Elian Case Drumbeat Gets Louder

Even as U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno was appealing to Americans not to further politicize the Elian Gonzalez case Saturday, protesters and politicians were scrambling for the bullhorn.

The nonprofit group Cuban Information Committee ran a full-page ad in the Miami Herald touting reasons why Elian should stay in America, including claims that the boy, if returned, would become a “pawn in Castro’s hands, a trophy he will display in his latest victory over imperialism.”

“If he is sent back to Cuba he will have no future,” said German Miret, a Miami businessman and member of the group. “He will become a son of the revolution. He will no longer be a son of his father.”

The few hours of quiet outside the boy’s Miami relatives’ house Saturday morning while Elian played with a pet rabbit didn’t last. By afternoon, about 100 Cuban Americans protesting the Immigration and Naturalization Service order to return the boy to his father in Cuba were gathering again.

“I will stay here in case immigration comes to take him away,” said Sacha Sanchez, who blasted a scratchy recording of the Cuban national anthem over a bullhorn between lengthy speeches.

Lawyers fighting over the little boy’s future spent the day preparing to take up the battle once again.

The INS has threatened to revoke the boy’s residency status but twice last week pushed back a deadline for the relatives to agree, now set for 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The leader of the Miami-based anti-Castro group Democracy Movement said it is poised to react if the government attempts to take Elian.

“We have called for people to get ready in the event Elian is deported,” said Ramon Saul Sanchez. He warned that the group could quickly mobilize a massive civil disobedience campaign that would disrupt Miami’s port, airport and highway traffic.

“We are not willing to harm anyone, but we are willing to die to defend the constitutional rights of Elian Gonzalez,” he said.

Reno, who favors returning Elian to his father, spoke to students at the University of Virginia Law School on Saturday and reiterated her position that the boy’s father should have the right to speak for him.

On Thursday, Vice President Al Gore broke with the Clinton administration and called for granting the boy legal residency.

Meanwhile, on the Senate campaign trail Saturday in New York, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton came out against the call for congressional action to make Elian a U.S. resident.

“Hillary Clinton knows that we must take politics out of this decision,” said campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson. “Elian’s future should be determined as quickly as possible through the appropriate, ongoing legal process.”

Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has requested a visa to come to the United States. He wants custody of the boy while the Miami relatives appeal a federal court ruling that backs an INS decision to return Elian.

The Miami relatives say Elian’s father can visit his son at their home, but they are unwilling to hand the boy over.

Elian’s Miami great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, has refused to sign a promise to INS officials that he will surrender Elian if he and his family lose their court battle.

In a statement Saturday, Lazaro Gonzalez said the boy’s father should come to Miami and interact with Elian in a family setting under circumstances that are best for the child.

“We appeal to Juan Miguel to come to our home with his wife and son and sit with us around the family table,” the statement said. “We want no government officials, no lawyers and no press, only family.”

Elian was found in an inner tube off Florida’s coast Thanksgiving Day last year. His mother and 10 others died after their boat sank trying to reach the United States.