Cuban Women March, Call for Elian’s Return

As many as 100,000 Cuban women--hundreds visibly pregnant, others carrying small children--marched Friday along a seaside boulevard here as Fidel Castro’s government appealed for the return of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez.

“Bring back our son!” the women cried, waving Cuban flags as they moved slowly up the Malecon coastal highway to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana. “We want our son!” The protest marked a return to the larger demonstrations of early December.

Elian, at the center of the international dispute, was found clinging to an inner tube Nov. 25 off the coast of Florida after his mother, stepfather and others died in an attempt to reach U.S. shores. He has been staying with relatives in Miami who do not want to send him back to Cuba.

Friday was the U.S.’ original deadline for returning Elian to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service earlier ruled that only Gonzalez can speak for Elian on immigration issues.

In an interview Thursday with ABC’s “Nightline,” Gonzalez, 31, expressed growing rage and frustration over his continued separation from his son.

Meanwhile, in Washington, four Republican members of the House of Representatives said they will introduce a bill to give Elian immediate U.S. citizenship when Congress reconvenes Jan. 24.