Cuba enjoys partial victories in case of boy, hijacking

Castro’s comments about Juan Miguel Gonzalez, read during a demonstration outside the US interests section, hardened Cuba’s position over the return of Elian and could complicate efforts to bring him home.

"His reaction is fair," Castro said in the message, which was read before tens of thousands of protesters by Hassan Perez, president of the Government’s Federation of University Students.

Castro said that Juan Miguel Gonzalez had been offered two million dollars by what he called the "extremist Cuban-American mafia" to move to Miami and stay with Elian there.

With strumming guitars, fluttering flags and strident political speeches, tens of thousands of government supporters crowded outside the US interests section in Havana for the third night in a row to press for Elian’s return.

Elian "should be returned as soon as possible to remain under the protective mantle of his father and grandparents," said a statement from Elizardo Sanchez, of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation. "This is the most just and rational decision."

Meanwhile President Bill Clinton has said that the issue should not involve politics. Elian Gonzalez was plucked from the waters between Cuba and the United States on November 25, after a boat carrying illegal Cuban migrants capsized, killing his mother and ten other people. Arguments over the boy’s future have caused an international dispute and protests in Cuba.

Elian’s father, who lives in Cuba, has demanded the child’s return. The cuban government has also said the boy, who is staying with relatives in Miami, should be sent back to the island and the communist party has organised anti-American protests there.

The state department said US rules recognised the right of a parent to assert custody rights and said it would contact the father to work toward a resolution.

Clinton was asked if, as a father, he sympathised with the father’s demand for the boy’s return. “Well, of course, I think all fathers would be sympathetic. The question is — and I think the most important thing is — what would be best for the child. And there is a legal process for determining that,” Clinton told a news conference.

Clinton said the only concern should be for the law to be followed. “I don’t think that politics or threats should have anything to do with it and if I have my way, it won’t,” he said.

“We should let the people who are responsible for this, who have a legal responsibility, try to do the right thing by the child,” Clinton added. “These decisions are often difficult even in domestic situations, and — but I hope that is what will be done, and it should be done without regard to politics.”