You're nail on the head, Tracy. If memory now serves me as well, the mother's family (she died during the boat passage from Cuba to Florida) said that she took the boy to give him a better life here in America. Oddly enough, the publicity this all engendered resulted in his having a far better life in Cuba than he would ever have had, had he beeen allowed to stay here. Had he done so, he'd be an afterthought, a Dateline story years after the fact.
"Whatever Happened to Little Elian?" On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 9:19 AM, Tracy Curtis <tlcurti...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > If I remember correctly, this was also a case of custodial kidnapping. The > father had primary custody and the childcare responsibilities in Cuba. No > one even bothered to come up with a legal justification for treating this > case differently than we would any other kidnapping. > > > On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 10:34 PM, Keith Johnson > <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>wrote: > >> >> >> Well, I'm not happy that little Elian is being indoctrinated into the >> Communist party of Cuba, nor that he's used as a propaganda tool for the >> government. But i also know that returning him to his father was the right >> thing to do. There was no real reason for his legal, biological father to be >> denied custody of his son--the late mother's feelings notwithstanding. While >> I understand his relatives and other Cubans wanting him to enjoy the >> freedoms of America, they didn't have a leg to stand on in this case. Elian >> wasn't abused, he loved his father, and, reports to the contrary, he wasn't >> starving. We can't start breaking the bonds of family across international >> waters just because we don't like the governmental system under which a >> child may be raised. >> >> I also must say I found all the wailing and teary-eyed celebs, ex-pats, >> and Americans decrying his "horrible" future a bit irritating, given all the >> children living here in the States who could use some of that concern. >> A lady at my old job was extremely upset with me when I said he should go >> back to Cuba. >> "But Keith, he want even have milk to drink there!" she cried, quoting >> that curiously oft-stated "fact". >> I replied, "I can take you to half a dozen spots not twenty miles away >> right here in Atlanta where black kids don't have milk, bread, or eggs", I >> replied, "and I've *never* heard you utter one word about wanting to help >> them". >> The horrified look on her face as she walked away was memorable. She >> rarely spoke to me after that... >> >> Oh--and what's up with this Yahoo story talking about a "paramilitary" >> outfit "menacing" Elian? They weren't menacing the boy, they were simply >> following orders to retrieve him. Menacing would connote intentionally >> trying to threaten, frighten, bully, or hurt him... >> >> ******************************************************** >> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100406/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1481_4 >> Cuban government releases photos of teenaged Elian Gonzalez >> Ten years ago this month, the saga of a Cuban boy named Elian >> Gonzalezcaptivated the nation and much of the world. Elian, 6, was found >> floating on >> an inner tube off the coast of Florida, after his mother drowned trying to >> reach America. >> >> The Cuban immigrant community in Florida embraced the boy as a symbol of >> the struggle of ordinary Cubans to flee the oppression of Fidel Castro's >> communist regime, and rallied behind the boy's extended family in Miami, >> which sought custody of young Elian. >> >> But U.S. immigration officials insisted that the boy be returned to his >> father in Havana. Agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service >> conducted an armed raid on Elian's adoptive Miami home - yielding a >> powerful >> image<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=12f5917sp/*http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/na/archive/00188/Elian_Gonzalez_blir_188999c.jpg>of >> paramilitary forces in America menacing a frightened 6-year-old. >> Florida's Cuban immigrant community brandished that infamous photo as a >> reminder of what they considered American power effectively doing the >> bidding of a heartless Castro government. >> >> A decade later, however, there are new photos of a nearly grown-up Elian >> Gonzalez<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/news/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100405/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_elian_gonzalez>- >> and they present a very different kind of propaganda image. >> >> >> <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/news/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/*http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100405/481/urn_publicid_ap_org_f9178cda03e14bf9a035dd63d5a7a82c/> >> (*AP*) >> >> The new pictures show a serious-looking 16-year-old sporting a closely >> cropped haircut, wearing an olive-green military school uniform with red >> shoulder patches, as he attends a Young Communist Union meeting. The >> Cuban government press released the images under the none-too-subtle >> headline<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=129oe16c6/*http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/06/elian-gonzalez-cuba-picture>"Young >> Elian Gonzalez defends his revolution in the youth >> congress." >> >> Since winning Elian's return to Cuba in 2000, the Castro regime has >> closely tracked the boy and his father. (Indeed, Cuban State Security has a >> monitoring station next to their home.) In his homeland, Elian Gonzalezis >> hailed as a national hero who embodies the triumph of Cuba over the >> United States. Every few years, the Cuban government has floated news >> updates and photographs trumpeting Elian's progress as a model young citizen >> of the Castro regime. >> >> In 2004, NBC's Keith Morrison traveled to >> Cuba<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=1159rdlhd/*http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5540113>to >> interview Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and filmed footage of a >> communist museum that houses a bronze statue of Elian raising a clenched >> fist. After Elian's return home, his father was made a member of the >> Cuban National >> Assembly<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=123ab3ul6/*http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/17/world/main4185799.shtml>, >> and Castro has been known to show up at Elian's birthday parties and school >> graduation ceremonies. In 2005, in an interview with CBS' Bob >> Simon<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=12659e24k/*http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/28/60minutes/main888950.shtml>for >> "60 Minutes," Elian referred to Castro "not only as a friend, but also >> as a father." In 2008, Elian joined Cuba's Young Communist Union. >> >> While Cuba has played up Elian Gonzalez's symbolic value in stoking >> nationalist sentiment, he still remains a more divisive figure in the >> United States, provoking fierce reactions on the American left and right. >> After the latest batch of photos went public Monday, the American >> Thinker weighed >> in<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ynews/ts_ynews/storytext/ynews_ts1481/35718970/SIG=12g3f96pp/*http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/04/elian_gonzales_10_years_later.html>with >> a rallying cry from the right, no doubt seconded widely in the Cuban >> immigrant community: >> >> If Elian had been granted asylum, today he would be a teenager preparing >> to go to college with every opportunity for success ahead of him. Instead, >> on the cusp of adulthood, Elian poses for propaganda photos sandwiched >> between Cuban army soldiers attending the Union of Young Communists congress >> in Havana...The youthful Gonzalez should have been wrapped in the America >> flag. Instead a boy who once represented the quest for the God given right >> to be free, waves a Cuban flag symbolizing poverty, oppression, >> authoritarianism and misinformation. >> >> >> >> --Brett Michael Dykes is a national affairs writer for Yahoo! News >> >> > >
