Lenia Fernandez

Cuban national living in the United States. Lenia Fernandez is one of the ladies who watched and prayed over Elian for five months during his stay in Miami. She and others functioned as "Prayer Guardians" for Elian. Lenia was on "prayer watch" during the nighttime hours. At other times she was able to play with him and talk to him. She reports that Elian loved the animals on the block and thought they belonged to him. Lenia also reports that when near Elian, she experienced a feeling of energy "like electricity" running in her, which was quite strange to her. When the INS, FBI, and Miami police took Elian, Lenia was present on her usual nighttime prayer watch. Lenia reports: "Even though she was standing behind the police registration area, she and others were "gassed". The house was broken into at 05:11 AM. The prayer guard's presence had forestalled Elian from being taken from the Miami family sooner. It was one of the Prayer Guardians that pulled the hood from Elian's head and face as he was being carried down the steps from his Miami home, so that his panic could be seen and his screams could be heard: "Que Pasa? Que Pasa? Ayudenme?" (What is happening? Help me!) Elian was then taken to Watson Island and put on a helicopter. Lenia contends that Juan Miguel, Elian's father drank a lot and was abusive to both Elian and his mother. Lenia further contends that the scar Elian carries next to his eye on his left cheek, was the result of Elian trying to defend his mother from the abuse of his father. Lenia maintains that the lawyer for Elian did little or nothing to help Elian stay in the U.S. She adds that the abuse by Elian's father was not mentioned in the press to protect the rest of the family, but that it might have made a difference in the case had it been included in the family's suit to let Elian stay in the U.S. Lenia additionally maintains that Manny Diaz (now Mayor of Miami) created "propaganda" for himself by claiming to be Elian's lawyer; but that it was Pro Bono attorney Kendall Coffey who functioned as Elian's real attorney and that Kendall Coffey was sent by the Clinton Administration and was also a good friend of Janet Reno. According to Lenia, after Elian was returned to Cuba, the Miami family distanced themselves from the people that stood guard over Elian for five months. On Elian's last birthday (Dec. 06, 2001), Lenia and others put together a birthday party in Elian's honour, but the Miami family told them to move away, that the family was going to have a party with political figures the next Saturday. Currently, Lenia says that she and many of her neighbors on the block, along with Donato Dalrymple have a suit filed through Judicial Watch against Janet Reno and the INS. Lenia states that on the night of the raid to extract Elian, she was gassed and had a gun pointed at her and was told not to move and after Elian was taken, she was not allowed back into the area.