Agence France-Presse. NewsMax.com. NewsMax.com. April 18, 2000
HAVANA - Cuban officials have readied a "readaption" center for Elian Gonzalez here in anticipation of the boy's return to the island after five months surrounded by the media in Miami.
"This transition is necessary. Our hope is that he will be able to fully integrate into his class, at his school, not only in his classroom, but also in his environment," sia Lesbia Canovas, one of the education officials responsible for the center.
The center is housed in an old, white mansion in the Miramar neighborhood which had been used as an official guest house.
It has been quickly converted to a spiritual retreat for Elian, his father, his father's wife and their infant son. It will also house the boy's two grandmothers, 12 of his classmates, preschool and first grade teachers, psychologists, pediatricians and nurses.
A room of the house has been converted into a classroom, dubbed "Marcelo Salado," the name of the small school Elian attended in Cardenas, 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Havana.
The ocean-front home also has a pool, a game room for psychotherapy and a small park for children.
Canovas said it is necessary for Elian to "adapt so that he can transition back into the life he had."
In a small plaza with a bust of national hero Jose Marti and a Cuban flag, the children will begin each day with games and local children's television, as Cuban schoolchildren do.
The teachers and psychologists have arranged excursions outside the mansion like "nature walks and museum visits," for Elian and his classmates, she said.
"We are not absolutely sure how long readaptation will take, but the teachers think it will be at least three months," Canovas said.
Six-year-old Elian is one of only three survivors of a shipwreck in which his mother and 10 other Cubans, who were trying to illegally flee the island drowned.
Elian was rescued after 50 hours afloat on an innertube and quickly became the center of a heated international custody dispute between the Miami-based relatives, who have been caring for him, and his father who wants him returned to Cuba.
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