Posted on 02/07/2023 4:11:35 PM PST by Nextrush
Gonzalez, who became the center of an international custody battle at 5 years old, was nominated Sunday to Cuba's National Assembly.
Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban national whose precarious boyhood arrival in the U.S. in 1999 prompted a fierce international custody battle, is set to become a lawmaker. Gonzalez was nominated by his local municipal assembly on Sunday to serve in Cuba's National Assembly...
Gonzlaez was en route to Florida with his mother when their boat capsized on Thanksgiving 1999 and she and other migrants drowned. The boy's fate thereafter became a flashpoint in U.S.-Cuba relations.
His father, a waiter named Juan Miguel who had remained in Cuba, famously fought for his son's return. Distant relatives in Miami, however launched a legal battle to keep the boy in the U.S.--and feared Gonzalez would become a political pawn of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
U.S. immigration officials eventually decided to place Gonzalez in the custody of his father, which the boy's family refused to accept. A nighttime raid in April 2000 saw federal agents storm the house where Gonzalez was staying, spurring protests and counter-demonstrations.
Gonzalez was flown home to Cuba after the Supreme Court rejected the effort to keep him in the U.S. The island nation celebrated the return of Gonzalez, who later said the government bodyguards ordered to protect him had become some of his closest friends.
Castro himself was a guest of honor at Gonzalez's seventh birthday back home. In 2013, Gonzalez told state-run media that the Cuban leader was "like a ship that knew to take his crew on the right path". He would later profess that Castro had become a father figure for him, and held back tears when the bearded authoritarian died in 2016...
(Excerpt) Read more at huffpost.com ...
“5 year old Cuban kid is treated like a high profile terrorist. Now the same party welcomes MS-13 gang members with welcome arms.
To Democrats, politics is EVERYTHING.
The story dictates being posted here on FR many longtime FReepers followed this story and it has deep meaning and significance.
That’s exactly what I was saying when this came down in April of 2000.
Bkmk
Always thought he might be brainwashed to become the next Cuban dictator.
This was a seminal FR moment.
We lost Elian, but many here in the U.S. woke up.
We don’t really know that. Living in a communist country, he could be forced into all this.
It's an MP-5. Very different weapon. Just so you know.
Yep, pretty much since he returned, his path has been determined for him.
And if his father’s “wishes” were dictated by the regime?
That’s weird. I tried to reply that you read communist publications so you can learn what communists are thinking, plotting, and conspiring to do. They’re quite honest talking amongst themselves.
Yep. He had no shot at a free life. Came so close too.
Then I guess he would sort of be Justin Trudeau’s half brother.
Too bad it went down the way it did.
If Castro became lime a father figure to him, what became of his waiter dad?
Greg Craig was involved in that mess trying to please Castro...
Here is what Craig Jas been up to since then...
Greg Craig, ex-Obama White House counsel, indicted for alleged false statements (Ukraine)
Fox News ^ | April 11, 2019
Posted on 4/11/2019, 2:52:25 PM by rdl6989
Greg Craig, who once served as White House counsel for then-President Barack Obama, was indicted Thursday for alleged false statements in connection with his work on behalf of Ukraine.
The Washington-based lawyer was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for allegedly falsifying and concealing “material facts” and making false statements to the unit responsible for enforcing foreign lobbying laws.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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