Cuban government prepares Elian's father for U.S. trip
By Anita Snow, Associated Press, 04/03/00
HAVANA -- A smiling Fidel Castro joined Elian Gonzalez's father and about 3,000 university students from across Latin America and the Caribbean on Monday for a festive rally to call for the return of the 6-year-old boy.
Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, 31, held his 6-month old son in his lap in the front row of the audience as the gathering got under way in a new permanent stage built in front of the U.S. Interests Section alongside Havana's coastal highway.
Shortly after the rally began, news was arriving from Washington that the State Department had decided to approve requests for six visas: for Elian's father, stepmother, baby half-brother, and 5th-grade boy cousin, his pediatrician and kindergarten teacher.
The rally marked the inauguration of the new stage, a massive concrete and steel construction evidently built for future protest gatherings.
"We want Elian! Down with the lie!" protesters chanted after a ceremony inaugurating the "Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Permanent Stage."
The park that once stood on the site has been the scene of a long series of marches, rallies and televised roundtables held almost daily since Dec. 5, calling for Elian's return.
Although some have wearied of the continual protests, the gatherings have been effectively used to keep the public updated on events in the case, to rally Cubans people behind Castro and against the Miami exiles, and to involve the nation's children and youth in the national fight for Elian.
Monday's gathering was a celebration of sorts coming amid reports that the U.S. government was working with Elian's Miami relatives on a plan to turn the 6-year-old boy over to his father when he arrives in the United States.
The rally featured well-known Cuban folk singer Silvio Rodriguez and fireworks. University students visiting Cuba for a regional conference waved white, red and blue Cuban flags.
Dressed in his traditional olive greens, a beaming Castro greeted some of Elian's Cuban schoolmates, patting the boys and girls on the head.
The U.S. State Department said the visas for Elian's father and five others could be issued as early as Tuesday, clearing the way for Gonzalez to visit the United States for the first time since his son was rescued off the coast of south Florida four months ago.
The 22 other visas requested by the Cuban government were being reviewed, the department said in a statement.
For months, Gonzalez refused requests by Elian's Miami relatives to go to the United States to claim the boy and his changed stance was being characterized here as a sign of his flexibility.
Under the plan, Gonzalez and other members of the delegation would stay in Washington at the homes of Cuban diplomats while awaiting the results of a federal court appeal by Elian's Miami relatives, who have temporary custody of him and are seeking to block his return to Cuba.
Elian Gonzalez is carried in the arms of his cousin Marisleysis Gonzalez March 24 in Miami. (AP photo)
