Elian's Dad Is Here

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/05/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Juan Miguel Gonzalez -- with his new wife and 6-month-old baby -- arrived at Washington D.C.'s Dulles Airport shortly after 7 this morning, determined to reclaim his son, Elian, 6. "I expect my son to be delivered to me as soon as possible, and I expect to return to Cuba with him immediately," said a passionate Gonzalez at an airport press conference. The boy has been living with relatives in Miami since last November, when Elian's mother (along with 10 others) drowned en route to the U.S. from Cuba. American immigration officials have ruled that the boy should be returned to his father, but relatives in Miami -- whom Gonzalez says have "exerted cruel mental and psychological pressure" on the boy -- have been fighting the decision. Gonzalez said that he also realizes that it might take as long as two months for the court case to be settled before he can return home with his son.