Miami Relatives to Seek Appeal of Elian Ruling

MIAMI — The Miami relatives of Cuban castaway Elian Gonzalez, launching a final effort to keep him in the country, said Wednesday they will ask a U.S. appeals court to review a ruling that upheld the government’s stance that he should return to Cuba.

A spokesman said the relatives, who have battled to keep the 6-year-old from being returned to the communist island since he was rescued at sea in November, would petition for a rehearing by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta of a ruling made June 1 by a three-judge panel.

Details of the petition would be given today, the deadline for any appeal to be filed with the Atlanta court, said a statement by spokesman Armando Gutierrez. His statement said the relatives would petition for a rehearing by all 12 judges in the court, and indicated the relatives could also ask for a rehearing by the same three-judge panel.

In its ruling, the Atlanta panel affirmed an earlier federal court decision that upheld an Immigration and Naturalization Service decision not to give the motherless Elian an asylum hearing against the wishes of his father, who wants to take him home to Cuba.

In a case that caused bitter rifts between Cubans and non-Cubans in Miami and mesmerized the American public, Elian was rescued Nov. 25 after a disastrous migrant voyage from Cuba in which his mother and 10 other people died. But he was promptly caught in a fierce and highly politicized feud over his future.

His father Juan Miguel Gonzalez, backed by President Fidel Castro, demanded his return, but his Miami relatives, with the support of many of the city’s anti-Castro Cuban exiles, tried to keep the child in the United States.

Elian is barred from leaving the U.S. before June 21, but the appeal could prolong his stay.