Judges Warned of Work Camp for Elian
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ATLANTA — If Elian Gonzalez returns to Cuba, his father will be powerless to stop the communist regime from sending the 6-year-old to work camps, lawyers for Elian’s Miami relatives said Tuesday.
In a 25-page court filing, the lawyers asked the three federal appeals judges handling Elian’s case to reject an attempt by his father to replace the Miami relatives as the adult who speaks for Elian.
The parental rights Juan Miguel Gonzalez claims in this country would be denied in Cuba, where Elian would be separated from his father in a few years and sent to work camps for months at a time, the lawyers said.
Elian was rescued Thanksgiving Day off the Florida coast after a boat wreck killed his mother and other fleeing Cubans. After living with his Miami relatives for five months, he is now staying temporarily with his father at a Maryland retreat.
The judges from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals are considering whether Elian can seek asylum in the U.S. despite his father’s wish to return with him to Cuba.
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