200 Marchers Urge U.S. to Send Boy Back to Father in Cuba

                  By Caryle Murphy
                  Washington Post Staff Writer

                  Ann Maria Baldine, of Chevy Chase, is not one for protest rallies and has
                  no Cuban connection. But she's been so upset as a mother by the case of
                  Elian Gonzalez that yesterday she joined 200 other people demanding his
                  return to Cuba.

                  "I travel, and I would hope they would send her home if I died," Baldine
                  said, referring to her daughter Marisa, 7, whose stylish armor against the
                  blustery cold included a black fedora.

                  Marisa said she'd seen 6-year-old Elian on television, adding, "I thought
                  that he looked scared."

                  Gathered in Mount Pleasant's Lamont Park, the Baldines and fellow
                  protesters, who included many families, listened to warmup speeches and
                  songs before marching to Lafayette Square through Dupont Circle.

                  "Que Egresan Elian" and "Little Boys Need More Than Toys--Send Elian
                  Home" read their English and Spanish signs. Someone at the head of the
                  procession pushed an empty stroller.

                  The demonstration was organized by church and community groups under
                  the aegis of the National Committee to Return Elian. It wants the boy, who
                  has been staying with relatives in Miami since his dramatic sea rescue in
                  November, reunited with his father in Cuba. Elian's mother died at sea
                  trying to reach U.S. shores.

                  "It's time for us to put an end to a time when right-wing activists dictate our
                  national policy," said one of the pre-march speakers, Miriam
                  Pearson-Martinez, of Baltimore. She was referring to members of Miami's
                  Cuban American community, who have pressured the federal government
                  not to return Elian to Cuba.

                  "The bottom line is that if relations between the United States and Cuba
                  were normalized, this would never have been an issue," said the Rev.
                  Lucius Walker, of the Inter-Religious Foundation for Community
                  Organization. "This child is a victim of the blockade policy."

                  Teri Brown came from Richmond to be in the march and brought her two
                  children, Eric, 11, and Alex, 3. "We feel very strongly that Elian should be
                  returned," said Brown, also accompanied by her husband, David Boothe.
                  The couple has visited Cuba and has friends there. "Cuba is a decent
                  country," Brown added.

                  A minor hitch surfaced before the march, as D.C. police officers and
                  organizers quibbled over whether the protesters had gotten all the
                  necessary permits to march and in particular whether the police-approved
                  route included a pass by the Cuban Interest Section in the Embassy of
                  Czechoslovakia at 16th and Euclid streets NW.

                  The marchers wanted to show their solidarity with Cuba, which insists
                  Elian should come home. The glitch was cleared up when Sgt. J.M.
                  Herndon called the police department's special operations division and
                  confirmed the permits were in order.

                  So the marchers set out, ignoring eight people, three of them children,
                  counter-demonstrating with signs that said: "Save Elian from Castro's
                  Repression" and "Don't Send Elian Back to an Island Prison."

                  "I'm here to have other Americans know there is another voice and that
                  these are Cubans and most of those there are Americans," said D.C.
                  resident Francisca Sanchez, 22, referring to the passing marchers.

                  Asked when she left Cuba, Sanchez replied: "I was born here."

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