Elian Gonzalez and his playmates spent two hours Wednesday touring the National Zoo.
Joining the 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor at the zoo was his visiting entourage from Cuba, which included Elian’s father, cousin, playmates and the playmates’ mothers.
As usual , the group was escorted by federal marshals.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. here to dismiss another lawsuit brought by Elian’s great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez to prevent Elian from leaving the country.
Filed in mid-April, that lawsuit was put on hold in case the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its injunction keeping Elian in this country.
The government asked Kennedy to dismiss the case because the 11th Circuit had decided the issues last month, when it upheld the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s decision to let Elian’s father, Juan Miguel, have custody and decide the boy’s future.
