By Vania Grandi, .c The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY, 17 (AP) - Cuba's foreign minister said Monday he briefed Pope John Paul II - but did not ask for intervention - on the case of a Cuban boy caught in a tug-of-war between the United States and Cuba.
Elian Gonzalez, now 6, was rescued at sea Nov. 25 after his mother drowned trying to reach the United States.
Foreign Minister Filipe Perez Roque said he talked to the pope about ``how Elian is being kept separated from his father - something the pope was very worried about.''
The Vatican's communique on the meeting made no mention of Elian. A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said later that there would be no comment about Perez Roque's remarks.
Perez Roque said he had not asked the pontiff to intervene, but said he hoped the meeting would help raise international concern for Elian. Perez Roque also plans stops in France, the Netherlands and Russia.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has ruled the boy must be returned to his father in communist Cuba. But Attorney General Janet Reno last week lifted an INS deadline so Elian's relatives in Miami can fight a federal court battle to keep the boy. A Florida judge also has scheduled
a hearing in the case.
Some U.S. politicians and Cuban-Americans have suggested congressional action to give Elian permanent residency or even American citizenship.
``If it had been a Haitian or Mexican boy, they would have thrown him back into the sea,'' Perez Roque said after meeting with Italian Premier Massimo D'Alema.
The Vatican used the papal audience and the minister's sessions with the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister to push for more religious freedom in Cuba.
Regarding church-state relations, ``the minister has restated the will of his government to favor a mutual, harmonious collaboration,'' Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.
``For its part the Holy See has expressed a wish for ever greater religious liberty in the wake of what the Holy Father affirmed in his historic visit in January 1998,'' the Vatican spokesman said.
During his visit to Cuba, John Paul made blunt calls for more freedoms, including that of expression.
After nearly 40 years of tensions following the 1959 Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, church-state relations have improved over the last few years, especially following John Paul's visit. Christmas, for example, has been reinstated as a permanent holiday on the island thanks
to the pope's visit.
AP-NY-01-17-00 1912EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. |