Jim Burns CNSNews.com.
Tuesday January 29, 2002.
CNSNews.com -- The Mexican embassy in Washington would not confirm or deny
reports from Havana that Mexican President Vincente Fox will visit Elian
Gonzalez during a trip to Cuba next week.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday that Cuban Leader Fidel Castro is
preparing to greet Fox before he visits Elian in nearby Cardenas.
Armando Gutierrez, a spokesman for Elian's Miami relatives believes Fox
should ask Castro why Elian is not allowed to talk to his Miami relatives.
"Vincente Fox should ask why Elian has not been able to speak with his
relatives in Miami since he's been taken away," said Gutierrez in an
interview with CNSNews.com.
Over the weekend, Illinois Gov. George Ryan was prepared to give Elian a
gift when he visited Cuba, but the Castro government denied his request to see
the boy, telling him that Elian was doing well and living a normal life outside
the glare of publicity.
Elian was rescued off the Florida East Coast on Thanksgiving Day 1999 after
his mother and other passengers died on a raft trying to reach the United States
from Cuba.
He became the subject of a tug of war between the United States and Cuba
during the Clinton administration after being rescued from the Atlantic Ocean
and being temporarily placed with relatives in Miami.
The boy was ultimately taken by armed federal agents during an Easter
weekend raid in April 2000 and later returned to Cuba to live with his father
after the custody battle went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
Elian is living in Cardenas with his natural father. He turned eight years
old in December.
While not commenting directly on the possible Elian visit, the
Cuban-American National Foundation thinks Fox should meet with Cuban dissidents
while there, according to CANF executive director Dennis Hays.
"President Fox has repeatedly stated that he will meet with dissidents
when he goes to Cuba. It would be unthinkable for a man who knows first-hand the
worth of freedom and democracy to turn his back on his neighbors," said
Hays in an interview with CNSNews.com.
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