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As Deadline Set By INS for Elian Gonzalez' Return Passes, Cuba Responds With Massive Protests led by Cuban Mothers

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JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: In Havana, Cuba, Friday, the streets were filled with women coming together to support one cause, the return from the United States of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez.

CNN's Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tens of thousands of marching women, for as far as the eye could see -- Cuba's response to a deadline that came and went without the arrival of the child this country has been waiting for.

At the head of the "March of the 100,000 Mothers," as the government named it, were Elian Gonzalez's maternal and paternal grandmothers, and the boy's 4-month-old half-brother, Gyani (ph).

MARIELA QUINTANA, ELIAN'S PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER (through translator): If I have to go there to bring him here myself, I'll go get him.

NEWMAN: The marchers went past the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, chanting in unison, "Devuelvan a nuestro hijo" -- "return our son." Many Cubans say they've waited long enough.

"I feel indignation about the kidnapping of this boy. They're slapping Cuban mothers in the face," said this woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We blame the bad Cubans who fled their country and didn't face their country's problems. They don't have a motherland of their own.

NEWMAN: The Cuban government says it's waiting for U.S. authorities to implement their own decision to return the boy to Cuba.

RICARDO ALARCON, PRES., CUBAN NATL. ASSEMBLY: This small boy has been surrounded for almost two months, day and night, by politicians of all sorts, and all that covered by the media. That harassment of this small boy in itself is a case of child abuse.

NEWMAN: Cuban officials say they don't even want to consider the possibility that Elian Gonzalez won't be returned to his father and his country. In the meantime, they say, all they can do is keep on protesting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN: And, Judy, the concept of this demonstration was fairly simple. The message was that while Elian Gonzalez may have lost his natural mother, there are still millions more here in Cuba who are waiting for him. And also, speaking of demonstrations, there is another huge one that has been announced for tomorrow, Saturday afternoon -- 150,000 people, according to the authorities, will be taking part -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Lucia, could the grandmother follow through on her statement that we heard her make that if she has to go get Elian she's prepared to do that?

NEWMAN: She's saying that if that's going to be the way out, she's willing to do it. Whether she can or not is yet -- has -- is something we have to see.

But it would at least offer a possible way out of this impasse as to who would bring the boy back here. The INS has made it clear that it wants this to be done in the most humane way possible, through a close relative of the child, and that she certainly is, Judy.

WOODRUFF: And Lucia, one other question. Many, many people demonstrating for Elian's return -- is it possible to know how many of them are sincere in their belief that he should come back to Cuba?

NEWMAN: Well, although there's no question that these demonstrations are organized, and very much so, by the Cuban government, by the state, most Cubans that we've been speaking to since this whole dispute began nearly two months ago do say that they believe very firmly that the child should be returned to Cuba. And these are Cubans, some of them, who do not agree with the Cuban government -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, CNN's Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman, thank you, Lucia.

Elian's great uncle, who's been awarded temporary custody of the child by a Florida court, is responding to the grandmother's statement that she would go to Miami to bring Elian back. In an interview Friday, Lazaro Gonzalez said that he would welcome her visit, and that he is not suspicious about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAZARO GONZALEZ, ELIAN'S GREAT UNCLE (through translator): No, no suspicion. She can come. That's not arranged with anyone where we are going to meet or anything, neither with whom. Simply they are saying that she is going to come. May she come? This is a free country. She can come always, and when they give her a visa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Gonzalez also said that he will go along with whatever the court decides in Elian's case.

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