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Castro Leads Elian Birthday Celebration in Cuba
Elian Gonzalez turned 7 years old on Wednesday and Cuban President Fidel Castro led a joyful birthday celebration which hailed the patriotic crusade that helped bring the boy home from the United States.
Elian, whose fierce custody dispute made him the best-known boy in the world for seven months last year, clearly enjoyed the party staged by authorities at his school in his coastal hometown of Cardenas.
Clad in his Young Pioneer"s uniform of red shorts, white shirt and blue neckerchief, and surrounded by several hundred schoolchildren and well-wishers, Elian appeared excited and happy. He only occasionally appeared bemused and embarrassed by the attention of photographers and cameramen.
Castro, wearing his familiar olive-green military cap and fatigues, also got into the spirit of the party. He clapped to songs, laughed at clowns and eventually took the microphone to chat and joke with children and teachers. "It"s everyone"s birthday today and we"re all very happy, because what we went through was very tough," Castro said. He was greeted by children who chanted "Fidel, Fidel" when he arrived at the school. Castro emotionally recalled the bitter, protracted seven-month "Battle for Elian," which only ended when the boy returned home last June 28.
Foreign correspondents in Cuba were invited to Cardenas to cover the boy"s birthday celebration.
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