Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2000
WASHINGTON--State Department officials on Thursday were set to meet with the head of the Cuban mission in Washington to discuss Havana's dramatic proposal to help end the standoff over 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez.
A mission spokesman said Fernando Remirez would bring up plans and visa requests for a large delegation including the boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to travel from Cuba to the United States.
On Wednesday Cuban President Fidel Castro said Gonzalez, other relatives, schoolmates and psychiatric experts were prepared to look after the boy in the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington until his fate is resolved in the U.S. courts.
Castro said it was a "perfect formula" to defuse the four-month-old custody battle.
Elian was brought to Florida last November after surviving a disastrous migrant boat journey from Cuba in which his mother and 10 other people died.
His father, backed by Castro, has called for his return, while his Miami relatives, supported by many Cubans in Miami, have said they would not send the child back to grow up under communism.
U.S. authorities have always said they will grant a visa to Elian's father, but it was not immediately clear if they would allow a major entourage to accompany him.
One State Department official said late on Wednesday that no visa request had yet been received.
The State Department granted visas to Elian's Cuban grandmothers in January when they came to the United States to visit the boy in Miami and press for his return.
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FRIDAY
Late on Wednesday, the U.S. government extended until Friday morning its plan to start moves to return Elian to his father if the boy's Miami relatives fail to meet immigration officials' requirements.
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) district director Robert Wallis told reporters after nearly five hours of talks with the boy's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, and lawyers for the Miami relatives that the INS was extending by 24 hours its move to revoke Elian's parole.
The two sides would meet again for further talks on Thursday morning, Wallis said.
The news came as a large crowd rallied for a prayer vigil in the heart of Miami's Cuban community, Little Havana, to call for the motherless child to stay in the United States.
INS officials had said they would revoke Elian's parole -- giving him temporary permission to stay in the United States -- on Thursday morning unless Lazaro Gonzalez agreed to guarantee that he will voluntarily hand the boy over in the event the Miami relatives lose a court appeal to keep
the boy in the United States.
But they covered enough ground in Wednesday's talks to warrant another day's discussions, one INS official said.
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