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Five years later, Elián, now 11, is living a ‘normal’ life
SUN-SENTINEL.COM ^ | APRIL 17, 2005 | VANESSA BAUZA

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Cuba; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1999; 2000election; 200101; 20010119; billclinton; clinton; communism; cuba; elian; florida; floriduh; gonzales; gorewar; gregcraig; gregorycraig; janetreno; life; miami; normal
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To: tertiary01

Check my sign on date.
Now compare the others.
I was here.


81 posted on 04/17/2005 11:59:38 PM PDT by onyx (Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
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To: onyx

There are so many posting under new names including myself, that dates mean very little.


82 posted on 04/18/2005 12:00:55 AM PDT by tertiary01 (How many highly paid "professionals" did it take to kill a powerless disabled dependent woman?)
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To: tertiary01


LOL!
That's the claim.


83 posted on 04/18/2005 12:02:06 AM PDT by onyx (Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
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To: A'elian' nation

Well, I'm not Cuban but I totally agree with your prayers. Methinks the Chinese are interested in taking the place of the Soviet military presence on Cuba, btw.


84 posted on 04/18/2005 12:51:16 AM PDT by Californiajones ("The apprehension of beauty is the cure for apathy" - Thomas Aquinas)
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To: samantha

"Gore lost the 2000 Presidential race because of those thugs snatching Elian"


I agree if they'd won those florida cuban counties the election would have been theirs.. Do you know the irony though?

Gore was against taking Elian back to Cuba, one of the few areas he went against Clinton.


85 posted on 04/18/2005 1:02:37 AM PDT by ran15
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To: Pan_Yan

ping


86 posted on 04/18/2005 1:05:33 AM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife (" It is not true that life is one damn thing after another-it's one damn thing over and over." ESV)
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To: CHARLITE
Arrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh! Where is the freakin barf alert? This at least a 2 to 3 barf bag special.

The article gushes about Elian's quote "normal life" as if living in Cuba is no different than living here in the US. Gag! They describe Elian's life, but then mention the armed guards stationed at his house, and they mention the "psychiatrist" Elian saw to help him "cope" with what happened .

The lazy worthless "journalist" talks about the "rallies" and all the people who "rallied" like people in Cuba have a choice about attending the rallies. Here's a News Flash for the stupid- people who don't "attend" Castro's rallies are sent to prison.

school day in cuba

Here is an example of life in Cuba.

87 posted on 04/18/2005 2:28:16 AM PDT by Pajamajan ("Where there's life there's hope"- Terri Schindler's message to the world. Never Forget.)
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To: FairOpinion
"A picture speaks a thousand words" sure does apply to that photo. I still pray for Elian. His saga made me and a lot of other Americans wake up to just how dangerous the democRAT party is to our nation. They place no value on freedom.

It should be duly noted that a democrat former president of our nation, has stated that we should model our health care system after Cuba's and praises Fidel Castro. That should tell any American with three brain cells in his/her head all they need to know about the democrat party. It is NOT your daddy or granddad's party any more. It has morphed into something sinister.

88 posted on 04/18/2005 2:39:58 AM PDT by Pajamajan ("Where there's life there's hope"- Terri Schindler's message to the world. Never Forget.)
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To: FairOpinion

I think until the Clinton administration, all Cubans were entitled to refugee status, but Clinton instituted the "wet foot/dry foot" distinction--those who made it to land on their own were entitled to stay, but those picked up at sea would be sent back to Cuba. Elian, of course, was rescued at sea.


89 posted on 04/18/2005 8:18:03 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: onyx
I would have been one of the posters described by your claims. I was outraged by Janet Renos actions, yet I wanted Jeb to do his job. Tenured is just my term for those freepers who constantly throw up their longevity as = superiority. And there are plenty. Also as so many lurk here for years before they post, they still have a good FR historical perspective. Can you prove many of these posters were lurkers?
90 posted on 04/18/2005 8:41:57 AM PDT by tertiary01 (How many highly paid "professionals" did it take to kill a powerless disabled dependent woman?)
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To: tertiary01

Prove what and for what purpose?
Truly, I am not interested.
You made an observation that is not factual.

Tenure means very little to me.
Ditto for the almost universal claim by posters
that they were either here earlier under another name
or that they lurked for years or months. By those
type of statements, I conclude that tenure means something
to them. :)

I take issue only with sleeper accounts and new sign-on's who suddenly
appear filled with venom or a specific agenda. Recall that
DU threatened and promised to disrupt FR? I've seen
a lot of that by new sign-on's comitted to causing
grief on the Shiavo threads in particular. In Elian days,
we had competing sides, but not with the venom of late.



91 posted on 04/18/2005 8:56:04 AM PDT by onyx (Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
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To: onyx

If you aren't interested then why do you reply? That's right, another sign of "tenure"; dismissing the younger poster as boring, irrelevant, or just plain unworthy and forever complaining about the "tone" of the thread.

It's also funny, but most of the banned posters were on the side of Michael's right to kill Terri. I'm sure they would have felt right at home in the WPPPFFFF self adulation thread.


92 posted on 04/18/2005 9:06:08 AM PDT by tertiary01 (How many highly paid "professionals" did it take to kill a powerless disabled dependent woman?)
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To: tertiary01


Your observation was flat out wrong.
You're entitled to your own opinion,
but not your own set of facts, but rave on,
just cease posting to me, or it'll be obvious
you're stalking.


93 posted on 04/18/2005 9:11:03 AM PDT by onyx (Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
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To: onyx

Then you cease posting to me. You started this by posting back to me or can't you read your own post. Buh Bye.


94 posted on 04/18/2005 9:13:53 AM PDT by tertiary01 (How many highly paid "professionals" did it take to kill a powerless disabled dependent woman?)
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To: TAdams8591
"Another AWFUL moment in our nations history, one that I will NEVER forget.
I still think of Elian and remember him also in prayer."

Ditto.

95 posted on 04/18/2005 9:19:35 AM PDT by TXFireman
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To: onyx
Yeah that's right.

Both the president and Jeb had the executive authority to use the force of the executive branch to do GOOD, save the CONSTITUTIONALLY protected life of an innocent woman from an illegal and UNCONSTITUTIONAL order to be starved and dehydrated to death. If ever there was a reason to use such force, it was Terri's case.

Clinton used the power of executive force for an evil purpose, to illegally send a little boy back to Cuba.

96 posted on 04/18/2005 3:35:30 PM PDT by TAdams8591 (Evil succeeds when good men don't do enough!!!!)
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To: onyx

You can include Jim Robinson on that list!


97 posted on 04/18/2005 3:38:07 PM PDT by TAdams8591 (Evil succeeds when good men don't do enough!!!!)
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To: tertiary01
All the tenured posters here who thought Michael had the right to kill Terri, wanted Elian back with his father in Cuba?

Thanks for asking the question (I wasn't here then either). Seems like it's affirmative.

98 posted on 04/18/2005 3:39:01 PM PDT by k2blader (Immorality bites.)
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To: DCPatriot
Michael Schiavo was a husband in name only. He was living with another woman and had two children by her. Thus the marital bond was completely compromised. Michael Schiavo had NO MORAL RIGHT to be making decisions for Terri.

Elian's mother and father were NOT married and Elian's father had begun a new family with someone else. Elian's mother who sacrificed her life to bring Elian to the United States, did so with the knowledge and permission of Elian's father who stated on several occasions he intended to get to the United States himself, in a tub, if he had to. Elain's father WANTED Elian here. After Castro stepped in, Elian's father was not free to speak the truth.

It is MOST disturbing that people like yourself are unable to distinguish between the above and normal situations.

99 posted on 04/18/2005 4:46:46 PM PDT by TAdams8591 (Evil succeeds when good men don't do enough!!!!)
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To: CHARLITE
"...over 100,000 dead Cuban's at the bottom of the Florida Straits.."

Where did you get that figure? I'm not doubting you for an instant. It's believable, having gone on now for nearly a half century......but I'm just wondering where such a statistic comes from.

I lived in South Florida for 11 years, mostly in the Miami area which has a large Cuban population.

I just remember reading articles about how over a million Cubans have come to the US and it is estimated that at least 100,000 have drowned in the Florida Straits trying to get here.

100 posted on 04/18/2005 5:17:34 PM PDT by Jorge
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