BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
An angry Fidel Castro on Sunday threatened mass protests and a
boycott of
upcoming U.S.-Cuba migration talks unless Washington agrees to
return child
rafter Elian Gonzalez within 72 hours.
``If they are halfway intelligent, they will announce the return
of this child before 72
hours, the Cuban president said in a speech broadcast early in
the day. ``It's
already difficult to restrain our people.
``I hope that Cuba's numerous friends in the United States and
in other parts will
begin to organize committees for the release of the child kidnapped
by the United
States. Heaven and earth will be moved.
Castro said he was infuriated by the way his enemies in Miami
had embraced the
custody case as their own, and criticized television images of
the child
surrounded by toys and wearing a T-shirt of his nemesis, the
Cuban American
National Foundation.
He promised a ``battle for world opinion'' to bring Elian home.
The child turns 6
today.
Spencer Eig, the Gonzalez family attorney in Miami, said he is
confident Cuba
has no chance of getting the boy back just because Castro is
making threats.
``As an American, I'm proud that this country doesn't respond
to threats,'' Eig
said. ``Whatever opinion people may have about this case, I'm
confident everyone
joins me in saying, `Mr. Castro, leave this boy alone.' ''
In Washington, the State Department said it would not comment
on press reports
about Castro's threats.
The Cuban leader's outburst cast an ominous shadow over U.S.-Cuba
migration
accords negotiated in 1994 and 1995 to avert another crisis like
the 1980 Mariel
boatlift and the 1994 flight of about 36,000 rafters.
At best, the dispute could force the cancellation of talks set
for Dec. 13 on
progress in implementing the accords. At worst, Havana might
stop accepting the
repatriation of would-be refugees intercepted by the U.S. Coast
Guard in the
Florida Straits.
Cooperation on migration issues has become one of the pillars
of U.S.-Cuban
relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union ended Cuba's
status as a threat
to U.S. national security. Castro's comments signaled a significant
escalation of
Cuba's campaign for the return of Elian, rescued Thanksgiving
Day from an inner
tube after his mother and 10 others drowned when their boat capsized.
The Clinton administration has said it will allow Florida courts
to rule on Elian,
now living with relatives in Miami. But his father, Juan Miguel
Gonzalez, 31, has
demanded his return to Cuba.
CASTRO REACTS
Castro called the Washington decision a ``kidnapping and branded
Florida judges
``mercenary and venal, corrupt to the very marrow of their bones.
Unless U.S. officials agree to return the child, ``they are going
to see millions of
people on the streets, he said in a speech welcoming back Cuba's
delegation to
the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle.
On Sunday, Cubans began demonstrating outside the U.S. diplomatic
mission in
Havana, the U.S. Interests Section, demanding the boy's return.
The government
has mobilized up to one million marchers for past protests there.
Several dozen Cuban soldiers were added Sunday to the three to
four troops who
normally guard the Interests Section on Havana's seashore Malecon
boulevard,
The Associated Press reported. The reason for the move was not
clear. Calls
requesting comment from the mission were referred to Washington.
EXPLICIT THREAT
Castro charged that Washington is not abiding by the 1994 and
1995 migration
accords, but left it up to National Assembly President Ricardo
Alarcon to make
an explicit threat to boycott the Dec. 13 meeting.
``My recommendation would be that they make sure Elian is back
before that
date, because it is very hard to imagine that we could have any
type of
constructive discussion, Alarcon told a weekend rally in front
of the home of
Elian's father in the north-central city of Cardenas.
Alarcon was the lead Cuban negotiator of the migration accords
and has
participated in all the twice-yearly meetings designed to review
progress in
implementing them. They usually last one day, and alternate between
Havana and
New York or Washington.
Designed to discourage risky illegal departures from Cuba, the
pacts require
Washington to issue 20,000 visas a year to Cubans and Havana
to accept the
return of would-be refugees intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Cuba has taken back about 2,500 boat people intercepted since
1994, but
hundreds more have managed to reach U.S. shores, winning U.S.
residency after
one year under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
SORE POINT
That law, approved by Congress in 1966 to favor refugees seen
as victims of a
communist regime, has long been a sore point with Castro, who
argues that it
encourages illegal departures of people merely seeking better
economic
opportunities in the United States.
Castro, welcoming back the World Trade Organization delegation,
charged that
the 1994 and 1995 agreements contain ``an express commitment
to put an end to
that Cuban Adjustment law. [But] they have done nothing.
U.S. officials have repeatedly denied that the 1994 and 1995 pacts
contain such
an agreement, directly or implied.
Castro has an interest in keeping the migration agreements in
good working
order, because they serve as a safety valve for discontent with
his authoritarian
regime and crippled economy.
But in the past, he has taken hard-line stands on even relatively
minor disputes
with Washington and at times appeared to intentionally detonate
crises in order to
torpedo improvements in U.S.-Cuba relations.
Castro told the WTO delegation that he would not attend the upcoming
inauguration of Argentine President-elect Fernando de la Rua
on Friday because
the case of Elian Gonzalez ``is the issue that I must handle
at this time.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
Copyright 1999 Miami Herald