Elian Gonzalez Believes He Would Have Been Used To Make Cuba Look Bad

[Judi Lynn]

Elian Gonzalez Believes He Would Have Been Used To Make Cuba Look Bad
August 24, 2017 11:34 PM

HAVANA (CBSMiami) – Before Elian Gonzalez was sent back to a life in Cuba, he was the center of an international drama played out between South Florida’s exile community, the U.S. government and the oppressive Castro regime.

A grown man now, the iconic image of him being pulled away from his Miami relatives, at gunpoint, will forever cause anger and heartbreak over what might have been.

Now 23 years old, Gonzalez walks down the street of his hometown in Cardenas, Cuba, seemingly happy.

He does allow himself to think about what his life might be like had he not been sent back to his father in Cuba.

More:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/08/24/elian-gonzalez-interview/

Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016191994

[No Vested Interest]

1. The CNN movie "Elian", which played last night and will replay on that network,

was very well done. Many scenes from the actual time period - 1999-2000, as well as present day interviews, including Elian Gonzalez and his father Juan Michael Gonzalez, his cousin Marisleysis Gonzalez, and the American lawyer who represented Elian's father.

Well worth the time, if you have a chance to see a rerun on CNN.

[Judi Lynn]

3. That film is going to rerun Saturday night on CNN, at maybe 9:00 PM, or 8:00 PM EST.

It would be great to see, particularly because it uses actual news film and characters who were involved in that freak-show of exiles and their stand-off against the US government, with their upside-down US flags, images of Clinton and Reno and Castro, vicious comments and crude jokes about Reno. I'm curious to see if they show the city-wide temper tantrum these dipsticks threw when the courts decided the father should retain custody of his own son.

Whatever CNN has should be interesting.

That event awakened a lot of eyes to what had actually been happening as the US had been pampering the "exile" community all these years, extending benefits to them never ever available to nationalities in far, FAR more desperate conditions in other countries who needed to find real haven here, and couldn't because they weren't important politically.

[No Vested Interest]

7. One aspect mentioned in the CNN movie (an aspect I had never thought of or heard mentioned)

is that there were many Cuban Democrats in Miami before the Elian incident, but afterward, Miami
Cubans all became Republican, and the 2000 election in Florida, which was decided by ca 10,000 votes, may have turned on the Elian Gonzalez case.

I had never heard this postulated before, and found it very interesting.

[Pachamama]

2. They definitely would have used him as a political poster boy against Cuba

I watched the interview and he is a young man who is married and living his life and seems very content and well adjusted. I am sure the trauma of losing his mother and the events that happened including being pulled out of a closet by police at gunpoint was terrifying and horrible. I still believe that the Janet Reno and the Justice Department were correct in sending him back to his father.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Didn't know the young man is married! His maturing surely happened fast!

The image of his little face still seems so fresh in our minds!



Janet Reno made the decision which was legal and humane for the parties who mattered in the relationship. It took real courage, considering the threats that were being made from Lazaro's house, informing the government that there were "exiles" posted around the neighborhood who were ready to play rough.

The dirty assassin, Orlando Bosch, who was one of the two authors of the mass murder of the passengers on board a Cubana airliner in flight, (and a Miami hero, with a street named for him, as well as an annual "day" to celebrate his exploits) was a visitor to the house during Elian's captivity, two of Lazaro's nephews were ex-convicts, and there were people posted in homes around the house who were armed, waiting to drive away government agents when they came to get Elian. Some people wondered why they felt they had to come to retrieve Elian in the middle of the night, when the "human chain" was sleeping!









Elian has seemed to keep a very level head after he returned to his only home. Photos I've seen of him do seem to indicate he is very aware, and honorable, two qualities we don't necessarily see in pampered, indulged, self-centered children.

[Pachamama]

5. He married his high school sweetheart ilianet Escano.....

http://abcnews.go.com/International/elian-gonzalez-grown-subject-us-cuba-tug-war/story?id=30534286

No recent photos and this is an old interview from 2 years ago....

[Judi Lynn]

6. Beautiful photos of him with his dad and brothers.

Very handsome family!

Thank you for the link.

On edit, took the wife's name you posted, found these photos in a quick search:







He and she are a very cute couple!

[No Vested Interest]

8. His marriage was not mentioned in the movie; perhaps that was his or her wish not to be

included in the CNN film. I hope they are still together.