HAVANA (AP) -- Mass demonstrations to press for the return of a
                  6-year-old Cuban boy from the United States spread across the island
                  Friday as the communist government promised provincial protests to rival
                  recent ones in the capital.

                  "The Entire Nation will Mobilize!" the Communist Party daily Granma
                  announced. "Never in the history of Cuba has there been a similar national
                  mobilization, moved by indignation against the rude and repugnant crime
                  committed against a child."

                  The United States, meanwhile, waited to see if the boy's father would meet
                  with U.S. immigration officials.

                  By Friday morning, no decision had been made, but Cuban authorities had
                  asked some questions about the U.S. proposal issued to the boy's father,
                  Juan Miguel Gonzalez -- a move American authorities viewed as positive.

                  Gonzalez earlier said he would not go to the United States nor meet with
                  U.S. authorities in his quest to be reunited with his son, Elian Gonzalez, who
                  turned 6 on Monday.

                  Elian was found clinging to an inner tube off the coast of Fort Lauderdale,
                  Florida, on Thanksgiving Day, the survivor of a boating accident that took
                  his mother's life as they sought to emigrate illegally to the United States.

                  U.S. authorities paroled the boy to a great-aunt and great-uncle living in
                  Miami, who said they could provide him with a better life in the United
                  States. Gonzalez has demanded that the boy be returned to his native Cuba.

                  Cuba's communist government and its leader, Fidel Castro, have embraced
                  the custody dispute as a political cause, organizing mass demonstrations
                  daily to press for the boy's return.

                  This week's marches have grown each day and are the largest _ save for
                  annual May Day celebrations -- on the island since 1980.

                  That year, Castro called for similar demonstrations during a political crisis
                  that began when several thousand Cubans stormed the Peruvian Embassy
                  seeking political asylum.

                  An estimated 1 million people marched past the Peruvian Embassy on April
                  19, 1980, to show support for Castro's communist government.

                  The custody dispute cast a shadow over U.S.-Cuban migration talks
                  scheduled Monday in Havana, but both American and Cuban officials said
                  the meeting is expected to continue as planned.

                  The dispute comes amid Cuba's growing anger over what it says is the U.S.
                  government's failure to abide by 1994 and 1995 migration accords signed to
                  stop a flood of people leaving the island on rickety rafts and inner tubes.

                  Under the agreements, U.S. officials are to repatriate Cubans rescued at sea
                  and Cuban officials are to prevent people from leaving the communist island
                  illegally.