Elián González

Elián González (born December 6, 1993) was at the center of a heated custody and immigration battle between Cuba, the United States government, his father, his Miami relatives, and the Cuban-American community of Miami in 2000. The climactic stage of this prolonged battle was the April 22, 2000 seizure of six-year-old Elian by federal agents, which drew the ire and criticism of many in the Cuban-American community and presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush 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, Elian González returned to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel González, on the afternoon of June 28, 2000.

Elián Returned To Father's Custody

After his arrival at Andrews, Elián was taken to the Wye River Plantation in Maryland. The media was barred from access to the family. New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith, escorting the Miami Gonzálezes, was turned away from Andrews by guards. The May 5 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 a Young Pioneer uniform, Cuba's communist youth league. On May 6, attorney Greg Craig took Elián and Juan Miguel to a dinner in Georgetown thrown by Smith and Elizabeth Bagley.

Related Topics:
Wye River Plantation - Maryland - New Hampshire - Bob Smith - May 5 - Miami Herald - Cárdenas - Communist - May 6 - Greg Craig - Georgetown

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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.) On June 1, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Elián was too young to file for asylum; only his father could speak for him. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. On June 28, 2000, Elián Gonzalez and his father returned home to Cuba, thus concluding an emotional ordeal and a tussle that had lasted over seven months.

Related Topics:
U.S. Supreme Court - June 28 - 2000

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Elián now lives with his family in Cárdenas, where his father, Juan Miguel, is a waiter at an Italian restaurant called Ristorante Dante and which is 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 NBC News for the TV programs Dateline NBC on 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.

Related Topics:
Cárdenas - Waiter - Italian - Restaurant - Varadero - NBC News - Dateline NBC - NBC - Cover to Cover - CNBC - Arithmetic - Karate

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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 (literally, 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 Cuban National Assembly and has attended events of 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 animator told Elián to blow out the birthday cake candles with Fidel to his right and surrounded by Elián's schoolmates.

Related Topics:
19th-century - Fire station - July 14 - 2001 - Clenched fist - Cuban National Assembly - Communist Party of Cuba - Birthday - Clown - Birthday cake

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In September of 2005, Elian was interviewed by 60 Minutes, and stated during the interview that Fidel Castro was a friend, and that he considers Castro "not only as a friend but as a father".

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