“If we had been armed, this would not have happened. I have lost faith in the government,” Elian’s great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez said. Relatives said the raid itself was chaotic and that Elian was frightened. In an emotional interview three hours after the ordeal, Marisleysis Gonzalez emotionally recounted the seizure and angrily blamed Reno and President Clinton for the raid.

[This was carried live by CBS and NBC; however, on CBS Dan Rather chose to TALK OVER the most damaging parts of Marisleysis Gonzalez  narrative, making it difficult to hear.]

“Give me the boy or I’m going to shoot, give me the boy” she said an agent yelled.

     She said INS agents ran into the family room, ran into her room and broke her bed, and broke her mother’s bed. She said she was yelling back: “Please don't let the boy see this, he saw his mother die. ... I’ll give you the boy.”
 

Marisleysis said she was grateful to the supporters gathered outside her house and reiterated that her family has also asked that there be no violence, but she said she was still concerned about Elian’s condition after the raid.
 

“How can this boy be OK when he has a gun at his head, my other little cousin had a gun at his head, an innocent too,” she said. 
 

She said she blamed both Reno and Clinton for treating the family “like criminals.” 

“I want to tell everyone out there that the president of the United States dishonored his country ... He should be ashamed. ... He made that order. He made it and I’m sure he pressured Janet Reno to do it,” she said.