U.S. : Cuban Boy's Relatives Fail to Comply Order

The U.S. Justice Department Monday said that the Miami relatives of the six-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, had failed to comply with a government order that they promise to surrender him for return to his father if they lose a court appeal.

In their letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, the boy's relatives said they asked a federal appeals court to set an expedited schedule for hearing an appeal, however, the letter did not meet the other demand Reno made on Friday night. "We do not consider them in compliance with Friday's letter," said Justice spokeswoman Carole Florman.

"They have not agreed to provide written assurances they will comply with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) instructions if they do not prevail in the appeals court and cannot obtain a stay from the Supreme Court," Florman said. Florman said the Justice Department had responded in court to the family's request for an expedited appeal that was not so swift as the government had hoped and that a new letter would be sent to the family laying how the government proposed to proceed from here. The Justice Department late Friday told relatives of Elian that they have until noon Monday to agree to a speedy appeal or the boy will be returned to his father in Cuba.

The Justice Department wants to give the family's lawyers until April 3 to file the expedited appeal, a date the lawyers had proposed. If the relatives do not agree to the deadline, the government will begin the process of returning Elian to his father in Cuba next Thursday.

Earlier last week, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled that only the U.S. attorney general can grant political asylum to the boy.

Elian, who is currently under the custody of his great uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, in Florida, was rescued on November 25 last year from a shipwreck after his mother and 11 others died when the boat capsized in the sea off Florida.

The INS ruled earlier this year that the boy belongs to his father and should be returned to Cuba.

However, the decision to return him was delayed after the boy's great uncle Florida filed a political asylum for him. The boy's father in Cuba, supported by the Cuban government, insisted that his son be returned to him while the boy's great uncle, backed by some anti-Cuba politicians in the U.S., asked the boy to stay with him.

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