On January 21, 2000, Elián's grandmothers, Mariela Quintana and Raquel Rodriguez, flew from Havana to the United States to seek their grandson's return to Cuba. While they were able to meet with the boy only once (at the Miami Beach home of Barry University president Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin), they journeyed to Washington and met with congressmen and Attorney General Janet Reno. After nine days of relentless media coverage (during which Republican lawmakers acknowledged they did not have the votes to pass a bill to give Elián U.S. citizenship), the two women returned to Cuba to "a heroes' welcome."[4]
On January 28, Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes called for the boy's return to Cuba, stating that international law dictated the return. Meanwhile, the Miami Gonzálezes fought off allegations that they had offered Juan Miguel a house and a car if he abandoned the action and joined his son in Miami.[5]
Through January and February, Juan Miguel sent a number of open letters to the U.S. Government (they were published in, among other places, the Cuban newspaper Granma) demanding the return of his son and refusing the Miami relatives' demands.[6]
On March 21, a Federal judge dismissed the relatives' petition for asylum which they had filed on behalf of Elian. Lazaro vowed to appeal.[7]
On March 29, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas was joined by 22 other civic leaders in a speech in downtown Miami. Penelas indicated that the municipality would not cooperate with Federal authorities on any repatriation of the boy, and would not lend police or other assistance in taking the boy.
On April 14, a video was released in which Elián tells Juan Miguel that he wants to stay in the United States. However, many considered that he had been coached, as a male voice was heard off-camera directing the young boy. In a September 2005 interview with 60 Minutes after being sent back to Cuba, Elián claimed that during his stay in the U.S., his family members were "telling me bad things about [my father]", and "were also telling me to tell him that I did not want to go back to Cuba and I always told them I wanted to".
Elián, under the relentless focus of the cameras, went to Walt Disney World one day, then met with politicians the next. Despite these efforts, and although much of the public in Miami and elsewhere were emphatic in their belief that Elián would have a better life in the United States than in Cuba, opinion polls showed that around two-thirds of Americans thought Elián should be returned to his father.[8] On April 19, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Elián must stay in the U.S. until the Miami Gonzálezes could appeal for an asylum hearing in May.
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