[rodguy911]

To the best of my memory Elians' father Juan was in on the smuggling attempt to get Elian and his mother-- Juan Gonzalez's ex wife to Miami. Like most Cubans living in Cuba he,Juan, wanted a better life for his son even if it meant living with his ex-wifes family. Juan even called his ex-relatives from Cuba to see if Elian made it o.k. After the story assumed a life of it's own with Elian being saved by the porpoises after days at sea and his mom dying in the process Castro couldn't stand the bad press so he "changed Juan's mind" as only Castro can by threating every relative in Cuba and Miami that Juan had or ever would have. Juan then became "a hardercore member of the revolution" even though he did have a govt. job at the time. But the truth remains Elian never was anything but a propaganda pawn for Castro and was reportedly drugged from the moment he hit Cuban soil and even today remains a pawn of Fidel.

[Bahbah]

That is pretty much my take on it, but, clearly, not everyone agrees. :)

[FreeManWhoCan]

Elian became an issue whent he Cubans in Seattle held up signs with pictures of Elain stating "This is the result of Castros's Revolutuion?" His reps at the WTO reported back to Castro this embaressment and the rest is history...

[Radtechtravel]

Your post is 100% correct. That is exactly what happened.