THEY'RE BACK!!!! - Elian Gonzalez' Miami Relatives Are Going After Obama

[magbana]

MIAMI HERALD
CAMPAIGN 2008
Elián saga might hound Obama visit

Some Cuban Americans are planning to protest Democrat Barack Obama's visit
to Miami on Saturday.

Posted on Thu, Jun. 19, 2008

By BETH REINHARD

[e-mail]

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

[magbana]

1. Wiley Obama on the Elian thing

MIAMI HERALD
Obama on Elian: that was 8 years ago

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/06/obama-on-elian.html

Speaking to reporters from a waterfront park along Jacksonville's St. John's River, Barack Obama briefly responded to the flap over his advisors' association with Elian Gonzalez:

"That was eight years ago and obviously it was a wrenching situation for the families but I'm running for president in 2008 and my focus is: how do we create a Cuba policy that will create political freedom on that island and allow the people who live there to prosper?'' Obama said. "That's not what we have right now.''

He referred to his "extensive approach'' he outlined last month to lift travel restrictions for family members of relatives in Cuba.