Sun-SentinelBy Vivian Sequera, Associated Press. Web-posted: 12:17 p.m. June 27, 2000
CARDENAS, Cuba -- With hope that the Elian Gonzalez saga will soon be over, Cubans said Tuesday the 6-year-old has already entered into Cuba's history as a symbol of one of the few instances in four decades in which the U.S. and Cuban governments have seen eye-to-eye.
Both governments said the young shipwreck survivor deserved to be with his father, who wants him returned to Cuba, and both opposed efforts by Miami relatives to keep him in the United States.
"I cannot remember another time in which Washington and Havana have been in agreement," said Pedro Noda, a 59-year-old retired construction worker in Elian's hometown Cardenas, about 90 miles east of Havana.
"They both said the boy belonged with his father," Noda said as he brought his two fifth-grade granddaughters to Elian's school where they were finishing up their final exams for the year.
Elian's Miami relatives on Monday took their bid to keep him in America to the Supreme Court, which was expected to decide whether to review the case. A stay preventing the boy from leaving the country expires at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The Justice Department has said only Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, can speak for him. Juan Miguel, his wife and infant son, have been in the Washington area since April waiting for the appeals process to finish so the family, now joined by some of Elian's schoolmates, can return to
Cuba.
President Fidel Castro has said not to expect a big homecoming for the young boy, even though Cardnas residents acknowledge that he has gained almost mythic stature in Cuba's national campaign to bring him home.
"So much has happened recently that Elian already is a symbol and will be part of our history," said Vivian Montalbo, a 39-year-old cashier in Cardenas. "That won't be forgotten."
"One day I will tell my grandchildren what happened with this boy, and they to their grandchildren," she said.
The story began in November, when Elian was rescued off the Florida coast after his mother and 10 other people drowned after their boat sank en route from Cuba to the United States.
Elian stayed with his Miami relatives until federal agents seized him on April 22 and turned him over to his father pending the court appeals.
The Cuban government has organized dozens of rallies across the country for much of the time that Elian has been away, drawing hundreds of thousands of Cubans to show national support to bring Elian home.
Cuban officials have said little about what is planned for Elian when he returns, saying only that they want it to be a low-key homecoming so he can get back to his normal life as quickly as possible.
"Even though he's our symbol -- because he already is for what has happened to him -- that doesn't mean that we have changed," or will treat him differently, said Elian's first-grade school teacher, Yamilin Morales Delgado.
Indeed, many Cardenas residents said life would continue normally after the little boy returns to his home on a neat street of single-story homes.
"Yes, I'd like to have a bottle of rum and celebrate in my home -- but locally, everyone wants to see him and give him a kiss," he said.
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