By Isabel Garcia-Zarza
HAVANA, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque began a 10-day tour of Europe on Sunday, carrying into the arena of international diplomacy his country's fight for the return of six-year-old shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez.
``With everyone I speak to I will raise Cuba's current situation, the inconceivable case of a little boy who is being kept kidnapped,'' Perez told reporters before leaving Havana late on Saturday.
He was due to visit Italy, France, Denmark, Russia and San Marino and also hold talks at the Vatican. He said he expected he would ``very probably'' be received by Pope John Paul II.
Perez, 34, a close aide and confidant of Cuban President Fidel Castro, has been assigned the task of canvassing world support for Cuba's nationalistic battle to obtain the return from the United States of the little boy.
He told reporters he would not seek the Pope's direct intervention in the custody dispute, which has strained already sensitive U.S.-Cuban ties and pitted Castro in a bitter war of words against his Cuban exile foes in Miami.
``It is a priority for us that international public opinion should be kept up to date with the dangers we face if this situation persists with the boy staying kidnapped,'' he said.
Last month, Perez sent a letter to the foreign ministers of every nation with diplomatic representation in Havana, asking them to help Cuba resolve what he denounced as the ``kidnapping'' and ``shameful piracy'' applied by the United States in Elian's case.
Cuba's Foreign Ministry is also sending out brochures detailing the circumstances of the case to its embassies across the world, with instructions to distribute them widely.
Perez had planned to make his European tour in December but it was postponed because Castro had put the whole government and country on a virtual emergency footing to concentrate on organising the fight for the return of Elian.
The trip went ahead as the politically and emotionally charged tug-of-war over the boy entered a new stage following the passing of a Jan. 14 deadline for his return to Cuba.
This date had been set by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS), which recognised the custody rights of Elian's father on the island, Juan Miguel Gonzalez.
But the deadline was extended after a legal challenge through a Miami family court by the boy's relatives in Florida, who have received fervent backing from anti-Castro Cuban exiles for their efforts to keep the child in the United States.
The deadline's passing prompted a fresh government- organised demonstration in Havana on Saturday in which speakers condemned Elian's Miami relatives and their exile backers. At least 150,000 people were called up to take part in the huge official protest, which clogged a network of city
streets.
The mass rally was the latest in a series of carefully organised nationwide demonstrations launched by Cuba's Communist Party government to press for the boy's return.
The campaign began after the boy was rescued Nov. 25 off Florida after surviving a failed attempt by a boatload of illegal Cuban migrants to reach the United States. Elian's mother drowned when the boat sank.
``Our mobilisations are going to continue. Nobody should make the mistake of thinking that we are going to get tired. Our people will stay in the streets protesting,'' Perez said.
12:45 01-16-00
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