Elián González: My Time In The U.S. 'Marked Me For My Whole Life'

[mystery-ak]

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2013/11/18/elian-gonzalez-my-time-in-us-marked-me-for-my-whole-life/

Elián González: My Time In The U.S. 'Marked Me For My Whole Life'

By Havana (EFE)
Published November 19, 2013
Fox News Latino



Elian Gonzalez, the object of a 1999-2000 custody squabble involving Washington, Havana and family members on both sides of the Florida Strait, holds a piece of U.S. legislation directly responsible for what he endured then, Cuban official media said Monday.

"They were very sad times for me, which marked me for my whole life. I was never given the chance to have a moment to think about my mother, who as a result of that (U.S.) Cuban Adjustment Act died at sea," the now-19-year-old Gonzalez said last weekend during a Union of Young Communists event.

Gonzalez was 5 years old in November 1999 when miraculously he remained floating on an inflated inner tube after the sinking of the boat carrying undocumented immigrants, including his mother, Elizabeth Brotons, who died along with 10 others while trying to reach the Florida coast from Cuba.

The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act led in practice to Washington's wet foot, dry foot policy, which gives Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil the right to remain in the country.

"I suffered the consequences of that law. They also violated my basic rights gathered in the (U.N.) Convention on the Rights of the Child: the right to be together with my father, the right to keep my nationality and to remain in my cultural context," Gonzalez said.

He also acknowledged "the nobility" of the U.S. people, who - although "often they are also the victims of disinformation" - sympathized with his plight.

After his rescue at sea, Elian Gonzalez was placed in the temporary custody of relatives in Miami, a move that sparked a bitter legal, family and political dispute between the Cuban and U.S. governments that ended with his return to the communist island with his father in June 2000.

[jmyrlefuller]

Translation:
"Castro gave me a cushy government job as a propagandist. That's far easier than finding work the way the American economy is now. #thankscastro"

[rb224315]

I'd wager a doughnut that Little Elián the Communist doesn't know about his father's interview with Dan Rather.  If he does know about it, I'm sure he dismisses Pedro Porro's description of the interview.

http://townhall.com/columnists/humbertofontova/2013/11/15/lara-logan-came-cleannow-its-time-for-dan-rather-n1747353/page/full

From Townhall:

Here's what America didn't see: "Juan Miguel Gonzalez was surrounded by Castro security agents the entire time he was in the studio with Rather." This is an eye-witness account from Pedro Porro, who served as Dan Rather's translator during the famous 60 Minutes interview. Dan Rather would ask the question in English into Porro's earpiece whereupon Porro would translate it into Spanish for Elian's heavily-guarded father.

"Juan Miguel was never completely alone," says Pedro Porro. "He never smiled. His eyes kept shifting back and forth. It was obvious to me that he was under heavy coercion. He was always surrounded by security agents from the Cuba Interest Section (i.e. Cuban embassy) in Washington D.C. When these agents left him alone for a few seconds, attorney Gregory Craig would hover over Juan Miguel.

"The questions Dan Rather was asking Elian's father during that 60 Minutes interview were being handed to him by attorney Gregory Craig," continues Pedro Porro. "It was obvious that Craig and Rather where on very friendly terms. They were joshing and bantering back and forth, as Juan Miguel sat there petrified. Craig was stage managing the whole thing - almost like a movie director. The taping would stop and he'd walk over to Dan, hand him a little slip of paper, say something into his ear. Then Rather would read the next question into my earpiece straight from the paper."

[Millee]

Is he a victim????  Am I supposed to feel bad for him or something???   

Sorry, but I don't. 

[ABX]

Is he a victim????  Am I supposed to feel bad for him or something???   

Sorry, but I don't. 

Think about it this way. His entire experience in the US, as viewed as an impressionable child, would be that of a police state. Constantly being pursued and his family's home raided and his being snatched and taken away by men with guns. He may be told the US is a land of freedom, but Clinton's Justice Department didn't give him that. They left him with memories of Janet Reno's police state thuggery. 

[musiclady]

He has been successfully brainwashed.

It's so sad, because he could have been a free man in this country, instead of a puppet in a Communist regime.

And yes, we can thank thug Janet Reno under Clinton's command for destroying this young man's life.

[jmyrlefuller]

He has been successfully brainwashed.

It's so sad, because he could have been a free man in this country, instead of a puppet in a Communist regime.

And yes, we can thank thug Janet Reno under Clinton's command for destroying this young man's life.

Well, some people would rather be a well-fed slave than a hungry free man. There are many like him here in America and around the world.

[musiclady]

Well, some people would rather be a well-fed slave than a hungry free man. There are many like him here in America and around the world.

True enough.................but each one is its own small tragedy, IMO.

Elian should still be free, even though he's been convinced it's a bad thing.

[Cincinnatus]

Gonzalez was 5 years old in November 1999 when miraculously he remained floating on an inflated inner tube after the sinking of the boat carrying undocumented immigrants, including his mother, Elizabeth Brotons, who died along with 10 others while trying to reach the Florida coast from Cuba.

I wonder if Elian ever reflects on what drove his mother and the 10 others to flee Cuba in such an unsafe manner and head where?

[EC]

Think about it this way. His entire experience in the US, as viewed as an impressionable child, would be that of a police state. Constantly being pursued and his family's home raided and his being snatched and taken away by men with guns. He may be told the US is a land of freedom, but Clinton's Justice Department didn't give him that. They left him with memories of Janet Reno's police state thuggery. 

Yep. He can literally see no difference, assuming he remembers much of it (kids are pretty good at supressing memories). In that case, being with his Dad in a place he is familiar with is the better option, as far as he is concerned.