Havana predicts Elian 'Bay of Pigs'

Cuba predicts heavy defeat for Elian's great-uncle (right)

Cuba's Communist Party daily, Granma, has predicted a crushing political defeat for Cuban Americans over the protracted custody battle for six-year-old Elian Gonzalez.

"They are looking for a political Bay of Pigs," the paper said, comparing the dispute with the failed attempt by Cuban exiles to invade the Caribbean island in 1961.

Elian has been at the centre of a legal battle since last November after being rescued off the Florida coast from the wreckage of boat in which his mother died trying to cross to the US.

A giant poster in Havana reads "Return our child"

The boy's Miami relatives have since sought to keep him in the US, putting them at odds with Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who has travelled to Washington from Cuba seeking to be reunited with his son.

Cuba's state media also attacked Elian's Miami family for "stamping on a father's love" by defying a US Government order to give up custody of the boy.

Granma described the actions of the Miami-based anti-Castro groups supporting Elian's relatives as "Mafia delaying tactics".

The newspaper also noted the support being given to Elian's father by American politicians and people.

Critics of Cuban leader Fidel Castro say he is using the case of Elian Gonzalez as a political weapon to attack his enemies in the US, and chiefly in Miami.