Cuba's Defense Minister Raul Castro on Wednesday attended an event commemorating the 7th anniversary of the so-called Battle of Ideas in Cardenas, a city 140 km east of the Cuban capital.

Cardenas is the home town of Elian Gonzalez, a child who managed to get washed up on the coast of the U.S. state of Florida after his mother drowned in a storm that capsized their boat during an illegal crossing to the United States in November 1999.

Cuba supported Elian's father in the custody battle with his Florida-based relatives for the boy, an event known in Cuba as The Battle of Ideas.

Elian, along with his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez, his stepmother and his two half brothers, attended Wednesday's event.

Schools across the city celebrated the anniversary as well as Elian's 13th birthday. And the city used the occasion to stage a protest march demanding the return of five Cubans jailed by the United States for alleged spying.

Irma Sehwerert, mother of Rene Gonzalez who is among the five jailed Cubans, joined the march.

"This march will be a symbol: yesterday demanding the return of a child, now calling for the return of our sons," Sehwerert said.

Source: Xinhua