By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Dec 6 1999 (IPS)

Thousands of Cubans marched on the U.S. Interests Section in the Cuban capital Monday and plan to march every day to demand the return of a six-year-old boy caught up in an illegal emigration attempt that ended in a shipwreck disaster off the coast of the U.S. state of Florida.

“We will be here every day” until Elián González is returned, assured Otto Rivero, first secretary of the Union of Communist Youth (UJC), a political organisation of some 500,000 members between the ages of 14 and 30.

Rivero led a demonstration of more than 1,000 people Sunday night, arriving at the U.S offices in Havana shouting “We want Elián!” and “Don’t worry Elián, the people are on your side!”

President Fidel Castro warned Saturday that he is going to “move heaven and earth” and organise a “world battle” for the boy’s return to Cuba.

“All I can say is that if (the U.S. authorities) are halfway intelligent, they would announce the return of the child within 72 hours,” Castro declared.

The case could become the trigger for a new crisis between Cuba and the United States if the Bill Clinton government gives into pressures by anti-Castro organisations in Miami, say political analysts on the island.

Meanwhile, Castro has decided against attending the Dec 10 inaugural ceremonies for Argentina’s president-elect, Fernando de la Rúa, in order to fully dedicate himself to the campaign for the child’s return.

Elián González, who celebrated his sixth birthday Monday, survived the Nov 25 shipwreck of a boat carrying 14 Cubans to the United States. Eleven people died in the disaster, Elián’s mother and step-father among them.

The boy is now living at the home of his great-aunt and great- uncle in Miami, appearing repeatedly on television news surrounded by toys, and by cousins he had not known until now. And Elián has become the ultimate symbol of Miami’s anti-Castro movement.

“Toys cannot replace the affection of his father, his grandparents, his school and his friends,” indicated Elsa Gutiérrez, specialist in infant psychology and psychiatry at a Havana clinic.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, his grandparents and his father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, demand the boy’s immediate repatriation.

The boy “was taken out of the country illegally by his mother and without my consent,” assures González, who is exercising his right to custody of the boy in the case of the mother’s death.

Family members on the island affirm that when they speak to Elián by telephone, the boy asks about his younger brother and his step- mother, and asks them to take care of the kite he was going to fly with his uncle the day he was taken from the country.

Carlos Alzugary, professor at the International Relations Institute of Cuba, believes that “in normal conditions, North American justice would uphold the return (of Elián).”

Stories appearing in the U.S. press say the custody case will be brought before Florida state courts Dec 23 and that the boy should decide if he wants to return to his father or if he prefers to stay in the United States.

Attorneys in the United States maintain that, unless it can be proven that Juan Miguel González is an unfit parent, Florida law is likely to confirm his custody of the child.

But the lawyer for the Elián’s exiled relatives in Miami, Spencer Eig, told ‘The New Herald’ newspaper Monday that he felt sure of winning custody. “As a North American, I am proud that the United States does not respond to threats,” he declared.

For his part, U.S. senator John McCain, one of the aspirants to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, stated that the United States must ignore Castro and refuse to return Elián.

McCain told the U.S. NBC television network that freedom is something he wishes for all the people of Cuba and of any country, and that he would not want to put anyone in Castro’s hands unless it were absolutely necessary, “and it is not necessary in this case.”

The Cuban president maintains that “the right of a father and son is non-negotiable,” and that those who demand that the boy remain in the United States “do not have a leg to stand on.”

The demand for Elián González’s repatriation is upheld by Cuban law, by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and by The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, according to the UJC daily, ‘Juventud Rebelde.’

Ricardo Alracón, president of the Cuban parliament, recommended that the U.S. government confirm the boy’s return before they embark on bilateral talks on migration issues, set to begin Monday, Dec 13 in Havana.

Alarcón, president of the Cuban delegation for the talks with the United States, said that if Elián’s case is not resolved in favour of the father’s claims, it would be “very difficult to imagine” any kind of “constructive discussion” between the two nations.

Experts in Cuba assure that the case would lead to a new crisis if U.S. and Cuban officials do not find a realistic way out.

Possible scenarios include the postponement of this month’s scheduled talks or, in the worst case, the suspension of the 1994 and 1995 migration accords, which are the only point on which Havana and Washington have ever reached a consensus.

According to the agreements, the United States must grant 20,000 visas each year to Cuban emigrants and repatriate all illegal Cuban emigrants intercepted while attempting to reach U.S. territory. Cuba, for its part, must not take any retaliatory measures against the returned individuals.

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