WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Opponents of the U.S. decision to return a 6-year-old refugee to his father in Cuba instead of letting him stay in Miami should mount a court challenge and not break the law as protesters did in Miami by disrupting traffic on Thursday, President Bill Clinton said on
Friday.
Clinton said Wednesday's ruling by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalisation Service to reunite Elian Gonzalez with his father in Cuba should be kept out of the political arena.
``This is a volatile and difficult case,'' the president said. ``And those who want to challenge it will have to follow the law and the procedures. I think that's the only way to do this. We need to keep this out of the political process as much as possible within the established legal
channels.''
More than 80 people were arrested in Miami on Thursday as exiles from communist Cuba jammed roadways, disrupted traffic and blockaded the city's port to protest the INS decision.
The boy has been staying with relatives in Miami since he was found at sea on Nov. 25, 1999. He had been clinging to an inner tube for two days after a smuggler's boat bringing illegal migrants to Florida capsized. His mother was one of 11 people who drowned.
Asked about the case by reporters on Friday morning as he prepared to depart for Israel-Syria peace talks in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, Clinton defended the decision reached by INS officials, saying, ``I believe that they followed the law and the procedures,''
The boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, a tourism worker who was divorced from the mother, appealed for Elian to be sent home to him. The government of Cuban President Fidel Castro said the boy was kidnapped and organised massive rallies in Cuba urging Elian's return.
Earlier on Friday INS General Counsel Bo Cooper said U.S. officials were convinced after interviewing Elian's father in Cuba that his desire to be reunited with his son was not coerced by Cuban officials.
``Coercion was an issue that we had to pay close attention to,'' Cooper said on ABC's ``Good Morning America'' programme. ``And we took steps to ensure that the father was expressing his own wishes and we're persuaded that in fact he did so.
``He testified in very vivid detail about the relationship,'' Cooper continued. ``And it seems to be a very close and stable parental relationship. It was the kind of detail that was inconsistent with coercion.''
U.S. officials found the elder Gonzalez was ``very vivid and very clear'' about his desire to have his son with him in Cuba, Cooper said. The INS ruling did not amount to a deportation order, but rather a decision about who should speak for Elian, he added.
``We've tried to make as careful and clear-minded a decision about who can speak on Elian's behalf as possible,'' he said. ``We've decided that that's the father and we're hopeful that the family in Miami and all others involved will respect that decision.''
11:27 01-07-00
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