Reno Defends Elian Seizure
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, considering a bid for Florida governor, went to a Spanish-language radio station Friday and defended her decision to authorize the seizure of Elian Gonzalez.
Many in Miami's Cuban-American community were furious when Reno used federal agents to remove Elian from his Miami relatives' home so he could return to Cuba with his father last year.
Outside the studios, about 30 protesters gathered waving Cuban flags and carrying signs reading, "Reno's Racist." About a half-dozen protesters rushed near the Reno's vehicle as she was leaving, yelling "Murder her!" in Spanish.
During the 90-minute interview at the station, Reno was asked several times about Elian, who returned with his father following a seven-month international custody battle. Then 5, Elian survived a shipwreck in November 1999 that killed his mother as she attempted to reach the United States.
"I did what I did for one human reason: I think the little boy belongs to his father," Reno told the audience on WQBA-AM.
At one point, Reno choked back tears and told listeners she understood the strong feelings that led many Cuban-Americans to disagree with her handling of the case.
"So many have suffered at the hands of (Fidel) Castro. They are great and wonderful people and even if they disagreed with me, I would not discount them," she said.
Reno said she has not decided whether to run for governor in 2002. She is one of more than a half-dozen Democrats who have expressed interest in taking on Republican incumbent Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. Bush.
When she said last month that she was considering a run, Reno acknowledged that controversies from her tumultuous tenure at the Justice Department might resurface during the campaign.
Besides the Elian imbroglio, Reno — the first female attorney general and the second-longest serving — also felt heat over the 1994 Waco raid and her decision not to appoint independent prosecutors to probe fund-raising by the Clinton White House.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that Elian's Miami relatives can sue the U.S. government for alleged use of excessive force by federal agents during the raid.
U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith rejected a request from the government to throw out the lawsuit, saying that the family has "alleged sufficient facts to support such a claim."
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