An appeals court in Atlanta has cleared the way for Elian Gonzalez to return to his home in Cuba seven months after he was rescued from the sea off Florida.
The US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused yesterday to reconsider an earlier ruling that dismissed an attempt by the six-year-old boy's Miami relatives to get him political asylum in the US.
The court also lifted the injunction forbidding Elian from returning to Cuba as long as the appeal was being considered. This means that Elian, his father Mr Juan Miguel, and other relatives living with him in Washington, should be able to return to Cuba from next Wednesday.
The Miami relatives with whom Elian stayed until last April said yesterday that they would appeal to the US Supreme Court next Monday. But observers believe that the court will be unwilling to take up the case in view of the unanimity of the lower appeals court. Four of the nine Supreme Court judges would have to agree to hear the case.
Mr Gregory Craig, lawyer for the Gonzalez family, said Mr Juan Miguel was gratified by the appeals court decision. He said he would be meeting the father to discuss his plans for the coming week. The family "look forward to resuming a normal life with their family and friends," he added.
The Attorney General, Ms Janet Reno, who had argued for the return of the family, welcomed the court's decision. "Now that the court has conclusively upheld our decision, I am hopeful that this father and son will soon be able to move on with their lives together."
In Havana, the Cuban government noted the court decision. An earlier statement had called on Cubans to keep calm whatever the ruling.
It said that preparations would continue for a previously scheduled pro-Elian rally involving 400,000 people to take place today. If Elian does return to Cuba next week, it will mark the end of a saga which raised new tensions between Cuba and the US, and focused world attention on the plight of a six-year-old boy caught in a tug-of-war between two branches of his family.
It was on Thanksgiving Day last November that Elian was rescued from the sea off Fort Lauderdale while he floated in a tyre tube. After he was brought ashore it was discovered that he had been in the water about 48 hours since the small boat carrying his mother and 12 others from Cuba sank off Florida.
Elian's mother and 10 others drowned and he was given into the temporary care of his great-uncle, Mr Lazaro Gonzalez, who lived in Miami, where the Cuban community of over one million is bitterly anti-Castro.