Elian Gonzalez wishes Castro well

Herald Sun ^ | 7 August 2006

[Aussie Dasher]

ELIAN Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who became the celebrated object of a 2000 US-Cuba tug-of-war wished Cuban leader Fidel Castro a speedy recovery from surgery.

"We send you this letter so that you know that we are concerned about your health," Elian Gonzalez, now 13, said in a letter also signed by five other children in his family and published today in the official newspaper, Juventud Rebelde.

A week ago, Mr Castro, 79, handed power "temporarily" to his younger brother, Defence Minister Raul Castro, while undergoing surgery for intestinal bleeding.

In November 1999, Elian, who was six at the time, was plucked from the sea off Florida's coast after an overcrowded motorboat capsized en route from Cuba, killing his mother and 10 others seeking to enter the United States illegally.

Elian's relatives in the Cuban American community in Miami laid claim to the boy and refused to allow him to return to his father in communist-run Cuba.

In 2000, heavily armed agents broke into the Miami home of Elian's uncle after then-US attorney-general Janet Reno ordered the boy be returned to his father, who was allowed to fly to Miami to pick up his son.

Elian's return to Cuba came as a hard-fought political boon to Mr Castro, who leads the Americas' only one-party communist country, for which illegal emigration is an embarrassing everyday reality.

The boy and his father became national celebrities, with Mr Castro attending the boy's birthday parties and the father being elected to the legislature.

[Aussie Dasher]

One of the most shameful moments in the US's proud history!

[dfwgator]

May Janet Reno rot in Hell.

[Aussie Dasher]

She can take BJ with her (OK, and Hitlery as well...)

[OldFriend]

It was the violent end to Elian's stay in the United States that gave the Florida election to President Bush.

[ichabod1]

They didn't reach the shore. The mother died, and the boy was found floating on a crummy raft in the middle of the ocean. Therefore, he had what they call "wet feet". Dry feet, stay in US, wet feet, back to the Workers Paradise you go.

[uncbob]

BJ and Reno stand forever condemned for their actions in returning Elian to communist Cuba to be used as a propaganda tool of a filthy despot!

And got Bush elected

[Aussie Dasher]

Every cloud has a silver lining!

[Frank_2001]

Agreed!

[potlatch]

[devolve]

[potlatch]

Yep, it didn't bother them too much!!

[devolve]

Until Chadgate blew up on the dems

[reagan_fanatic]

[potlatch]

Did you mention CHADS?

[devolve]

[potlatch]

I am, I am eating pizza right now!! Looks good on the redBG. Hope it isn't blue to you as sometimes happens!

[MaDeuce]

Don't worry little Elian, Fidel will be ruling Cuba for a long time. They'll just put his head in a Futurama jar like Nixon and he'll rule in infinitum.

[Herbert Gerberger III]

A child is neither an idea nor a symbol.If a kid's great-uncle and his father are in a custody dispute, the dad gets the kid. Parental rights trump everybody's politics.

[devolve]

I figured it was pizza time

I could have used a lovely green BG

That would do it -

[potlatch]

Wouldn't have bothered me, I love color. Hot pink and lime green were my favorite colors in my teens. NOT to wear though, lol.