The father of Elian Gonzalez - the six-year-old boy at the centre of an ongoing international custody battle - has made a fresh appeal for his son to be returned to Cuba.

Juan Miguel Gonzalez has urged Washington to protect his son from political harassment and media intrusion while the boy remains in the US.

Mr Gonzalez has also asked that Elian be removed from the care of a great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, and placed with another US relative who supports the boy's repatriation to Cuba.

The requests were made in a letter sent to US Attorney General Janet Reno and Doris Meissner, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS).

Elian has been at the centre of intense legal and political wrangling since he was rescued from the sea off Florida in 2 November. His mother had drowned in the attempt to flee Cuba with her son.

In his letter, Mr Gonzalez, who has backed Havana's efforts to seek Elian's repatriation, called on the US Government to respect the ruling of its own immigration officials and return the boy.

In a reference to the ruling by the INS last month, he said: "Let my son be given to me in line with the January 5 decision."

'Gross invasion of privacy'

He also appealed for the boy to be shielded from further intense media scrutiny.

"This gross invasion of his privacy and lack of respect for his childish innocence must cease completely and immediately," he said.

Juan Miguel Gonzalez also demanded that until this repatriation was carried out the INS should remove Elian from the home in Miami of Lazaro Gonzalez.

Lazaro Gonzalez and his family are disputing the INS ruling in the US courts.

The father asked that Elian be transferred to the residence of another great-uncle in Miami, Manolo Gonzalez, who is known to back the boy's return to Cuba.

The letter was the latest step in a highly-politicised custody tug-of-war that has divided Elian's relatives in Miami and Cuba and inflamed passions on both sides of the Florida Straits.

It has also posed a tricky problem for Washington, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with Havana.

The father's letter was made public in Havana by President Fidel Castro's government, which has thrown its official weight behind Juan Miguel Gonzalez in the protracted and bitter custody dispute with the exiled relatives in Miami.