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November 29, 2002.
Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Visits Ecuador
Thu Nov 28, 9:43 PM ET
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites)
arrived in Ecuador's capital Thursday to attend the inauguration ceremony for an
art museum by the late artist Oswaldo Guayasamin.
Castro was a friend of the Ecuadorean artist, whose unfinished "Chapel
of Mankind" museum will be inaugurated in Quito on Friday.
The Cuban leader, clad in his traditional olive drab uniform, did not make
any declarations after arriving at the Quito airport and was escorted to a hotel
by an armed caravan.
The Cuban president was invited by Ecuador's President Gustavo Noboa and the
late artist's family. Noboa visited Cuba last month.
Guayasamin, who died at the age of 79 in 1999, supported Castro's revolution
and government and he once painted the Cuban leader. His paintings and sculpture
are known for their political themes and addressing social injustice.
The first phase of the museum will display paintings and objects depicting
life in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. Later stages will devote
space to Guayasamin's work and the paintings of other outstanding Latin American
artists.
Cuban Mother Wants Son to Stay in U.S.
Thu Nov 28, 2:49 PM ET
MIAMI (AP) - A woman who stayed behind in Cuba wants her 14-year-old son to
be allowed to stay in the United States, where he was brought by his father.
Mayda Orozco Fernandez told an attorney for the boy, Leonel Figueroa Orozco,
that she would not make any custody claim for him, The Miami Herald reported in
Thursday's editions.
"I want him to stay with his father," Orozco told the attorney,
Grisel Ybarra, by telephone Wednesday from Cuba.
Ybarra said she wanted to avoid a repeat of the case of Elian Gonzalez, who
became the subject of a tug-of-war between the Miami relatives of his mother,
who died at sea, and his father in Cuba.
"The reason we're doing this is so that we don't have another Elian
where (Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites)) alleges that the parent
wanted the child back," Ybarra said.
Leonel was found in a 21-foot boat that ran out of fuel off the Florida
coast Monday. The Coast Guard towed it to shore, unaware that the boy, his
father and four other Cubans were hiding inside.
After the rescue, the adults scampered onto a dock but Leonel remained on
board. Under government policy, Cubans who make it onto shore are generally
allowed to stay in the United States, while those who don't are sent back.
Leonel is being allowed to stay because the Justice Department (news - web
sites) is treating him as a material witness in a smuggling case against two of
the men on the boat, said Jackie Becerra, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's
office.
Orozco did not specify why she wants her son to stay, but Leonel's aunt in
Miami, Mirta Figueroa, said Orozco wants what's best for her son.
"She knows my brother is a good father," said Figueroa, who is
married to one of the alleged smugglers, Martin Mendez Diaz. "She gave him
custody so he could come to the United States where he would have a better
future."
Family members said the father, Leonel Figueroa, had custody of the boy and
raised him alone since he was 5.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami won't discuss the boy's
status because he is a juvenile, INS spokeswoman Ana Santiago said.
Mendez and boat owner Elizardo Ruiz Alvarez, both Miami residents of Cuban
descent, are charged with alien smuggling. The charge carries a possible
five-year prison sentence. They were being held in lieu of $60,000 bail.
Ruiz's cousin, Luis Crespo, said the trip was intended to pick up relatives
and did not involve any smuggling fees.
Elian, who arrived in the United States three years ago this week, was
eventually returned to his father and Cuba after government agents raided the
Miami home of his relatives in April 2000.
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