UNITED STATES: Elian's return home a step closer
UNITED STATES: Elian's return home one step closer
A ruling by a US appeals court on June 1 may mean that kidnapped six-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez, forced to remain in the Unites States, may soon be able to return home with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service that only a parent may speak on behalf of a young child in an application for asylum.
Elian's Miami relatives, who are trying to keep the boy in the US against the wishes of his father, had appealed against the INS decision.
Elian was reunited with his father following an April 22 raid on the relatives home by federal agents after the relatives had defied a US Justice Department order terminating their temporary custody of the boy.
However, the court also ruled that Elian must remain in the US for 21 days to allow the Miami relatives an opportunity to file another appeal.
The Cuban government responded to the continuing delay with a communique that stated: "We will not cross our arms in the face of this prolonging of the injustice and the crime". The government called on Cuban "mothers and grandmothers" to mobilise to protest Elian's "cruel and interminable wait to return to the bosom of his family".
In Havana on June 2, more than 500,000 Cuban women responded and mobilised in front of the US Interests Section to demand that Elian be allowed to return home immediately. The march was one of the largest of the many mass demonstrations in Cuba during Elian's kidnapping.
In the lead were Elian's grandmothers, Raquel Rodriguez and Mariela Quintana. They were accompanied by Vilma Espin, president of the Federation of Cuban Women. Cuban President Fidel Castro attended the rally at the conclusion of the march and listened intently to speeches by young people.