[Prodigal Daughter]

It is amazing that there are people who saw the brutality that was leveled against that 6-YEAR-OLD CHILD on April 22, 2000, and are STILL naive enough to think that Juan Miguel was ever free to speak his mind.

And how does a "pediatrician" (at least in Mengele's New World Dictionary) justify her psychotropic drugs intended for Elian at the Wye PLANTATION, but when that Linda Blairish INS witch can't keep the towel over Elian's face, he is seen to be screaming in terror, and we are supposed to believe that they calmed him down a few hours later with Play-Doh?

I'll never forget all of the opposing news reports that I'd hear or read from Spain, France, Cuban Miami, the pastor from India, etc., that would be suppressed (never refuted, just ignored) in the U.S. and I'll never forget one day Juan Miguel stepped out the door to wave to the reporters when he was in Maryland and only on the Miami Cuban news station were you able to see the Big Fat Ugly Commie Gorilla Goons that were standing behind him glaring at him. The other stations all filmed at an angle that made it impossible to spot them. I know because I watched the tv almost 24/7 during that time and had two VCRs going and every time they replayed it, only the shadow of the front Goon was visible. If you didn't already know they were standing there, you would have discounted it as just a strange shadow of a tree or something.

Another interesting news report I have on tape was a radio report from a news team from Spain that followed Greg Craig's limousine from the airport in Havana straight to the military barracks in Cuba to meet with Castro. He NEVER met with Juan Miguel. Well that's just the tip of the iceberg. I never knew the extent of media manipulation until I witnessed those months of daily propaganda. I suggest to you, Danielle and thusevertotyrants, that if you really want to get to the truth re: Elian, you do some full text search of FR threads with words like Elian, Wye, Cuba, Valladares, etc., and you might be surprised. You could also read The Betrayal of Elian Gonzalez

Okay, I responded late and I talked too much, but I have one more thing to say:

Diane Sawyer/ABC: WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOW US THE WHOLE ELIAN INTERVIEW?

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...No full DIANE SAWYER Interview of Little ELIAN on ABC's ..'Good Morning America'.. even though it was already in the can =

...Decades-Long Partner of Communist Dictator FIDEL CASTRO ..HILLARY CLINTON.. said .."NO"..!

Great Post, PD

...ALOHA

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...Thought you'd be mighty interested in Post #96...

[Snow Bunny]

Fantastic post Prodigal Daughter.

Thanks for the ping ALOHA RONNIE.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Children's Code

If this happened today the outcome would be different.
Another thing I can't help but go back to is, I believe
a lot of the dissent from the send-him-back crowd
came from personal demons of being "victims" of divorce
and/or who feel guilty about taking off or who had nasty child custody
battles and expensive, hatefilled divorces. They vented here.

[thusevertotyrants]

Is it sad or unfortunate that Juan Miguel Hails from a country ruled by a dictator of Castro's ilk? Yes it is. Is it also unfortunate that it is possible that his decisions may well have been influenced by agents of that government. Yes it is. BUT - that isnt the most important issue here. Parenthood is. At the moment that Juan Miguel demanded to regain custody of his son and his relatives in Miami refused his request, AT THAT MOMENT, regardless of how well meaning they thought they may have been, regardless of how much you or I or anyone else may agree with their politics and disagree with Castro's, at that moment, they had committeed a criminal act. Now, if we can agree that the United States goverment has more duty and authority to be involved in ending/solving/punishing crimes committed by its nationals on its soil than in pontificating about the misdeeds of other governments, then it follows that there was some responsibility on the part of some government authority to end the crime beiung committed.

The problem here is actually fairly simple. Elian's Miami relatives, and the scores of Americans who scream about how we betrayed or let Elian down are all blind in the same way - Namely, they cannot understand that taking action with benevolant intent does NOT justify trampling on another's rights of choice/decision. In fact, this attitude lies at the core of many social/political disputes. People decide that a certain behavior pattern is in keeping with their moral code, and then go on to try and justify forcing that behavior pattern and/or moral code unto the rest of society. Point out to the perpetrators that this sort of system is hardly FREEDOM, and the outcry is enormous ..... you will be ridiculed and call all sorts of nasty names (any word starting with the letters L-I-B seems to be the moniker of choice in this particular forum)

So, my point? Simply that the crime was not Juan Miguel's, for being Cuban or for living under a political system different from ours - it was not Castro's , it was not Reno's - it blame rests with those well meaning Miami relatives who could not understand that their good intent could not supercede the rights of parenthood. As for Elian's deceased mother - I here the voices saying "what of her wishes" - and my answer is that the party charged with considering her wishes when carrying out his actions is again Juan Miguel.

[goldilucky]

I get most of my sources from the FR.com Yes, Elian Gonzalez was betrayed by both our government and his. As for Diane Sawyer...she's one of the CFR people paid to shut up and hand out the crumbs to the common people. And if that means disinformation, she'll do it for money. I never watch the news anymore. Watching television news is for the brain dead.

[Ironword]

I never knew the extent of media manipulation until I witnessed those months of daily propaganda.

And we all became a little wiser after that sad charade.