Cuban boy must be sent back — US Attorney General

on Thursday, Florida Governor Jeb Bush warned that his State would not cooperate in removing Elian from his Miami home and the Mayor of Miami-Dade county, Alex Penelas, said Reno and US President Bill Clinton would be held responsible for any violence that follows the decision to revoke the boy’s residency.

Thousands of Cuban-Americans poured onto the streets off little Havana late Thursday in a show of solidarity with the Miami family seeking to keep the boy in the United States. More demonstrations are expected.

Reno said she expected Law Enforcement authorities to cooperate in any move to return the boy, and that the matter would be resolved within the law and in the absence of violence.

"This case has been heartbreaking for everybody involved," Reno added.

"But we believe that the law is clear: the father must speak for the little boy because the sacred bond between parent and child must be recognised and honored, and Elian should be reunited with his father."

Elian’s father wants his son – who survived a migrant smuggling voyage to the United States in which his mother died – back in Cuba, but Cuban exiles back the boy’s Miami relatives who are under pressure to give him up if they lose a court appeal for Elian to be given political asylum.

The four-month custody battle revolves around whether the boy should grow up with his father in Castro’s Communist Cuba or with his relatives in the United States.

A lawyer for the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez has started the process of securing a visa for him and other family members to try to win custody.