Fifteen Minutes of Infamy

The fisherman who rescued Elián, Donato Dalrymple, comes from a family with a violent history. And that's not the half of it.

Comments (0) By Bob Norman Thursday, May 4 2000

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As for the rumors that he and Marisleysis Gonzalez, Elián's cousin, had an affair, he says they're not only untrue, they're ridiculous. "There's no comparing Tanya to Marisleysis -- Tanya's a good ten notches above that," he says. "She's got dark hair, and she's got that European look.... There is no need to go elsewhere."

Today he's back home at his Lauderhill apartment, cleaning houses and trying to pay his bills. But his life has changed. Dalrymple, a man who admits he's never voted in his entire life, says he will work on Cuban exile issues for the rest of his life. He says he considers politics inherently dirty but hasn't ruled out running for office. A former missionary, he says he's also planning on giving sermons at numerous churches in the wake of his Elián fame. And he continues to denounce both Bill Clinton and Janet Reno as tyrants and calls Cuba a "little, open sewer."

Bill Cooke

Donato Dalrymple calls Elián his spiritual son but admits that his own home life is way too unstable for children

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Hundreds of people, he says, have come to him to call him "the last American hero."

"I've been standing up against communism. Standing up for America, the land of the free, the home of the brave," he says.

And if Elián is returned to Cuba, Dalrymple will get a visa and go to the communist country to visit the second boy in his life to make the news and the only one he says he ever really cared about.

"I should be a part of the boy's life, only as one of the saviors, if nothing else," Dalrymple says. "I fell in love with this little boy. Putting the politics aside, I put it in my heart that I was going to see him. He was a miracle child for me."

Contact Bob Norman at his e-mail address:
bob.norman@newtimesbpb.com