By Anita Snow, .c The Associated Press
HAVANA, 12 (AP) - The latest rally Wednesday in Cuba's campaign for the return of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez featured impassioned speeches, folk music and children's dance performances - but no official reaction to the latest legal maneuvering in the United States in the case.
With daily legal developments in the United States, Cuban authorities said privately that official reaction was unlikely until Friday.
As hundreds of public health workers rallied Wednesday evening to demand the child's return, Cuba stepped up its national press coverage of Americans who support Elian's return. The Communist Party reprinted a statement issued this week by the U.S. National Council of Churches pushing for the
boy to be brought back from Florida and provided wide coverage of protests by Americans in New York.
The latest legal move came Wednesday from Attorney General Janet Reno, who brushed aside a Florida court judge's order that Elian remain with his American relatives until March 6 so the court can hear arguments from the boy's relatives in Florida.
They are seeking temporary custody of Elian, who has been in Florida since Thanksgiving Day, when he was found floating on an inner tube off the coast. His mother was lost at sea in an apparent attempt to immigrate illegally to the United States.
Reno said that any challenge to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's decision that Elian should be returned to Cuba must come in federal rather than state court. She said she would allow Elian's Miami relatives to seek relief in federal court.
Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has demanded that his son be returned, and Elian's relatives in Miami say they can give him a better life off the communist island.
Among those at the protest Wednesday was Dr. Evelio Cabezas, head of Cuba's national organization of gynecology and obstetrics, who noted that all Cuban women receive specialized care while they are pregnant.
``Elian should return to his homeland, which cared for him even before he was born, and again afterward and will for always,'' she said.
Because of the uncertainty over Elian's return, communist leaders have called on Cubans to continue protesting to press U.S. officials to repatriate him.
AP-NY-01-12-00 2312EST
By Anita Snow, .c The Associated Press
HAVANA, 12 (AP) - The latest rally Wednesday in Cuba's campaign for the return of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez featured impassioned speeches, folk music and children's dance performances - but no official reaction to the latest legal maneuvering in the United States in the case.
With daily legal developments in the United States, Cuban authorities said privately that official reaction was unlikely until Friday.
As hundreds of public health workers rallied Wednesday evening to demand the child's return, Cuba stepped up its national press coverage of Americans who support Elian's return. The Communist Party reprinted a statement issued this week by the U.S. National Council of Churches pushing for the
boy to be brought back from Florida and provided wide coverage of protests by Americans in New York.
The latest legal move came Wednesday from Attorney General Janet Reno, who brushed aside a Florida court judge's order that Elian remain with his American relatives until March 6 so the court can hear arguments from the boy's relatives in Florida.
They are seeking temporary custody of Elian, who has been in Florida since Thanksgiving Day, when he was found floating on an inner tube off the coast. His mother was lost at sea in an apparent attempt to immigrate illegally to the United States.
Reno said that any challenge to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's decision that Elian should be returned to Cuba must come in federal rather than state court. She said she would allow Elian's Miami relatives to seek relief in federal court.
Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has demanded that his son be returned, and Elian's relatives in Miami say they can give him a better life off the communist island.
Among those at the protest Wednesday was Dr. Evelio Cabezas, head of Cuba's national organization of gynecology and obstetrics, who noted that all Cuban women receive specialized care while they are pregnant.
``Elian should return to his homeland, which cared for him even before he was born, and again afterward and will for always,'' she said.
Because of the uncertainty over Elian's return, communist leaders have called on Cubans to continue protesting to press U.S. officials to repatriate him.
AP-NY-01-12-00 2312EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press |