Elián González

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elián's route

Elián González Brotons (born December 6, 1993 in Cárdenas ) was the focus of a custody dispute in 1999/2000 that led to a political conflict between the USA and Cuba .

Escape from Cuba and dispute about his return

Elián González, son of Juan Miguel González Quintana and Elizabeth Brotons Rodríguez, is a Cuban citizen who was taken from Cuba in November 1999 at the age of almost six by his mother when she tried to flee to the United States. During this attempt, the mother and ten other people drowned as a result of a shipwreck; Elián, like two other survivors, drifted to Florida on an inner tube and was rescued by a fisherman.

Due to US immigration laws, Cubans who leave their country and enter US territory are generally allowed to stay in the country. Some of Elián's American relatives and various anti- Fidel Castro organizations demanded that Elián should remain in the United States because of this legal situation. On the other hand, his mother had apparently taken him away from Cuba without the knowledge and consent of his father, Juan Miguel González, so that in addition to the question of political asylum, this case also had to be assessed from the point of view of custody. The Cuban government and, after a while, the US Immigration and Naturalization Service and the US Department of Justice argued that for this reason Elián should return to his father in Cuba.

The debate was highly polarizing and Elián's home in Miami became the scene of a huge media hype . For most of the early summer of 2000, this topic dominated American news channels.

Elián (2nd from right) back with his father

The case eventually reached the US Congress and the US federal court. After the US Supreme Court refused to hear Elián's relatives in Miami, they refused to turn Elián over to the authorities. On April 22, 2000, special forces of the border police stormed his great-uncle's house to arrest Elián. This was documented in a photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize , showing a police officer in riot gear aiming a submachine gun at Elián and a supervisor holding the boy. The action sparked a brief but fierce political argument about whether a search warrant legitimized the use of armed force.

After reuniting with his father in Washington, DC , Elián returned to Cuba with him in June 2000.

After returning to Cuba

The Cuban government tried to use Elián González as a propaganda figurehead from the start . Elián's father Juan Miguel González, a member of the Communist Party since 1991 , received the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Order of the Cuban State Council from Fidel Castro in July 2000 for his behavior during the dispute over his son . He continued to work for the same restaurant in Varadero where he had worked since 1990. In the years following Elián's return, the Cuban media reported regularly on President Fidel Castro's birthday greetings, which he sent either at the boy's place of residence in Cárdenas or by telephone. At the public birthday party in 2006, the President was represented by his brother Raúl and Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón due to illness . Elián's sixth birthday on December 6, 1999 was also seen by the government as the starting point of the so-called “Battle of Ideas” ( Batalla de ideas ), an ideological mobilization campaign launched by Fidel Castro, which began with the establishment of powerful parallel structures to the official institutions of the State, which, however, were soon tacitly settled after Raúl Castro took over the office.

The decision of the US government to hand Elián over to his father, in accordance with the judiciary, was rejected by large parts of the public in the US, the most controversial among the Cubans in exile in South Florida, who were rejected by the Governor of Florida , Jeb Bush . In the presidential elections held six months after Elián's departure , 537 of 5.9 million valid votes in the state of Florida ensured the election decision and led to the defeat of the Democratic Party candidate and previous Vice President Al Gore against the governor's brother, the Republican Party candidate for later President George W. Bush .

In June 2008 Elián González became a member of the Communist Youth Union UJC, the youth organization of the Communist Party of Cuba . He aspired to a career in the Cuban military . To mark the tenth anniversary of his return to Cuba, the government held a commemoration in a church in Havana in 2010, which González attended and gave a short address, alongside President Raúl Castro.

Prominent media presence since 2013

González has been in the public eye as a prominent supporter of the Cuban government since 2013 and has been the subject of reports relatively often compared to previous years. González's father has been a member of the Cuban National Assembly, which meets every six months, since the legislative period that began in summer 2013 . In November 2013, the Cuban state media reported an appearance by Elián González, who is now studying industrial engineering, as the guest of honor at the youth and student festival in his home province of Matanzas . There he gave a speech in support of the official government line, in which he denounced the US policy on Cuba, recalled his own case and called on President Obama to release the remaining four members of the Cuban secret service, who have been part of the so-called Miami Five since 1998 u. a. were imprisoned for espionage. At the beginning of December 2013 there was a detailed interview that he gave to journalism students at his university and in which he emphasized his admiration for Fidel Castro, who not only means “everything” for Cuba, but who has also done more for world peace than anyone else Human: "I don't have a religion, but if I had one, Fidel would be my God." In the same month he took part as a member of the Cuban delegation at the World Festival of Youth and Students in Quito , Ecuador , for which he was for the first time since his Returning from the USA went on a trip abroad, during which he gave an interview to CNN en Español .

In April 2014 González was awarded the José Antonio Echevarría Order for unspecified “exemplary performance” by the State Council on the proposal of the UJC . At the award ceremony, González gave the acceptance speech on behalf of the 19 young people who had been awarded. On his 21st birthday on December 6, 2014, another protest march was organized in Cárdenas for the release of the three remaining prisoners of the Miami Five , in which Elián took part. After their release, which was agreed shortly afterwards in the course of the diplomatic rapprochement between the governments of Cuba and the USA, González appeared together with his father and the Miami Five on December 20, 2014 for their first public appearance at the National Assembly , where they together with them a renewed appreciation received. At the end of his speech to the parliamentary plenary, President Raúl Castro addressed him as “the smallest of our heroes” and highlighted him as a particularly exemplary citizen. At the end of December 2014, González was the guest of honor at the gala event in Havana for the 15th anniversary of the political radio broadcast Mesa Redonda .

In January 2015 González came in from Diego Maradona moderated TV talk show De Zurda radio station TeleSUR , which was produced in Havana. The reason for another public appearance by González in February 2015 was the first time the president's daughter Mariela Castro presented the award El mayor amor (“The greatest love.” ) On behalf of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), which she directs, to González's father and stepmother "). Elián gave a laudation to his parents and stated, among other things, that he would not have experienced the “love of the people” if he had stayed in the USA. Also in February he had a place of honor in the front row when the Miami Five were named "Heroes of the Republic" in the National Assembly . In March 2015 González was elected to the newly formed youth committee Destacamento 55 Aniversario of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), whose members should ensure greater acceptance of the mass organization among young people.

various

The song Baby Elian from the Manic Street Preachers is about Elián González and the events included in the South Park episode Quintuplets grandma dead one.

See also

Movies

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ The well-known photo of the police action in the house of Elián's relatives
  2. ↑ a b La vida de Elián al día de hoy
  3. ↑ a b Los candidatos del pueblo: Matanzas , in: Granma , accessed on May 18, 2015 (Spanish)
  4. ↑ Fidel Castro Celebro el cumpleaños de Elián. In: El Universo of December 6, 2003, accessed April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  5. ^ Fidel Castro encabezó cumpleaños del "balserito" Elián González. ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: La Nación of December 6, 2005, accessed April 22, 2015 (Spanish)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lanacion.cl
  6. ^ Conversa Fidel con Elián y lo felicita por su cumpleaños. In: Cubainformación of December 8, 2007, accessed April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  7. ↑ a b Raúl Castro preside acto por la 'batalla de ideas' y el cumpleaños de Elián. In: Cubaencuentro of December 7, 2006, accessed April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  8. ↑ Bert Hoffmann: Fidelismo without Fidel? (PDF), In: Internationale Politik from January 2007, accessed on April 22, 2015, here pp. 92–95
  9. ↑ Reaparece en público el 'niño balsero' cubano, Elián González , El Mundo of April 4, 2010
  10. ^ Rory Carroll: Elián González: from international tug-of-war victim to model citizen. In: The Guardian, July 1, 2010, accessed April 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ Elián González: 'La mafia anticubana' hizo que 'yo sufriera alejado de mi familia'. In: Diario de Cuba of November 18, 2013 (Spanish)
  12. ^ Elián González: My time in the US 'changed me for life'. ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Miami Herald of November 18, 2013 (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.miamiherald.com
  13. ^ Claudia Díaz Pérez: El joven Elián González. In: Quinquenio de Luz of December 2, 2013, accessed April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  14. ↑ Elián González: 'Si tuviera una religious, mi dios sería Fidel Castro'. In: Diario de Cuba of December 3, 2013, accessed April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  15. ^ Elian Gonzalez slams US embargo against Cuba. In: CNN December 11, 2013, accessed April 22, 2015
  16. ^ Pensar en su bien y amar a la Patria. In: Juventud Rebelde of April 4, 2014, accessed on April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  17. ↑ El Consejo de Estado condecora a Elián González por 'sus aportes'. In: Diario de Cuba of April 5, 2014, accessed on April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  18. ↑ Asamblea Nacional de Cuba: Los Cinco son ejemplos de las ideas sembradas en el pueblo por la Revolución. In: Juventud Rebelde of December 20, 2014, accessed on April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  19. ↑ Raúl Castro celebra a los 'héroes' cubanos: '¿Se acuerdan del pequeño Elián?' In: El Mundo of December 20, 2014, accessed April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  20. ↑ a b c Elián González electo como líder juvenil de los CDR; crean grupos para donar sangre. In: Café Fuerte of March 28, 2015, accessed on April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  21. ↑ Maradona no habría podido ver a Fidel Castro. In: Diario de Cuba of January 12, 2015, accessed on April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  22. ↑ Mariela Castro premia al padre ya la madrastra de Elián González. In: Diario de Cuba of February 17, 2015, accessed on April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  23. ^ Si Elián no estuviera en Cuba ... (+ video). In: Cubadebate of February 16, 2015, accessed on April 22, 2015 (Spanish)
  24. ↑ The children, happy Easter  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. scene from the television series South Park , based on the armed liberation Elián (1:07 minutes), season 4, episode "Grandma makes the grandma dead", on southpark.de, accessed on December 7, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.southpark.de  
  25. ^ Mimi Whitefield: Elián documentary revisits painful chapter in Cuban-American history. In: Miami Herald. April 27, 2017, accessed May 20, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME González, Elián
ALTERNATIVE NAMES González Brotons, Elián (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban refugee
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1993
PLACE OF BIRTH Cárdenas , Cuba