Elián González

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Elián González (born December 6, 1993) was at the center of a heated custody and immigration battle in 2000 involving the Cuban and United States governments, his father, his Miami and Cuban relatives, and the Cuban American community of Miami. The climactic stage of this prolonged battle was the April 22, 2000 seizure of Elián by federal agents, which drew the ire and criticism of some in the Cuban American community and prompted a Senate inquiry. However, after the Miami relatives' appeals met several rejections by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, and a refusal to hear the case by the U.S. Supreme Court, Elián González returned to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel González, on the afternoon of June 28, 2000.

1 Background on U.S./Cuba relations
2 Elián's journey and the beginning of the custody battle
3 The INS seizure: controversy and aftermath
4 Elián returned to father's custody
5 Return to Cuba
6 Criticisms of the affair
7 See also
8 Footnotes
9 External links

[edit] Background on U.S./Cuba relations

Further information: Cuba-United States relations

Hostility between Cuba and the United States has been persistent since the Cuban Revolution. Over that period, a considerable number of Cubans have tried to leave for the United States covertly, seeking alternative economic, social or political conditions. This emigration is illegal under both Cuban and U.S. law; any Cuban found at sea, attempting to reach U.S. shores, will be deported by the U.S. Coast Guard or if discovered by Cuban police, ostracized and prohibited from most Cuban institutions. U.S. policy has evolved into the current "wet feet, dry feet" rule: If a Cuban is picked up at sea or walking toward shore, he/she will be repatriated by force (i.e., sent back to Cuba against her/his will). If he/she can make it to shore ("dry feet"), he/she is permitted to make a case for political asylum.

Under U.S. policy, Cubans who make it to U.S. soil are generally allowed to remain in the country and given an opportunity to assert a claim to refugee status, usually under the premise that they would face persecution if they were returned to Cuba. This differs from U.S. immigration policy applied to refugees of other Caribbean nations, notably Haitians.^[1] To monitor whether the returned Cubans are subjected to persecution, the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, in cooperation with international organizations, maintain follow-up contact with the returned Cubans. The result of this monitoring has been a conclusion that there is no systematic policy of the Cuban government to persecute those Cubans who have been returned.^[2]

[edit] Elián's journey and the beginning of the custody battle

Elián's journey from Cárdenas, near Matanzas to Florida.

In November 1999, Elián, his mother, and twelve others left Cuba on a small aluminum boat with a faulty engine; Elián's mother and ten others died in the crossing. The boat was operated by his mother's boyfriend, who resided in Miami and smuggled Cubans into the U.S. for money (a felony under federal law). Elián and the other two survivors completed the journey across the Florida Straits on an inner tube. Elián was rescued at sea by two fishermen who then gave him to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) released Elián to his paternal great uncle, Lázaro González. According to the Washington Post, Elián's father Juan Miguel González-Quintana had telephoned Lázaro from Cuba on November 22, 1999 to advise that Elian and his mother were on their way to Miami, and to request that Lázaro look after his son and ex-wife. [2] Lázaro's daughter, Marisleysis (first cousin once removed to Elián), became the principal caretaker of Elián, and quickly became a well-known television figure. Armando Gutierrez, a local Miami-based Cuban American activist became the family spokesperson and a close friend of the family. However, Cuban authorities demanded that the boy be returned to Cuba to the care of his father. The conflict touched off the firestorm that ended only when Elián was flown back to Cuba from Dulles International Airport with his father, Juan Miguel González-Quintana, Juan Miguel's wife, their son, and a cousin, on June 28, 2000.

For much of early 2000, Elián's plight dominated the news in the United States and in Cuba. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in February of 2000 promised to introduce a bill to Congress giving Elian immediate US citizenship.[3] On April 14, a video was released in which Elián tells Juan Miguel that he wants to stay in the United States. However, many considered that he had been coached, as a male voice was heard off-camera directing the young boy. In a September 2005 interview with 60 Minutes after being sent back to Cuba, Elián claimed that during his stay in the U.S., his family members were "telling me bad things about [my father]", and "were also telling me to tell him that I did not want to go back to Cuba and I always told them I wanted to".

The shoreline of Fort Lauderdale, where Elián was discovered

On March 29, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas was joined by 22 other civic leaders in a speech in downtown Miami. Penelas indicated that the municipality would not cooperate with Federal authorities on any repatriation of the boy, and would not lend police or other assistance in taking the boy.

Elián, under the relentless focus of the cameras, went to Walt Disney World one day, then met with politicians the next. Despite these efforts, opinion polls showed that over two-thirds of Americans thought Elián should be returned to his father. On April 19, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Elián must stay in the U.S. until the Miami Gonzálezes could appeal for an asylum hearing in May.

Public opinion was polarized: many felt that the fathers' desire to have his son should be the paramount consideration. Others felt that the mother's sacrifice to bring her son to the US should be recognized, and that the boy would be better off there than in Cuba.

[edit] The INS seizure: controversy and aftermath

An INS agent taking Elián González

Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the return of Elián to his father and set a deadline of April 13, 2000, but the Miami relatives defied the order. Negotiations continued for several days as the house was surrounded by protesters as well as police. The relatives insisted on guarantees that they could live with the child for several months, retain custody, and that Elián would not be returned to Cuba. Negotiations carried on throughout the night, but Reno stated that the relatives rejected all workable solutions. A Florida family court judge revoked Lázaro's temporary custody, clearing the way for Elián to be returned to his father's custody. On April 20, Reno made the decision to remove Elián Gonzalez from the house and instructed law enforcement officials to determine the best time to obtain the boy. After being informed of the decision, Marisleysis said to a Justice Department community relations officer, "You think we just have cameras in the house? If people try to come in, they could be hurt."[4] Cuban exile groups discussed plans to form a human chain around Elián's relatives' home to prevent federal agents repatriating him. Some drivers had even begun to block roads by slowly circling the house.

In the pre-dawn hours of April 22, pursuant to an order issued by a federal magistrate, eight SWAT-equipped INS agents approached the house, knocked, and identified themselves. When no one responded from within, they entered the house. Pepper-spray and mace were employed against some outside the house who attempted to interfere. A photograph by Alan Diaz of the Associated Press (for which he won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography) shows an INS agent with a MP5 submachine gun pointed toward Elián and Donato Dalrymple (one of the fishermen who had found him), though with his finger off the trigger. Dalrymple had taken Elian into a closet and concealed himself and the boy behind clothing.

Attorney General Janet Reno, who ruled that Elián be returned to his father

INS also stated in the days after the raid that they had identified as many as two dozen persons who were "prepared to thwart any government operation" and also had concealed weapons permits and criminal records. However, the State of Florida contradicted those claims in part, as it denies concealed-carry permits to persons with criminal records and rescinds the permits of people who are later convicted of crimes. The INS noted reported statements made by members of the Lázaro family that they were prepared to deal with any intrusion on their property by force if authorities attempted to take Elián without their consent.

"Assassins!" yelled some of the approximately 100 protesters, some of whom climbed over the barricades in an attempt to stop the agents. Within an hour of the raid, the crowd in Little Havana quickly swelled to about 300. Several tried to rip apart and burn an American flag. Hundreds of outraged protesters poured out into the streets of Little Havana and demonstrated. Crowds jammed a more than 10-block area of Little Havana. Shortly afterwards, many Miami-Dade County businesses closed, as their owners and managers participated in a short boycott.

Public opinion about the INS raid on the Miami Gonzalezes' house was widely polarized. A Time magazine issue showed a joyful photo of Elian being reunited with his father (the caption says "Papa!"), while Newsweek ran an issue that focused on the raid, its title stating, "Seizing Elian." [5] There were two major foci in the coverage: the INS raid or the family reunions. [6]

[edit] Elián returned to father's custody

Four hours after he was taken from the house in Miami, Elián and his father were reunited at Andrews Air Force Base. The next day, the White House released a photograph showing a happy Elián reunited with his father, which the Miami relatives disputed by claiming that it was a fake Elián in the photograph. Later, Elián and his family were to be taken to the Aspen Institute Wye River Conference Center (formerly known as "Wye Planatation"). The media was barred from access to the family. While the family was still at Andrews, New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith, escorting the Miami Gonzálezes, was turned away from the base by guards. The May 5, 2000, Miami Herald reported that Elián was joined by his classmates (without their parents) and his teacher from his hometown, Cárdenas. Granma released pictures of Elián in the Young Pioneer uniform of Cuba's Communist youth league. On May 6, 2000, attorney Greg Craig took Elián and Juan Miguel to a dinner in Georgetown, Washington, DC, hosted by Smith and Elizabeth Bagley.

After Elián was returned to his father's custody, he remained in the U.S. while the Miami relatives exhausted their legal options. A three-judge federal panel had ruled that he 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 U.S. 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. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the decision. On June 28, 2000, Elián González and his father returned home to Cuba.

[edit] Return to Cuba

Cuban president Fidel Castro (center), whom Elián considered "not only as a friend but as a father" in 2005.[1]

Elián now lives with his family in Cárdenas, where his father, Juan Miguel, is a waiter at an Italian restaurant called Ristorante Dante, part of the Varadero resort, about 20 km northwest of Cárdenas. Elián's father was interviewed at the Ristorante Dante in 2004 by Keith Morrison of the NBC News program Dateline NBC and Cover to Cover on CNBC. Juan Miguel told Morrison that Elián feared reporters, so Morrison could not interview Elián, but Juan Miguel filmed a home video on which Elián was shown doing his arithmetic homework with Juan Miguel in their dining room, going to bed in his small bedroom with his younger brother, and attending karate lessons. Elián's family had moved to another home to evade reporters.

Morrison's TV report also showed a 19th century building in Cárdenas which was previously used as a fire station and which was renovated and inaugurated on July 14, 2001, as a museum, called Museo de la Batalla de Ideas ("Museum of the Battle of Ideas"), which includes an Elián exhibition room with a life-size bronze statue of Elián raising a clenched fist. Juan Miguel is also a member of the National Assembly and has attended events for the Communist Party of Cuba with Elián, who has been called up to the stage to meet Fidel Castro. Castro also attended a filmed birthday party of Elián with his schoolmates. On the video of the birthday party, a female clown told Elián to blow out the birthday cake candles with Fidel to his right and surrounded by Elián's schoolmates.

In September 2005, Elián was interviewed by 60 Minutes. He stated during the interview that Fidel Castro was a friend, and that he considers Castro "not only as a friend but as a father".[7] In December 2006 an ill Fidel Castro wasn't able to attend Elian's 13th birthday celebration and his brother Raul stood in instead. Elian is now a teenager in high school.

[edit] Criticisms of the affair

The Elián González saga exposed deep divisions amongst the residents of Miami-Dade County. While there were protests in favor of Elián staying in the United States, there were similarly demonstrations in favor of sending the boy back to live with his father.

Throughout the case, elected officials from both political parties were attacked for getting involved in what some people believed was a private matter between two families. On April 9, 2000, Richard Cohen of The Washington Post wrote: "Elian and Juan Miguel Gonzalez, son and father. The former is an innocent child, the latter a man whose boy was taken from him. Elian has behaved like a typical 6-year-old, Juan Miguel like a typical father. And most of the politicians like typical fools." [8]