Posted on 04/17/2005 7:38:18 PM PDT by CHARLITE
CáRDENAS, Cuba · Elián González says he wants to be a gymnast when he grows up. But his grandfather, Juan González Sr., knows Elián's future career choices are as variable as any normal preteen's and could change next month.
"I want him to be a good man, to do good deeds, not do anything he will regret. Everything else is all right," he said, sitting in his home in the coastal town of Cárdenas under a large photograph of a very young Elián.
At age 11, the boy whose bitter custody battle stands as a symbol of the Cold War conflict between Cuban-Americans and Cuba has been saddled with high expectations.
Five years ago this month, armed federal agents stormed into the home of Elián's Miami relatives and scooped him up in a lightning-fast, predawn raid that crushed the hopes of Cuban-American exiles. Within hours Elián was reunited with his father, Juan Miguel González. Two months later, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the boy's Miami relatives to keep him in the United States, Elián and his father boarded a chartered Learjet and returned to Cuba.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
President Fidel Castro chats with Elián González in Santa Clara, Cuba, last Oct. 24 before the president’s Cuban Culture Day speech.
Poor Elian... Notice that grip Castro has on Elian's arm. Gullible people here believed that Castro won't use Elian for political purposes, and he's done nothing but that ever since.
Cuba ping
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I still think of Elian and remember him also in prayer.
On Dec. 13, 2000, Elian and his Miami relatives went to Disney World in Orlando. Already, the "Cuban boy," as he became known, was pursued by photographers and journalists. Here, he shares a laugh with his cousin, Marisleysis, 21, in the Magic Kingdom.
Very Gullible people. Castro's got Elian under his wing and will NEVER let go. Poor Elian.
I was not on FR then because I could not afford a new computer. Let me guess! All the tenured posters here who thought Michael had the right to kill Terri, wanted Elian back with his father in Cuba?
Elián González, was lucky...he got away from Janet "Burn 'em" Reno alive. :/
Our troops will not attack during Ramadan or at a mosque, but we'll send agents in on Easter weekend and do that... go figure.
"I want him to be a good man, to do good deeds, not do anything he will regret."
Right. And the way to do that is to forbid him any knowledge of religion, except to tell him it is the opium of the people. (Telling him about Jesus, Mary, the Apostles,
the Ten Commandments, etc., is illegal and punishable by fine, imprisonment, and worse.)
Some of them, yes. Most of them maybe.
Doh! My Elian/Michael Jackson pic got removed! The Horror!
Every nut bag liberal I know sided with Judge Greer and wanted Elian back in Cuba.
"All the tenured posters here who thought Michael had the right to kill Terri, wanted Elian back with his father in Cuba?"
How did you guess?
Exactly so.
A very astute supposition.
I believe that date at Disney was 1999 because Dec 2000 he was back in Cuba. Gore lost the 2000 Presidential race because of those thugs snatching Elian while Clinton Creep was still president and Lurch (reno) was Attorney general.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.