His father was his primary care giver, having custody five days a week. He has been called unfit, but people I met told me he worked hard, was well respected, and raised his son as best he could. I consider Elian to have been kidnapped by his mother. In a joint custody situation in the U.S., such an action would be kidnapping. I question why there was a delay in returning Elian following the ruling by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
All signs point toward the efforts of the Cuban exile community's political power.
During their visit to the Cuban General Assembly, the NNA group met with Ricardo Alarcon, President of the General Assembly. He is Cuban's second leading official behind Fidel Castro. Alacron is well known throughout the world, thanks to his recent appearances on CNN to talk about Elian's situation, and his tenure as Cuba's foreign minister. He made an honest effort to give us the best possible answers to our questions. I thought it was a candid and fruitful dialogue.