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 | Friday, April 21, 2000, updated at 09:38(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Elian's Father Calls Americans to Help Reunite with His SonJuan Miguel Gonzalez, the father of the six-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor, Thursday called on the American people to help him and stop his distant relatives from abusing his son.He made the appeal in Spanish with a translator in front of a Cuban diplomatic residence in Bethesda, Maryland, where he has been staying waiting for a reunion with his son since he came to the United States on April 6. "I really wish to be with my son. He belongs to me," Gonzalez said, urging the American people to contact both U.S. President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno on his behalf. "Don't let them (the Miami relatives) continue to abuse my son, " Gonzalez said. "It hurts me a lot to see what they are doing to my son." Reno has repeatedly insisted that the boy should be returned to his father. On Wednesday, She said that the Justice Department will abide by an appeals court rule over the case of Elian Gonzalez, but stressed that the rule will not prevent the government from transferring the six-year-old Cuban boy to his father. "The immigration laws clearly call for a child to be placed in the care of a parent, in preference to a more distant relative, while the child's immigration status is being resolved," Reno told reporters. The court panel decided to bar anyone from attempting to remove the Cuban shipwreck survivor from the country, extending the injunction issued last week. The panel announced that they recognized the government's authority over immigration matters, but adding that "We fail to see how an injunction in the case infringes upon the congressional power." However, she made it clear that the court rule "does not preclude me from placing Elian in his father's care while he is in the United States." Elian was rescued on November 25 near a shipwreck after his mother and 10 others were killed when their boat capsized in the sea off Florida and later was sent to his relatives in Miami. The appeals court order temporarily blocked anyone from taking Elian out of the country until it decides whether to hear the asylum claims. U.S. President Bill Clinton also said Thursday that the six-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, should be reunited with his father "in as prompt and orderly way as possible." Clinton said that there is "no conceivable argument" to keep the father and son apart after a federal appeals court ruled the boy cannot leave the United States pending an appeal.
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