January 21, 2000
Web posted at: 9:51 a.m. EST (1451 GMT)

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HAVANA (CNN) -- Two Cuban grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez will fly to the United States on Friday, CNN had learned. Earlier, the grandmothers said they would not make the trip because they were unable to obtain guarantees they could bring their 6-year-old grandson home and end the two-month custody battle with the boy's Miami relatives.

AUDIO Listen to the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches Robert Edgar talk to the press in Cuba 142K/13 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Marisleysis Gonzalez recalls what Elian said when he was told his grandmothers might be coming to the United States 18K/408 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD US/Cuba relations

The grandmothers obtained U.S. visas on Thursday and had been expected to fly to the United States late in the day on a plane chartered by the New York-based National Council of Churches, which has been acting as an intermediary in the case.

But the aircraft left without them.

After a Thursday night meeting in Havana with a delegation from the council, one of the grandmothers told reporters they would not be making the trip.

"No," said Elian's maternal grandmother Raquel Rodriguez. She then emphatically wagged her finger to reinforce her negative answer.

Rodriguez gave the reply as she and other members of Elian's family in Cuba, including his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez, left grim-faced after two hours of talks with the church delegation.

Delegation members had flown into Havana on the chartered plane in an apparent attempt to persuade Elian's grandmothers to accompany the church group back to the United States to try to unblock the bitter custody dispute.

Before the meeting, Elian's other grandmother, Mariela Quintana de Gonzalez, had also signaled her reluctance to make the trip.

She said she would go only "when they tell me I can bring back my grandson."

The delegation's visit and the visas for the grandmothers were the latest twists in the tortuous custody battle over Elian, which has pitted Cuban President Fidel Castro's government against its anti-Communist exile foes in Miami, who want the boy to stay in the United States.

During an earlier visit to Havana this month, Dr. Joan Campbell, ex-general secretary of the National Council of Churches, had met Elian's family and the Cuban government and had offered to act as a go-between to try to secure the boy's return from the United States to his father and grandparents in Cuba.

The grandmothers' announcement that they would not be traveling to the United States indicated their fears that Elian's case was too heavily entangled in legal and political maneuvers by his Miami relatives and their Cuban exile backers.

A senior Cuban official, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, had also expressed concern this week that if members of Elian's family went to the United States they might also find themselves caught up in the legal wrangling.

"This is a very delicate situation," National Council of Churches General Secretary Robert Edgar told reporters after the late-night meeting held at the Havana headquarters of Cuba's Council of Churches, which consists of mostly Protestant denominations.

Cuban Council President Oden Marichal was also present.

Castro's government has strongly criticized President Clinton and his administration for not promptly implementing an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) ruling to send Elian back to his father in Cuba.

Havana argues that by not acting quickly, the U.S. government allowed time for legal and political moves by the boy's Miami relatives, and their Cuban exile and U.S. political supporters, to keep him in the United States.

This included an initiative in the U.S. Congress to grant him U.S. citizenship.

Elian has been in the United States living with distant relatives since November 25, when he was rescued off Florida after surviving the capsizing of a boat carrying illegal Cuban migrants.

His mother was among 10 Cubans who drowned; Elian was one of three survivors.

Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman, Correspondents Martin Savidge and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.

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