Sue Olswang Published:Sep 19, 2007
CASTRO'S PET: Elián Gonzalez, who lives in Cuba with his father
Elián is now back in Cuba, where he attended a private school to help
him 'readapt'.
In November 1999, Elián Gonzalez, his mother, and 12 other people left
the island of Cuba, heading for the US in a small boat with a faulty engine.
Elián's mother and 10 others died during the crossing. The boat was
operated by Elian's mother's boyfriend, who lived in Miami and who
smuggled Cubans into the US for money.
Elián and the other two survivors managed to complete the journey across
the Florida Straits on an inner tube.
The young boy was rescued at sea on Thanksgiving Day by two fishermen,
who then handed him over to the US Coast Guard.
The website weht.net (What Ever Happened To) reports that Elián was
transported to Miami, where he was taken in by his Cuban ex-pat relatives.
Elián then made it on to the pages of newspapers all over the world when
his father, Juan- Miguel Gonzalez-Quintana, travelled to the US from
Cuba. In early 2000, the world learned that Elián had been taken from
Cuba without Juan-Miguel's permission and, after a lengthy legal battle,
culminating in a stormtrooper- style raid on the Miami home in April
2000, the boy was "rescued" at gunpoint and delivered from the hands of
the people who were caring for him.
After Elián was returned to his father's custody, he remained in the US
while his Miami relatives exhausted their legal options.
A three-judge federal panel had ruled that the boy could not go back to
Cuba until he was granted an asylum hearing, but the case turned on the
right of the relatives to request that hearing on behalf of the boy.
On June 1 2000, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Elián
was too young to file for asylum; only his father could speak for him,
and the relatives lacked legal standing. On June 28 2000, the US Supreme
Court refused to review the decision. Later on the same day, Elián and
his family returned home to Cuba.
The weht.net site says that "with the exception of Elián himself, who
had very little choice in events, everyone remotely involved in this
episode in history acted in the most unintelligent way imaginable.
"From his dingbat mother, who damn near got her own son killed, to Janet
Reno, who ordered the Raid on Entebbe afterwards, to the Cubans back in
Cuba who now hold this kid to be some kind of 'hero'."
Elián is now back in Cuba, where he attended a private school to help
him "readapt" to life in his country of birth. Cuban President Fidel
Castro has championed him as a hero and the boy's signature has been
used in state declarations. The Cuban government has established and
maintains the elian.cu website.
In the US, the house in which Elián lived in Miami has been turned into
a museum, called Unidos en Casa Elián (United in Elian House), and
parasites have turned up on Ebay selling tacky "Elián" items (drawings
allegedly done by him, hair fished out of the rubbish bin, etc).
Elián now lives with his family in Cardenas, where his father works as a
waiter at an Italian restaurant.
Juan-Miguel was interviewed in 2004 by Keith Morrison of NBC . He told
Morrison that Elián was scared of reporters, so Morrison could not
interview the boy, but Juan-Miguel made a home video on which Elián was
shown doing his homework with dad, going to bed, and attending karate
lessons.
Morrison's TV report also showed a 19th century building in Cárdenas
that had been renovated and was inaugurated on July 14 2001, as a
museum, called Museo de la Batalla de Ideas (Museum of the Battle of Ideas).
The museum features an Elián exhibition room with a bronze statue of
Elián raising a clenched fist.
In September 2005, Elián was interviewed by 60 Minutes. He said that
Castro was his friend, and that he considers the Cuban president "not
only as a friend, but as a father".
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