premise: The Miami kin has been battling to keep him in the United States, saying it can give him a better life off the communist island. But Gonzalez, backed by Castro, has demanded his rights as Elian's sole surviving parent and insisted that the child be returned to him.
  Elian's mother perished along with 10 others when their boat sank during the crossing from Cuba to the United States. Since the tragedy, Elian has become a political poster boy for Cubans with diametrically opposed ideologies living on both sides of the Florida Straits.
  During his speech Wednesday night, Castro expressed irritation that much of the rest of the delegation was not granted visas to travel to the United States to stay with Elian while waiting out a federal appeal filed by Elian's Miami relatives and assist in his ''rehabilitation.''
   What can be expected if the Miami kin do keep Elian in the United States?
hypothesis: give him a better life off the communist island