> New York Post
>
> ELIAN RESCUER ADRIFT
>
> By DOUGLAS MONTERO
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> THE man who dove into the Atlantic Ocean to rescue raft boy Elian Gonzalez
> can't walk the streets of Miami.
>
> Sam Ciancio's life is in danger.
>
> "I've been threatened because I came out and told the world that this boy
> should be with his father," the rescuer said yesterday.
>
> "I can't even go to Miami. It's a shame. I saved that boy's life."
>
> Ciancio has concluded that the fate of Elian and his Miami relatives is
> strictly controlled by the Cuban-American National Foundation.
>
> He has seen and heard how the powerful, fiercely anti-Castro foundation has
> manipulated anyone associated with Elian with promises of money and material
> goods.
>
> His proof isn't speculation, hearsay or media reports. It's real - so real
> it
> cost him his 40-year relationship with Donato Dalrymple, his outspoken and
> much-quoted cousin who was on the fishing boat with Ciancio when they pulled
> the little boy from the sea on Thanksgiving Day.
>
> "I was threatened by my cousin, and that's when I realized that [Elian] was
> not thinking for himself.
>
> "I could tell in the tone of my cousin's voice that he was being
> manipulated," Ciancio said.
>
> The furor erupted last week when Ciancio and Dalrymple traveled to Washington
> to meet Elian's father.
>
> The world knows of their public falling out after that meeting; this is
> Ciancio's behind-the-scenes story of what happened:
> Dalrymple's plane ticket was paid for by the foundation - Ciancio refused to
> accept their money.
>
> The night before, the cousins discussed over dinner what they planned to
> talk
> about with Elian's father and how they would determine whether the father
> really loved the boy or was acting on behalf of Fidel Castro.
>
> Privately, both felt father and son should be reunited.
>
> The foundation got wind of the meeting, ordering the men not to meet with
> Juan Miguel Gonzalez. Later it demanded that they both badmouth him.
> That morning, Dalrymple was ordered to wait outside their Washington hotel
> until foundation members picked them up to drive them to Juan Gonzalez's
> temporary home in Bethesda, Md.
>
> Ciancio rightfully refused.
>
> "I was told not to go to the meeting until the Cuban Foundation guys picked
> us up," Ciancio said. "I was set in my mind to go alone with no outside
> influence, to speak from my heart."
>
> The cousin jumped in a cab with him, hoping to persuade Ciancio not to go
> against the foundation.
>
> "I was told I would never walk the streets of Miami."
>
> With tears welling in his eyes, Ciancio said he jumped out of the cab -
> because he wanted to punch his cousin out.
>
> He felt betrayed.
>
> "I sat with my cousin behind closed doors and he told me on numerous
> occasions that this child should be with his father, but he couldn't say it
> publicly because he's gotten too deep with the Cuban Foundation and the
> Cuban family."
>
> Ciancio, a father of two, knew Juan Miguel Gonzalez was for real shortly
> after meeting him.
>
> "I would have been less than a man if I didn't come out of that meeting and
> speak the truth in my heart. I think it's time for the boy to be reunited
> with his father to let the healing process begin."
>
> Ciancio hasn't spoken to his cousin since the meeting. They took separate
> cars and separate planes back to Miami. The next day, Miami radio stations
> accused Ciancio of being a stooge for Castro's government.
>
> "I got concerned about my family," he said.
>
> He thinks the Miami relatives truly care about Elian and would never
> manipulate him - without the foundation's influence.
>
> "They love this child too much to use him as a pawn. They would never lower
> themselves to using Castro's tactics," he said.
>
> But the foundation would. It has the same totalitarian grip on Miami it
> accuses the Castro government of having on Cuba.
>
> Ciancio - who still keeps the clothes Elian wore that day in his closet -
> just wishes this would all end.
>
> "This is a miracle in my life that has turned into the worst disaster of my
> life," he said.