Word: elian
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...immigration officials have granted Elian permission to stay and apply for residency, but a family court in Florida will probably decide his fate. "I don't want Elian to be subjected to that tug-of-war," says Spencer Eig, the Miami attorney chosen to represent the boy. He is working for an out-of-court settlement between Elian's relatives in the U.S. and in Cuba. But under U.S. laws that deal with Cuba, relatives here can claim that Elian is a political and economic refugee. Still, the more direct blood ties legally favor Elian's father...
...Elian's case, while unusually heart wrenching, has much in common with other recent waterborne escapes from Cuba. This year the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted 1,265 Cuban balseros, or rafters--double the number from last year. As many as 60 others are believed to have drowned. Driving the exodus are Cuba's poverty and political repression, generous U.S. immigration rules for Cubans and the unprecedented rise of paid refugee smugglers. Elizabet's boyfriend Lazaro Munero charged $1,000 each from the 13 passengers whom he jammed into his 17-ft. powerboat...
...reason for the hardball in Elian's case: next week U.S. and Cuban officials are set to haggle over immigration issues. Cuba wants Washington to end the "wet feet, dry feet" rules that allow any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to be eligible for refugee status, while those intercepted by the Coast Guard are sent back. Elian will be oblivious to the debate: he celebrates his sixth birthday this week...
Most child-custody wars mean profit for some (the lawyers for both sides) and pain for others (the child and his parents). In the case of Elian Gonzalez, too, the winners are the ones pulling the strings, but in this case it is the Cuban government and the large Cuban-exile community in Florida who are reaping the benefits of a family tragedy. That situation became even more apparent Monday as U.S. negotiators prepared to meet with their Cuban counterparts for biannual talks on immigration amid a frenzy of anti-American protests sparked off by the case...
...currently staying with a great-aunt and great-uncle in Miami. The same day, Florida relatives filed a claim for political asylum on the boy's behalf, to prevent him from returning home to his natural father, with whom he remains close. While the U.S. has urged Elian's father to make a formal claim with immigration authorities, legal challenges by the boy's relatives - backed by Cuban exile organizations - are likely to delay his early return. In what may be a reflection of the ironic symbiosis across the Florida Straits, it's been a tremendous propaganda boost both...