While Cuba is still subject to the strictest economic sanctions the US enforces against any country, there have been significant changes in the relations between the US and Cuba. For example, airline passenger flights between the two countries have grown more numerous recently, and increasing numbers of US business have called for lifting of restrictions on trade with Cuba. In an odd twist, this incident could help in the continued development of better relations if the US does not bow to political pressure exerted by the Miami Cuban community. According to Wayne Smith, a former Chief of the US Interests Section in Havana, the real dispute over Elian is not between two governments, but between two groups of Cubans, those in Cuba and those in Miami. Normally, the success of a private bill to grant Elian citizenship is doubtful.
Private bills are very difficult to pass, in part because they are seen as personal favors.
Moreover, the bill would ordinarily have to pass through the immigration subcommittees of both the House and Senate, and then the Judiciary committees of each, and then be voted on by the full Congress. Unless the bill to grant Elian citizenship is able to bypass this standard process, it may not have much chance of success. Elian s relatives in Miami have filed a lawsuit in federal court in an effort to keep him from being returned to Cuba. This comes after the INS said it would not heed the ruling of a state family court awarding temporary custody of the child to an uncle in Miami and dismissed a second asylum application filed on behalf of Elian by his uncle. No hearing date has yet been set, but all sides have expressed their wish to have the matter before the court as soon as possible.