Bay of Pigs anniversary passes as Elian saga marks another day

MIAMI - Cuban exiles marked the 39th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs fiasco Monday as they stood watch at the home where Elian Gonzalez's relatives waited for a key ruling in the custody fight.

Protesters recalled the disastrous and deadly attempt on April 17, 1961, in which CIA-trained exiles failed to invade Cuba. Their criticism was extended to the Clinton administration, which wants the 6-year-old Cuban boy returned to his Cuban father.

''That was the first betrayal. John F. Kennedy betrayed the Cubans, now Clinton is betraying us. This is the second Bay of Pigs of the Cuban people,'' said Enrique Leon, 65, a retired physician from Bethesda, Md.

More than 60 women linked hands and sang at the barricades, a larger than usual crowd for the morning prayer session. Later, quiet fell over the crowd, broken by an occasional yell of ''Elian is staying!''

Elian's Miami relatives have cared for him since November, when he was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast. His mother and 10 other people fleeing Cuba drowned when their boat sank.

The Justice Department has pushed for Elian's return to his father, saying only he can speak for his son on immigration matters. The boy's Miami relatives say he will have a better life here and have gone to court to seek an asylum hearing for Elian.

They have also attempted to portray the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, as a pawn of Fidel Castro.

Both sides were awaiting a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The government wants the court to lift an order that bars Elian's removal from the United States and to order Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez to release the boy.

The relatives want the court to let them meet with Elian's father without conditions. In a statement Monday, they said the Immigration and Naturalization Service has no authority to order Lazaro Gonzalez to turn over Elian.

The agency last week revoked Lazaro Gonzalez's custody over the boy after the family defied an INS order to make Elian available for a reunion with his father in Washington.

''It is especially ironic for the INS to insist it has jurisdiction to dictate the actions of Lazaro Gonzalez when the INS has severed its relationship with Lazaro concerning the status of Elian,'' the family said.

Cuban exiles had looked toward the anniversary with apprehension, fearing a Justice Department attempt to take the boy from Lazaro Gonzalez.

But the day passed like most others in the 4-month long custody fight, with a vigil outside the Gonzalez home and a noon rally with speeches reaffirming the community's commitment to free Cuba from communism.

Exiles have long accused President John F. Kennedy of betraying them by failing to back up the 1961 invasion force with aerial cover. Cuban exiles trained by the CIA were easily repelled by Castro's forces at the swampy, mosquito-ridden inlet on the country's southern coast. Two hundred rebels were killed, and nearly 1,200 captured.

A 150-page CIA report released in 1998 blamed the failure not on Kennedy, but on the agency itself.

This month also marks the 20-year anniversary of the start of the Mariel boat lift, when 125,000 Cubans came over in a brief, intense wave of immigration that began with President Carter's welcome but soon went wrong.

Along with releasing Cubans seeking to leave the island, Castro sent over convicted criminals and others he called ''the bums and scum.'' The bigger-than-expected influx became its own disaster, spurring prejudice and crime waves.