CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- (AP) -- Janet Reno, considering a bid for Florida governor, defended her decision authorizing the seizure of Elian Gonzalez to a Spanish-speaking radio audience on Friday.

 "I did what I did for one human reason: I think the little boy belongs to his father,'' Reno said.

 The former U.S. Attorney General, speaking through an interpreter, gave a 90-minute interview to WQBA-AM, a Spanish-speaking station that attracts between 25,000 to 30,000 listeners in Miami-Dade County.

 Reno was asked several times about her decision in the seizure of the Cuban boy, who returned with his father to Cuba following a seven-month international custody battle waged by relatives in Miami.

 At one point during the interview, Reno choked back tears and told listeners that she understood the strong feelings that led many Cuban-Americans to disagree with her handling of the Elian case.

 "So many have suffered at the hands of (Fidel) Castro. They are great and wonderful people and even if they disagreed with me, I would not discount them,'' she said.

 Reno said she has not decided whether to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. She is one of more than a half-dozen potential Democratic candidates vying to take on Republican incumbent Jeb Bush.

 Outside the studios, about 30 protesters gathered waving Cuban flags and carrying signs that read ``Reno's Racist.''

 When Reno departed the studio in her truck, about a half-dozen protesters rushed near the vehicle, yelling ``murder her,'' in Spanish.

 "The Cuban community, they can never forgive Janet Reno,'' said Miguel Saavedra, head of exile group Vigilia Mambisa.

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