Although the interview was exclusive, Elian said very little to Sawyer in the first installment that hasn't been passed along by his family over the past four months. When the two weren't playing or drawing together, Elian talked about the porpoises he says protected him while he was adrift in an inner tube. He also spun a tender, childlike fantasy that his mother is in Miami, has lost her memory and doesn't know where to find him. In today's installment, ABC said the boy told Sawyer he doesn't want to return, but because of the sensitive nature of the boy's situation it decided not to broadcast his exact words. She told Sawyer that she has told the boy he should return to Cuba and that his father loves him, doing so to lessen the trauma if he is forced back.
People are interested in what the boy has to say.
We asked how we would we feel if it was our child. The interview was done with few ground rules. In Monday's broadcast, Sawyer went to great lengths to make the point that the interview was primarily to show viewers how Elian is coping, not determine whether he should go back to Cuba. Westin said that even after Sawyer returned from Miami, the decision to air the interview was not made until late Saturday afternoon. Herald staff writer Alfonso Chardy and Herald news services contributed to this report.