Attorney general janet reno today flew to miami hoping to resolve the custody dispute or be cuban refugee and leon gonzales you'll meet tonight with the relatives who cared for the boy since he was rescued at sea back around thanksgiving the justice department is also expected to deliver a letter to the family telling them how and when they should hand over the boy to his father

The case of ellie on gonzales has aroused intense passions in miami where every development has been reported in detail by the local media

As n. p. r.'s phillip davis reports that leon saga has highlighted the divisions between the cuban americans and other miami residence outside review in jeans soul food restaurant one hundred eighty third street northwest today jerry russian was coming in for a solid lunch of fried chicken greens and macaroni and cheese russians live in miami for more than thirty years running a radio station popular in the black community

Like most non cuban miami and he believes that kellyanne should be handed over to his father that blood is thicker than politics uh perot clearly on the protesters tried in rhetoric on the part of some politicians he said has not helped relations between the rest of miami and this large cuban american community

But now with this intention but that now make it's trying to be the more i mean over the years uh oh here come a lot of people displaced um a man because so many cubans came in at such a rapid pace to think about the building of a nineteen eighty eight hundred thousand jobs in one community that gathers strength continues

The rapid rise in the cuban american population here help them both quickly to the top of the power structure in miami dade county cuban americans control the top companies in the county in the city of miami and had numerous representatives in washington jerry russians said his own community can learn from that success by a certain area

A lot of people back here because that's what the cubans did you know that has advanced by the haitian senate make it was convincing evidence that i only went home and put it just kind of indian affairs is an area in which it accuses the house and the senate would have been arrogant three years ago when you take that language must be visiting with his saying that she gave us that their country that it would change that they came here

Trying to bring change here to bring that into the citadel

A local poll published sunday by the

I mean harold revealed that the gap between cuban americans and the african americans in the anglo or white non hispanic community is huge when miami dade mayor alex penelas said that miami police couldn't be counted on to eat federal officials and regaining custody of the boy seventy four percent of the cuban community approved according to the poll but ninety percent of blacks polled and he

Eighty four percent of whites disagreed with the mayor gerry mullen is one of miami's so called anglos a retiree who's lived in the area for five decades he says the l. a. and story is simply the cuban american community trying to send an anti castro message to the rest of the world

People don't accept that message anymore it's just that simple but the cold war is over the last time i looked at any of these things they've been doing the anglos accepted that now rejected it has gone too far gone over the cliff but according to alex that's a a professor who specializes in immigration policy at florida international university

Today's tensions actually mask a more positive long term trend

Except for the liane case there's actually had a long term trend that in the opposite direction people coming together um that whereas in general the second generation of cubans are not nearly as rapid ah so concerned with politics back on the island ah and they've been much more willing than likely to engage in dialogue with the rest of community and can come together with them despite this is hearsay

This case has revealed that they still things that went belly and future is to sign of miami's various communities will once again begin to grow together phillip davis n. p. r. news miami