Havana - An indignant President Fidel Castro raised the stakes in an emotional custody battle for a five-year-old boy rescued off the Florida coast by demanding the United States return him within 72 hours or face mass protests.
The boy , Elian Gonzalez, was found clinging to a rubber tube at sea a week ago after the sinking of a boat carrying illegal Cuban immigrants, in which his mother and stepfather drowned or disappeared. He is staying with relatives in Miami but his father in Cuba wants him back.