HAVANA, 14 (AP) - Cuba's communist government on Tuesday criticized a weekend radio show held in Miami to help defray the legal costs Elian Gonzalez's relatives incurred fighting to keep the 6-year-old in the United States.
``While the money runs, the shamelessness grows among the opportunists and their patrons,'' the Communist Party daily Granma said in an editorial.
Granma also slammed the greed of illegal alien smugglers, who charge thousands of dollars to take people from Cuba to the United States. Both Cuban and U.S. officials have said they believe that the boyfriend of Elian's mother was smuggling Cubans to Florida when their boat sank in November.
The boyfriend and Elian's mother were among 11 people who died at sea. Elian, one of three survivors, was found lashed to an inner tube off Florida on Nov. 25.
The boy quickly became the subject of an international tug-of-war, with his father in Cuba demanding his return and his relatives in Miami fighting to keep him in the United States.
Relatives of the boy are awaiting a ruling from U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, who heard arguments Thursday on whether to interfere with a decision by federal immigration officials to send Elian back to his father in Cuba.
To help pay the court costs, more than $200,000 was raised through a radio marathon Saturday on four Spanish-language stations, family spokesman, Armando Gutierrez, said Sunday. Those donations were added to $15,000 raised earlier last week.
AP-NY-03-14-00 1051EST
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