By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Jan 5 2000 (IPS)

The Cuban government took a cautious stance Wednesday to the news that the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) decided to authorise the repatriation of Elián González, the shipwrecked boy whose return has been demanded for over a month by massive protest demonstrations here.

Cuban radio and TV stations will be “extremely careful and discreet” in their reporting on the possible repatriation of Elián, according to an official National Television Newscast report.

Cuba will follow the news “without creating unrealistic expectations” regarding the final US decision, and the press will avoid reporting that could give rise to “excessive optimism” and which could confuse public opinion, the news programme announced.

The communique was the first official reaction to reports Wednesday that the INS had decided that six-year-old Elián, who has been in the United States since he was picked up at sea on Nov 25, should be sent back to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel González.

INS Commissioner Doris Meissner told a press conference that Elián’s return was scheduled for Jan 14, and that his father would be permitted to fly to the United States to fetch him.

The INS also invited the child’s relatives in Miami to accompany him on his return trip to Cuba. “We believe this decision can be complied with without the INS taking charge of Elián,” said Meissner.

Elián’s return would put an end to the latest crisis between Cuba and the United States, which from the start has been stoked by hard-line Cuban exile sectors in the United States demanding that the boy grow up in “freedom”, far from President Fidel Castro.

Elián was rescued at sea after floating for two days tied to an inner tube, after the boat taking him to the United States sank. His mother, her boyfriend and nine other illegal emigrants on the shipwrecked boat drowned. Only Elián and two adults survived.

When he was released from the hospital, US authorities turned him over to relatives, who even after the INS announcement said they still hoped to fight for custody of the boy in a family court.

Meissner said that after two interviews with Elián’s father, the INS was convinced that he wished to be reunited with and raise his son.

The INS decision is based on US laws, and respects the principle of keeping families together, said the official. Meissner stressed that “Elián’s place is with his father.”

The news caused a commotion in Miami, where the anti-Castro groups Democracy Movement and Brothers to the Rescue threatened to set up roadblocks and called for a protest Thursday outside the local INS offices.

The president of the Democracy Movement, Ramón Saúl Sánchez, warned that the group still planned to form a human chain around the Miami home of Elián’s relatives, the Gonzalez family, to keep the boy from being sent back to Cuba.

For its part, the Cuban government will continue its programmed demonstrations demanding the return of Elián to “the Fatherland.”

Millions of Cubans of all ages have been taking part since last month in marches, and making public speeches from platforms set up for the purpose, demanding that the US government send Elián home. Prominent academicians spoke out Tuesday, and similar events with the participation of scientists and reporters have also been programmed.

Castro underlined late last month that once Elián was brought home, he would have to be permitted to live a normal life, far removed from political issues.

The González family’s claim to custody over Elián is backed by the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF, the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the National Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation, an illegal opposition group in Cuba.

Observers in Cuba, meanwhile, underline the efforts in favour of the boy’s return to Cuba by the executive-secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ, Joan Brown, who made a three-day trip to the island.

After meeting with Castro, Elián’s family and US Interest Section officials in Havana, Brown pledged that the Council would help facilitate the boy’s repatriation.

She also said Tuesday that on her return to the United States, she would meet with representatives of churches belonging to the council – which account for a combined 55 million churchgoers – and if necessary request a meeting with President Bill Clinton.

“We have told our government that Elián should return to Cuba,” said Brown. “Law and morals are on the side of his return, and US law is very clear: children belong with their parents.”

Excerpt: