"Seriously, Jimpit, there isn't any news in this story.
The story is just a shell for republishing all that
supposition, accusation, and innuendo. I'll believe Fox and
the Washington Times will go with this "story" when I see it
in print or on the air." Karen
[Sigh]...
Don't you folks ever explore the world outside of your own
little circle of left-leaning rags?
PS:If you're interested (and I don't think you are), I'll
leave it up to you to find the Fox News piece. It's a
character-building exercise.
_______________________________________________________
The Washington Times
washtimes.com
Cuban doctor brought sedatives to U.S.
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
U.S. Customs Service agents seized tranquilizers
from a Cuban doctor who was among 10 persons
given permission last week by the State Department
to visit Elian Gonzalez at the Wye Plantation in
Maryland, where he has been kept in seclusion with
his father.
The tranquilizers diazepam and phenobarbital
were among several medicines taken from Dr.
Caridad Ponce de Leon by customs agents on her
arrival Thursday at Washington Dulles International
Airport en route to visit Elian at the secluded
Maryland resort.
Customs Service spokesman Dean Boyd
yesterday declined comment on the incident, saying
the agency was precluded from discussing the
circumstances of any border entry.
But federal law enforcement authorities told The
Washington Times the tranquilizers and other
prescription drugs were taken from the doctor at the
airport because she did not have a license to practice
medicine in the United States.
They said the drugs will be returned to her when
she leaves the country.
The other medicines included amikacin sulfate,
which, according to the Physicians' Desk Reference,
often is prescribed for the treatment of bacterial and
staph infections; aminophyllin, an anti-asthmatic
bronchodilator used in the treatment of asthma,
bronchitis and emphysema; and cefazoline, often
used for the treatment of respiratory, urinary, skin
and other infections.
Diazepam is an anti-anxiety drug and tranquilizer
often used for the treatment of anxiety and nervous
tension. It is also known by the brand name of
Valium. Phenobarbital is a sedative, often used to
control seizures but also is prescribed for the relief of
anxiety and nervous tension.
The federal law enforcement authorities said the
medicines were part of the doctor's regular medical
kit, and they had no information on what she
intended to do with the drugs.
They said there was no specific evidence to
suggest she was going to give them to Elian.
Dr. Tania Heller, medical director of Night Time
Pediatrics of Rockville, Md., an affiliate of the
Suburban Hospital Healthcare System, said last night
it would be "a little unusual" for a 6-year-old to be
given phenobarbital or diazepam, although not out of
the question.
Dr. Heller described both drugs as sedatives,
adding that phenobarbital was most commonly used
as an anti-convulsant to control grand mal epilepsy
and other types of partial seizures.
She said, however, it would be difficult to judge
the appropriateness of the drugs without knowing for
whom they were intended.
Officials at the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington did not return calls for comment. Neither
did the American Pediatrics Association in Illinois.
Marisleysis Gonzalez, the boy's cousin who
served as his surrogate mother during the five months
he lived with his relatives, has charged that Elian was
drugged after he was taken from the Miami home to
make him look happy ? a claim vigorously denied
by federal authorities.
Over the weekend, a senior Cuban official,
Ricardo Alarcon, complained to reporters in Havana
that the State Department was behaving like
"kidnappers" in the Elian affair, citing as an example
the government's seizure of the medicines from Dr.
Ponce de Leon.
Mr. Alarcon, president of Cuba's National
Assembly who has served as Cuban President Fidel
Castro's right-hand man on the Elian affair, said "it
appears that customs officials know what kinds of
medicine Elian, his cousin and the rest of the children
and adults may need."
Dr. Ponce de Leon was among 10 persons
allowed to visit Elian at the Wye Plantation on
Thursday, along with four of the boy's schoolmates
from Cardenas, Cuba, a 10-year-old cousin and a
parent of each of the schoolchildren.
Ten Cuban diplomats met the boy and his father
at the resort Tuesday, the day he arrived, including
several top diplomats at the Cuban Interests Section.
The diplomats were said to have been delivering
supplies, but there was no elaboration.
The names of the Cuban diplomats were not
released, also those who went to the facility were
identified as two first secretaries, one second
secretary, two counselors, four support officers and
the "spouse of second secretary."
One of the first secretaries is believed to be
Armando Collazo, who is suspected in an attack
earlier this month on anti-Castro demonstrators
outside the Cuban Interests Section. A federal
appeals court has forbidden Elian from being taken
to any Cuban property outside U.S. jurisdiction.
The government seized Elian in a pre-dawn raid
April 22. He was reunited five hours later with his
father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, at Andrews Air Force
Base. The family was moved Tuesday to the Wye
Plantation pending a May 11 hearing in which a
federal appeals court will consider an asylum request
filed by the boy's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez.
Yesterday, the father's attorney, Gregory Craig,
asked the court to let Juan Miguel Gonzalez and his
son return to Cuba by dismissing the Miami relatives'
suit seeking a political asylum hearing for the boy.
"This father seeks to raise his family where he
wants and how he wants. This right is no less
important to people from Cuba than it is to
Americans," said Mr. Craig in a 17-page court filing.
He said prolonging the case against the father's
wishes only damaged Elian and his family.
"Juan Miguel has determined that Elian's best
interests lie in being with his father, raised in a stable
home environment in the town where his father,
stepmother, little brother, grandparents and first
cousins were born, grew up and now live," Mr. Craig
said. "Juan Miguel thinks that a 6-year-old boy found
adrift in the Atlantic Ocean and now caught up in the
American legal system craves the familiarity of his
own bedroom in Cardenas."
Mr. Craig also told the court the father had not
been influenced by the Cuban government with
regard to his return to that island nation, saying he
has been "free to state his views honestly and openly,
without coercion, without fear of retribution."
He said if Mr. Gonzalez wanted to defect, he
could have done so during a private meeting April 18
with Attorney General Janet Reno and U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
Commissioner Doris Meissner ? when no Cuban
diplomats were in attendance.
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