can visit and support one other,'' he said.
Rivera said Cuban Americans are also planning to protest Obama's speech
Saturday at the InterContinental Hotel at the nearby Torch of Friendship
in Bayfront Park.
During the months-long custody battle over the shipwrecked Cuban boy in
2000, Craig antagonized Miami's Cuban exile community by keeping Elián's
father cloistered in Washington with Cuban government operatives. Craig
was hired by church groups who wanted the boy reunited with his father
after his mother died at sea, but the high-powered lawyer was accused of
doing Castro's bidding.
More recently, Craig represented former Bolivian defense minister Carlos
Sanchez-Berzaín, accused of ordering a violent crackdown on
anti-government protests in 2003. Craig said Sanchez-Berzaín was not to
blame for the deaths of at least 60 people.
This is not the first time Craig has drawn flak for advising a
presidential candidate. In 2004, he played the role of President Bush to
help Democrat John Kerry prepare for a debate in Miami.
http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/576791.html
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