Posted on 08/01/2004 2:57:57 PM PDT by Libloather
4 years after return to Cuba, Elian a normal schoolboy
BY MAKI BECKER
New York Daily News
Posted on Sat, Jul. 31, 2004
NEW YORK - (KRT) - Elian Gonzalez, now 10, hits the books in Cardenas, Cuba, where he lives with his father.
Four years after little Elian Gonzalez was plucked from the seas off Florida's coast and sparked an international custody battle, the young boy is leading a sheltered and almost normal life back in Cuba.
Elian lives with his father in their hometown of Cardenas and he still sports the same impish grin that captivated the world back in 2000.
In an interview with NBC's "Dateline" to air Sunday, Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, says he has generally kept Elian out of the limelight, even moving to a secret location in town to avoid the press.
"The media (in Miami) intimidated him, pressured him most of all," Gonzalez said in his first interview in three years. "It totally overwhelmed him."
As Elian's American relatives fought to keep him in the U.S. and his father sought to take him back to Cuba, hundreds of reporters camped out outside their Miami home, recording every movement of the photogenic little boy.
The custody clash even led to a war of words between Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and the boy's fiercely anti-Castro American relatives.
The stalemate ended dramatically as heavily armed federal officers stormed the house in the middle of the night, snatched the terrified boy and took him into protective custody.
Elian still grieves for his mother who drowned when their boat capsized on its way to Florida, Gonzalez said, but he has adjusted to life well.
"I can truly say that since his return, my son has never had to see a psychologist, or anyone else," Gonzalez told "Dateline NBC."
Elian is learning karate and has two girlfriends, Gonzalez reports.
Unfortunately, I don't make it over here much. I'm too busy to tell you how busy I've been lately. But I think often about you all.
Their one and only virtue.
Sounds sort of like the Supreme Court's reasoning in Dred Scott.
I will never forget, either. The abuse perpetrated by the Clinton administration against little Elian Gonzalez is something hard to forget. However, it wasn't just Clinton, the INS, or the agents who were involved in the raid, but also the majority of people who, according to the polls agreed with Clinton and Reno that Elian should be taken from his relatives home by force, and sent back to Cuba with his father.
This, after the State Department people had testified that they didn't know Elian's father was free to speak his mind and express his true feelings, that his mother died trying to bring him to the US, and after they testified that Cuba doesn't respect human rights, in fact, Cuba is an habitual abuser of human rights.
Roger that!
Can you only imagine how differently things would have turned out if Dubya was president during all of this?
It's enough to make me cry. :(
But we both know that the day is coming where the TRUTH will come out and all of these "boy belongs with his father" folks will tuck tail and pretend they agreed with us all along.
I sure hope so.
Well, I'm here having an innane argument about nothing with you. So yeah, I guess I just hang out with them.
And on that note...Like I've said a few times, I'm interested in discussions, not pointless bandwidth wasting jousting. Find someone else to try to intimidate.
Yeah...The right to protect ones child is simliar to the right to own another human being.
What is your problem? Why must you throw-out all these pointless insults? What have I done to you in order for you to compare me to a racist?
I believe Mr. Gonzalez' point is that individuals have rights. Even a parent cannot violate the rights of their own child. Elian's father had no authority to sell, barter, or otherwise bargain away any of Elian's rights including the right to liberty. Neither did the despicable Clinton.
I'm looking forward to the day when Elian turns 18, flees Cuba for the United States, and denounces Clinton for sending him back in the first place.
Yea, that's what I thought. I read up a few posts but couldn't find the answer for sure...But, I thought I made a good guess. Those kind of people aren't hard to spot.
May God bless you and your family. Even Federal employees, if they have a good heart, perform a service to my country, and I appreciate that.
(That's not to say we couldn't do without some, or even most federal agencies AND employees. I'm sure you can understand that point of view since you're a poster here).
That will be an interesting day. And personally, I hope it happens...I hope he choses freedom over Cuba.
That was a sad day for us all. It's always funny when I hear a libbie complain about John Ashcroft and I think back on what Reno did as Attorney General.
You are a mean spirited person for making that comment.
Amen.
And I hope that Elian openly scoffs at the folks who truly believe his father was speaking from the heart when he said he wanted Elian returned to Cuba.
Something along the lines of "How ~stupid~ are you?" would do nicely. *grin*
By now you are aware that Elian was born out of wedlock and remained without a custodial father for six years.
1) Does that not raise a few questions as to fitness for custody such that a family court should be involved?
2) Juan Miguel was never out of the control of Castro's agents. How do you know that he wanted Elian returned to Cuba? Wouldn't a court have helped to uncover his true wishes?
Thanks, and yes, I do agree with the need for less government!
What do you think he would have done had the order been to seize you? Or one of his own children?
Rest assured that If GWB had been in charge, Elian would still be going to WDW
Further, No little boy who has been to WDW ever stops wanting to go back.......
My bet is, someday HE'LL BE BACK.....
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