From staff and wire reports

                  HAVANA (CNN) -- Cubans demonstrated within sight of the U.S.
                  compound in Havana on Monday night, again demanding that the United
                  States return a Cuban boy rescued off the coast of Florida last month.

                  About 1,000 Cubans yelled "Cuba, si" and "yankee, no" during the protest,
                  the second demonstration of the day. The protest was peaceful. The U.S.
                  Interests Section was ringed with police and soldiers.

                  It was the second night of protests, with more expected Tuesday.

                  Elian Gonzalez, who was found clinging to an inner tube on November 25,
                  turned 6 years old Monday and is now staying with relatives in Miami. His
                  father in Cuba wants him back.

                  Castro attends birthday party for youngster

                  In Elian's hometown of Cardenas, schoolmates held a birthday party for him
                  at his school, with Cuban President Fidel Castro in attendance.

                  Dressed in his customary olive green uniform, Castro stood over Elian's empty
                  desk, now draped with a small red, white and blue Cuban flag.

                 Castro has demanded the boy's return by Tuesday night, but the U.S. State
                 Department has flatly refused. "We do not accept the ultimatum issued by
                 Fidel Castro," spokesman James Foley said Monday. "This is not
                 conducive to resolving this case in the appropriate humanitarian way."

                  The Cuban president on Monday called his demand "wise advice" -- not
                  an ultimatum. "It would be political suicide and harm the reputation of the
                  United States" not to send the child back, Castro said.

                  At the evening protest, a huge birthday cake was inscribed:
                  "Congratulations, Elian, Cuba awaits you."

                  U.S. officials have said Elian's fate will be decided by a Florida court, which
                  holds precedence in child custody cases.

                  Father declares boy 'cannot be happy there'

                  Elian's mother and stepfather were among those who died when their boat
                  capsized as they tried to reach Florida from Cuba. A total of 11 people died
                  in the crossing. Elian survived, and now his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez,
                  wants him returned to Cuba.

                  Gonzalez, 31, said the boy, who lived with him, was taken out of Cuba by
                  the boy's mother without his permission.

                  "Elian has told me that he misses me, that he wants to return. He cannot be
                  happy there," said Gonzalez.

                  U.S. law allows any Cuban reaching the shore of the United States to stay.
                  However, in many U.S. child custody cases in which one parent dies,
                  custody is granted to the surviving parent.

                  But Gonzalez said he won't go to Miami to exercise his presumed legal right
                  as next-of-kin to pick up Elian. "They have to send him back, that's my
                  right," Gonzalez said.

                  In Miami on Monday, a dozen U.S. children in school uniforms and Santa
                  Claus caps brought Elian gifts and sang Christmas carols in English and
                  Spanish. Wishing Elian a happy birthday, they brought him a red bicycle, a
                  baseball, a glove and bat.

                  On Sunday, his family in Miami got him a cake topped with a toy helicopter
                  and two jet fighters.

                  Lawmaker says Cuba's threats are empty

                  On Sunday, about 500 Communist Youth members demonstrated in front of
                  the U.S. Interests Section, Washington's unofficial embassy in Havana. On
                  Monday morning, about 1,000 grandmothers gathered in Cardenas to
                  demand Elian's return to Cuba.

                  If the boy isn't returned in 72 hours, Castro has said, "there will be millions in
                  the street asking for the boy's freedom, and it will not stop until the boy is
                  returned."

                  Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon said that if the boy
                  isn't reunited with his father, Cuba would boycott a December 13 meeting
                  on the implementation of migration accords with the United States.

                  But U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) said Castro's threats should
                  not be taken seriously.

                  "I think these are empty threats of Fidel Castro. He says that if we don't act
                  within 72 hours, he will have a million people demonstrating in Cuba. Well,
                  so what?" she said. "So he has 1 million or 3 million ... no one believes this
                  show."

                   Correspondent Jeanne Meserve, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this
                                             report.