Miami - A five-year-old boy found floating on an inner tube in the Atlantic after fleeing Cuba has a legal right to stay in the US despite a plea from his father to return him to Cuba, a lawyer for the boy's US relatives said on Monday.
The claim set the stage for an international custody dispute over Elian Gonzalez, who survived two days adrift in the ocean on an inner tube after the refugee boat he was on sank. The boy's father, a member of Cuba's ruling Communist Party, said on Sunday he wanted the child back.
The boy was among 13 Cuban migrants set adrift when their five-metre boat sank last week en route from the north-west coast of Cuba to Florida. Ten of the 13 died, including Elian's mother, authorities have said.