Posted on 09/29/2005 10:10:09 AM PDT by Huntress
Elian Gonzalez, now a seventh grader in Cuba who calls President Fidel Castro a friend and "father," would see his Miami relatives again, despite saying their treatment of him five years ago was wrong. Gonzalez is interviewed by Bob Simon for a 60 MINUTES report to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 2 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Gonzalez, 11, is a hero in Cuba after what happened to him when he was just 6 years old: His mother died at sea and he was rescued two miles off Florida, after which he was repatriated following a months-long tug of war between GonzalezÕ Miami relatives and his father and the Cuban government. In what Miami Cuban exiles would say is propaganda, Castro attended the boyÕs elementary school graduation and declared he was proud to have Gonzalez as his friend. ÊThe feeling is mutual. "It's also very moving to me and I also believe I am his friend," Gonzalez tells Simon. "Not only [do I think of Castro] as a friend, but also as a father," says Gonzalez. The boy believes that he could call the Cuban president on the phone if he wanted to.
Gonzalez gave a patriotic speech in front of Castro and cameras on the fifth anniversary of the day U.S. law enforcement officers raided his Miami relatives' house and removed him at gunpoint to be repatriated. ÊIt's all part of Castro's propagandist plans, says Ramon Sanchez, a Cuban-American who led demonstrations in Miami in support of keeping the boy in America five years ago. "[Gonzalez] is being brainwashed by the Cuban regime. When you see a child talking in the same exact way that the dictator has talked for 46 years, you know he has been indoctrinated," says Sanchez.
The boy says his Miami relatives, with whom he spent five months, tried to persuade him to stay in America. "They were telling me bad things about [my father]... They were also telling me to tell [my father] that I did not want to go back to Cuba and I always told them that I wanted to," he tells Simon. Gonzalez says he missed his father, school and his friends back in Cuba.
The worst parts of his Miami experience were the nights he found difficult to sleep through. "I would have nightmares and my uncles would talk to me about my mother... it was better not to remind me of that because that tormented me... I was very little," he recalls.
One of those great uncles who cared for him during that time, Delfin Gonzalez, denies that Elian was unhappy and says he doesn't believe anything he says in Cuba because the boy is a prisoner there.
Does Elian ever want to see those relatives again?Ê "Yes," he tells Simon. "Despite everything they did, the way they did it, it was wrong, they are [still] my family...my uncles."
60 MINUTES is close-captioned in Spanish; the signal is on the "CC3" menu item.
Developing...
What are you dribbling about?
Just wondering after reviewing your posts on this and other threads as to whether you EVER have anything positive to contribute.
Seems that you just like popping in and out of threads with negative comments about everything and everyone American.
Just an observation.
The kid seemed awfully cute and happy, but .........
ROFL!
Right on.
On June 7, 1950, a Caribbean based scout for the New York Giants named Alex Pompez submitted a report recommending the signing of a right-handed pitched named Fidel Castro?
***
Apparently Castro had a poor fastball and relied on a screwball then ......... and has BEEN ONE ever since.
And, why doesn't Fidel just say to them "good riddance!" and let them go, if they can't appreciate his paradise?
LOL You better put your Habreno Shield up if Louie G is still around FR and reads your post.
Take the US and Cuba outa the pic and I say the kid should have been in the custody of Dad.
Next of kin.
Louis G would secretly admit I'm right.
"Give me literacy or give me death". Gosh, that's deep!
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