From staff and wire reports

                  HAVANA (CNN) -- The streets of Havana were silent on Sunday -- the
                  day before U.S.-Cuba migration talks -- with none of the mass
                  demonstrations of the past week demanding that the United States return a
                  shipwrecked boy to Cuba.

                  The Cuban government apparently has decided to call a moratorium on the
                  demonstrations, at least for now, to prepare a better climate for the talks,
                  which are due to start in Havana on Monday morning.

                  The boy was one of only three survivors of a boat that sank last month,
                  killing 10 Cubans who were trying to reach the United States. Elian's mother
                  and stepfather were among the casualties.

                  Elian was plucked from the ocean off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on
                  Thanksgiving, and placed with his mother's family in the Miami area. The
                  boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, lives in Cuba and wants the boy
                  returned to him.

                  Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, on Sunday repeated his
                  government's demand for Elian's return, but said the U.S.-Cuban talks will go forward
                  Monday as scheduled.

                  "The boy belongs to his father, belongs to his family, and nobody should
                  interfere with that," Alarcon told CNN.

                  Spencer Eig, a lawyer representing Elian's U.S. relatives, told CNN on
                  Sunday that the boy is happy with his family in Miami and has never asked
                  to go back to his father.

                  "The best thing for Elian is that his father continue to sacrifice, and then
                  hopefully we'll be able to work out the situation," Eig said.

                  Eig also said that if the boy's fate has become a "political football" between
                  the two nations, as some have suggested, then "perhaps Mr. Alarcon and
                  the Cuban government should call a time out."

                  Alarcon said that despite the standoff over Elian, Cuban officials "look
                  forward to very serious discussions" with U.S. officials on Monday about an
                  American policy that he said "encourages illegal immigration, promotes
                  death, promotes suffering."

                  Cuban officials are expected to press U.S. negotiators to correct what they
                  perceive as dangerous flaws in U.S. policy on Cuban migrants.

                  U.S. Sens. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) said
                  they didn't think the international custody dispute should get in the way of
                  Monday's talks or bring a chill to the recent thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations."

                  "It's a great opportunity for us to move forward in the relationship, not
                  backward," Kerry said.

                  The talks in Havana are intended to review immigration accords reached
                  between the United States and Cuba after a 1994 exodus in which more
                  than 37,000 Cubans flooded into south Florida.

                  The accords under discussion in Havana were designed to stop
                  refugees from fleeing Cuba under dangerous circumstances, frequently
                  in rickety vessels.

                  Under the agreements, U.S. officials are to send Cubans rescued at sea
                  back to Cuba and allow those who make it to land to stay. The two
                  nations meet every six months to review the pacts, with the venue
                  alternating between Washington and Havana.

                  "We are looking forward to meeting with them again on Monday to discuss
                  a full range of migration-related events," said William Brownfield, a deputy
                  assistant secretary of state for Latin American affairs.

                  At massive rallies outside the U.S. Interests Section in Havana over the past
                  week, Cubans have been demanding Elian's return. Cuban exiles in Miami
                  lobbied White House officials on Saturday to keep him in Florida.

                  Vice President Al Gore endorsed bringing Gonzalez to Florida as a visitor to
                  make his case. Gore said he wants "to make sure the views of the boy's
                  father are honored in the process."

                  "The child's mother sacrificed her life for her dream so that this boy would
                  grow up in freedom," Gore said. "I would like to see the boy's father express
                  himself without intimidation or fear concerning this boy's future."

                               The Associated Press contributed to this report.