Posted on 04/09/2002 9:20:18 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
Miami local news have been reporting on the case of INS whistleblower Rick Ramirez.
Mr. Ramirez had a hearing Tuesday. April 9, where he denounced the actions of the Miami INS office, who under direct orders from then INS Commisioner Doris Meissner, destroyed and/or deleted all documents pertaining to the Elian Gonzalez case from their computers.
In a bomb shell announcement, Mr. Ramirez and his attorneys (Judicial Watch) have announced that at a press conference to be held Wednesday, April 10th. at 8:00 AM, they will produce proof that Juan MIguel Gonzalez was fully aware of Elisabet's trip to the US, that Juan Miguel wanted to leave Cuba as well, that the US government was fully aware that Juan Miguel Gonzalez was co-erced by Cuban agents, THAT HE ASKED FOR ASYLUM AT LEAST THREE TIMES WHILE HE WAS HERE, AND THAT EACH REQUEST WAS DENIED BY EX-AG, JANET RENO.
DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON SECTION: THE STORY OF A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE SUBSECTION: PROSECUTION- [AP 3/4/00 Catherine Wilson "……An immigration official accused of spying for the Cuban government has been indicted for allegedly handing over U.S. secrets to a Cuban citizen and lying about contacts with government officials from the Communist island. Mariano Faget, a Cuban-born supervisor in the Miami office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, has been jailed without bond since his high-profile arrest Feb. 17 and faces arraignment Monday. The case led to the expulsion from the United States of a top Cuban diplomat, Jose Imperatori. In a federal indictment, Faget was charged with communicating national defense secrets, converting classified information to his own use and three counts of making false statements. ......"]
Sure it's a risk to Juan, but there is no way of saying that it is more a risk than being unknown. Is it not likely that Castro already knows of Juan's attempts to get asylum, seeing as how Clinton's INS was liberally sprinkled with people keeping Cuba's most famous murderer in the know?
And once public, it may save Juan, as the glare of publicity has sometimes helped save the persecuted from harsh regimes.
So -- Hooray for Larry Klayman bringing this disgrace forward, and may those who aided and abetted the kidnapping of Elian and ignored Juan's pleas themselves come to know what imprisonment means.
Wouldn't it be interesting if a report came out about the INS suppressing documents related to their beating of the NBC cameraman and NBC has to report it? I imagine NBC won't be very enthusiastic to report this. Be interesting to watch the reaction on the reporter's face.
***Jim Goldman, chief of investigations for INS and a participant in the Feb. 11 sting operation that resulted in Faget's arrest, was in charge of security for the grandmothers on their return to Miami. Goldman traveled with them by helicopter from the Opa-locka airport to Mt. Sinai Hospital and then rode with them in the car that took them on to O'Laughlin's Miami Beach home. ***
April 29, 2000 INS commander has 'no regrets' over Miami raid [Full Text] MIAMI (CNN) -- This week Jim Goldman is preparing for congressional hearings on the INS raid that took custody of Elian Gonzalez. But last week, this 22-year veteran with the Immigration and Naturalization Service was drawing up the plans to take Elian and return him to his father.
In an interview with CNN's Susan Candiotti, Goldman shared his insight into the raid, his thoughts about the small Cuban boy who has captured a nation's attention, and his response to the Miami relatives' claims of unnecessary force.
In an Easter Sunday interview, Marisleysis Gonzalez had been quick to complain about the federal raid. Describing what she heard, Marisleysis said, "You hear banging all over the door, you don't know who it is, we didn't know who it was. God forbid, we thought it was the Cuban government coming inside my house."
But in his interview with CNN, Goldman, the raid commander, was adamant that he gave appropriate requests to enter the house. "I gave commands in English and Spanish," he recalled while watching a videotape of the raid. "I said open the door, we're United States immigration officers. We have a federal search warrant."
While a family spokesman insists no one heard the agents identify themselves before they barged in, cameras recorded about 20 seconds from the time agents approached the door to when they used a battering ram to force their way inside.
As he watched the video of the raid, Goldman provided a play-by-play: "This is us fighting through some of the crowd, propelling people back just to try to get me to the door."
Then, on the video, the agents enter the house.
Marisleysis Gonzalez has said that when they entered the house, agents "... told me, give me the boy, give the boy or I'm going to shoot and they said a bad word, give me the ... boy."
"I know of no instances where any agents used foul language," Goldman said, adding, "I know of no situation where any guns were pointed at anybody's head."
Goldman, wearing a baseball cap, is easy to see in the video. He brushes past an onlooker and hustles with his team to the front door. By then, a family friend has grabbed Elian and run to a bedroom closet with the 6-year-old.
"They finally found the room Elian was in," Goldman said while watching the video. "They signaled on the radio 'bingo, bingo, bingo,' which was the code word Elian was found."
On the video the agents outside the house can be heard yelling the word "bingo." As the signal spreads some agents seem to reposition around the van the boy will be brought to.
Then Goldman watched the now-familiar image of the female INS agent carrying Elian out of the house in his underwear, rushing him to the van.
"That looks like a terrifying moment, does it not?" Goldman was asked.
"I think that the whole event could be perceived as, or be defined as, being terrifying, to a certain extent," he replied. But, "nobody was hurt, no one was shot. That has to be taken into consideration.
"We did everything possible to minimize any kind of emotional or psychological trauma."
Goldman recalls the flight to Andrews Air Force Base and the reunion with the boy's father.
He recalls Elian, his chin resting on his hands, staring out a window. "He is a precious child, there's just no doubt about it."
"He just looked so relaxed and so calm, it's just something I ... have been thinking about since that day."
And the man who planned the Elian raid has no regrets.
"I have no regrets whatsoever. We did the right thing, and my agency -- and the agencies that cooperated with us -- feel good about it." [End]
It will be interesting to see what Klayman's offering.
There is no "king" in the US, there are elected public servants.
Which one of your BS list is an EO?
You don't like his politics? Vote for somebody else.
I bet he had regrets after the 2000 election when Gore narrowly lost Florida (and the presidency) because of that stupid Elian raid.
Please, God, let them be able to prove it.
So what's up with the press conference? Any info yet?
All major Spanish speaking media outlets are reporting the story, or rather the allegations, but no live coverage whatsoever (unless TV covered it).
I'd be amazed if Janet knew:
1. What time it is.
2. How to operate a wristwatch.
Be interesting to see what that slimy Carter has to say in Cuba.
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