The Immigration and Naturalization Service set, then stepped back from, several deadlines for the Cuban-American family, to whom they gave custody of the six-year-old boy, to state their willingness to turn him over to federal authorities to be returned to his father who lives in Cuba.

Cuban rightists, usually numbering in the hundreds, have mobilized around the house where the boy is staying, making it clear the Clinton administration would have to use force to carry out the INS order. Saul Sanchez, the leader of the misnamed Democracy Movement, has trained protesters to form a chain around the house in preparation for blocking federal marshals and INS agents from taking the boy away.

The six-year-old Cuban boy was given temporary parole when he was found at sea on November 25 off the coast of Florida. He was one of three survivors of a smuggler-organized boat trip to Florida. His mother was among the 11 people on board who drowned. The INS gave him to the custody of his granduncle, Lazaro González, who has refused to sign a pledge to turn the boy over if he loses his appeal in federal court.

González says that he will surrender the child "but only if an independent psychological evaluation indicated it was in the boy's best interest."

Elián's father, Juan Miguel González, arrived in the United States April 6 accompanied by his wife and six-month-old son. At a news conference at Washington Dulles airport he said, "I am truly impatient to have him returned to me as soon as possible and go back to Cuba together immediately." He condemned rightist Cuban forces for trying to "obtain political advantage from this tragedy."

Several Congress members have proposed a bill to give Elián González permanent legal residency along with his father, his father's wife, his half brother and two grandmothers.

In a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Senator Daschle, Juan Miguel González wrote, "Frankly, we are surprised that someone can take upon himself such an initiative without our consent and without even consulting any of us. We want to make it clear that we are not in agreement and we hope the U.S. Senate does not approve the proposal."

The special legislation would allow the boy's fate to be decided not as a matter of immigration law, but as a normal child custody case in family court.

Albert Gore, U.S. vice president and candidate for the presidency, broke with the Clinton administration and spoke out in support of this legislation. "From the beginning, I have said that Elián González's case is at heart a custody matter." He added, "It is a matter that should be decided by courts...based on Elián's best interests."

Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush said he hoped "the vice president's got enough influence in the administration to sway the attorney general and to sway the president" to put a stop to "this heavy-handed approach from our federal government."

The case has all along provided an opportunity for Democrats, Republicans, and the big business media to attack the Cuban revolution.

The Miami Herald ran a full-page ad April 1 titled, "Why is Elián's case different?" It said that in a "normal situation in any normal country in the world when a mother dies, children go with their father. They belong with him and should be with him." But this case is different, the paper wrote, "because Cuba is not a normal country.... Fidel Castro's totalitarian government commands parents to raise children to be communists, and directs children to report parents who do not."

In a March 22 editorial, the Miami Herald said, "The world must be clear in recognizing the villain of this piece: Fidel Castro," and concluded, "In Cuba, the parent is the state. Therein lies the tragedy."

In workplaces in Miami this is a daily discussion. "This is so frustrating," said sewing machine operator, Paulette. "I am 110 percent in favor of the child to return with his father. This is all politics," she said. "They say the kid won't have milk and food if he goes back but the child came here after living six years there and he was healthy."

Rollande Girard is a sewing machine operator.  
 
 
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