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Cuba's Raul Castro attends
Battle of Ideas commemoration
Cuba's Defense Minister Raul
Castro on Wednesday attended an
event commemorating the 7th
anniversary of the so-called
Battle of Ideas in Cardenas, a
city 140 km east of the Cuban
capital.
Cardenas is the hometown of
Elian Gonzalez, a child who
managed to get washed up on the
coast of the U.S. state of
Florida after his mother drowned
in a storm that capsized their
boat during an illegal crossing
to the United States in November
1999.
Cuba supported Elian's father in
the custody battle with his
Florida-based relatives for the
boy, an event known in Cuba as
The Battle of Ideas.
Elian, along with his father
Juan Miguel Gonzalez, his
stepmother and his two half
brothers, attended Wednesday's
event.
Schools across the city
celebrated the anniversary as
well as Elian's 13th birthday.
And the city used the occasion
to stage a protest march
demanding the return of five
Cubans jailed by the United
States for alleged spying.
Irma Sehwerert, mother of Rene
Gonzalez who is among the five
jailed Cubans, joined the march.
"This march will be a symbol:
yesterday demanding the return
of a child, now calling for the
return of our sons," Sehwerert
said.
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