INS rules Elian to return to Cuba

Elian was escorted to his first day of school on Tuesday

January 5, 2000

Web posted at: 12:40 p.m. EST (1740 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Calling the case of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez a "difficult" one, U.S. immigration officials in Washington said Wednesday they had determined the boy should be reunited with his father in Cuba.

After interviewing the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, twice and Elian's relatives in Miami -- all of whom claimed to have the legal right to speak for the boy -- the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service had determined the boy's father had the "sole legal authority" to speak for him, INS Commissioner Doris Meissner told reporters in Washington.

"This decision has been based on the facts and the law," Messiner said. "This little boy, who has been through so much, belongs with his father."

VIDEO Watch the INS announcement that Elian should be returned to his father. (January 5) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Susan Candiotti has background on the plight of Elian Gonzalez. (January 5) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K MESSAGE BOARD US/Cuba relations



The decision requires Elian to leave Miami and return to Cuba by January 14, she said.

The Miami relatives planned to file a petition in U.S. District Court at 4 p.m., seeking an emergency hearing to contest the INS order, an attorney for the family told CNN earlier.

Tense Miami

Tensions in Miami mounted Wednesday morning as the Cuban-American community awaited official word from INS.

Elian's second cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, and his great uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez -- who have been fighting to keep him -- accompanied the family's lawyer, Spencer Eig, to the INS office in Miami to hear the agency's long-awaited decision.

Outside the relatives' home Wednesday morning, Jose Basulto, director of the anti-Castro "Brothers to the Rescue" organization, said his group and another, the Democracia Movement, will do "anything to stop this action."

Basulto urged Cuban Americans to form traffic slowdowns and stoppages as a way to protest the order. He also urged protesters to form a human ring around the boy to prevent him from being taken away. He did not say when or how this might be done.

Washington has asked Havana to let the boy's father travel to Miami to pick him up. While Cuba has not responded officially, a senior official Tuesday told CNN in Havana that Cuba would do whatever the father wishes.

Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has repeatedly told reporters that he had no intention of traveling to the United States to escort his son home.

He also told CNN he feared for his safety if he traveled to the United States. "They'll want to pressure me. They may even kidnap me or try to kill me. Anything is possible in a country that has done what it's done with my son," Juan Gonzalez said Monday.

But if he changes his mind, the Cuban government now says it will grant him an exit visa.

"We will do whatever is convenient for him (the father) according to his wishes in order to solve this problem," said Ricardo Alarcon, who heads Cuba's National Assembly and is President Fidel Castro's point man on U.S. affairs.

Previously, the Castro government would say only it would consider granting the father an exit visa. It believes that under international law Elian should be returned to Cuba without having his father come get him.

Elian found clinging to an inner tube

Elian's closest relatives, all of whom are in Cuba, have demanded his return since he was rescued at sea November 25. The boy had been in a boat crammed with illegal Cuban migrants that had capsized.

Elian's mother, who was divorced from his father, was one of 10 people who died in the incident.

The boy, who spent two days and nights clinging to an inner tube, has been staying with paternal relatives in Miami, triggering a highly politicized international custody battle.

Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman, Correspondent Susan Candiotti and The Associated Press contributed to this report.