The Washington Post
December 7, 1999
 
 
Cuba, Alleging Hijacking, Demands Return of Crew


                  From News Services
                  Wednesday, December 8, 1999; Page A23

                  HAVANA, Dec. 7—U.S.-Cuba relations, already strained by a custody
                  dispute over a 6-year-old boy, grew more tense today when Cuba
                  demanded the United States return the crew of a fishing boat it says was
                  hijacked.

                  The Albacora allegedly was hijacked at knifepoint early Monday by
                  Cubans desperate to reach the United States. Two crew members were
                  wounded, according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

                  After Cuba alerted U.S. authorities, the Coast Guard seized the boat with
                  eight people aboard. U.S. authorities said they had not yet decided what to
                  do with the alleged hijackers.

                  Meanwhile, the State Department said immigration officials would seek to
                  interview the father of Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old who was found Nov.
                  25 clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast. His mother and stepfather
                  died after a powerboat loaded with 14 people sank during an attempt to
                  reach the United States. Elian, one of three survivors, is in the custody of
                  relatives in Florida.

                  The Cuban government has charged that the U.S. failure to return Elian to
                  his father in Cuba violates accords signed in 1994.

                  "U.S. authorities on one hand promise to prevent illegal immigration under
                  the migration accords signed with our country," the Foreign Ministry said
                  today. "On the other, they promote it with the stupid Cuban Adjustment
                  Act, which automatically grants residence to any Cuban who arrives in
                  U.S. territory."

                  The boy's father said Elian was taken out of the country without his
                  knowledge.

                  The communist government has promised to hold mass street
                  demonstrations in front of the U.S. interests section in Havana until the boy
                  returns.

                  The State Department says Elian's fate should be decided by a Florida
                  court. But the Cuban government says it does not trust the Florida courts
                  to be impartial because of the state's large anti-Castro exile community.

                  "They can have all the demonstrations they want," said a State Department
                  official. "In the United States we have laws we have to follow and uphold."

                           © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company