Elián González affair

Elián González Brotons (born 6 December 1993, Cárdenas ) was in 1999/2000 in the center of a custody dispute, which led to a political dispute between the U.S. and Cuba.

Escape from Cuba and debate about the return

Elián González, Juan Miguel González Quintana son of and Elizabeth Brotons Rodríguez, is a Cuban national who was taken in November 1999 was almost six -year-old from his mother in their attempt to emigrate to the United States from Cuba. In this experiment, the mother drowned along with ten other people as a result of a shipwreck; Elián operation, as well as two other survivors, on a tire tube to Florida. and was rescued by a fisherman.

Because of the immigration laws of the United States is Cubans who left their country and reach the territory of the United States, granted, in principle, to stay in the country. Some demanded of Elian's American relatives and various anti - Fidel - Castro organizations that due to these legal Elián should remain in the United States. On the other hand, he had taken his mother apparently without the knowledge and consent of the father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, from Cuba, so that this case had to be assessed also in terms of the custody rights in addition to the question of political asylum. The Cuban government, after some time, the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the U.S. and the U.S. Department of Justice ( Department of Justice ) argued that for this reason should return Elián to his father in Cuba.

The debate was led highly polarizing and Elian's home in Miami was the scene of a huge media frenzy. Almost all the early summer of 2000 on this issue dominated the American news channel.

The case finally came up before the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Federal Court. After the Supreme Court of the United States had refused to listen to Elian's relatives in Miami, they refused to hand over Elian to the authorities. On April 22, 2000 U.S. Marshals stormed the house of his great-uncle to seize Elián. This has been documented in a famous photograph, is visible on the how a Marshal a submachine gun on Elián and a supervisor directed, who had been hiding in the closet together. This sparked a brief but fierce political debate about whether a search warrant legitimize the use of force.

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

After returning to Cuba

Elian's father Juan Miguel González received an award for his conduct during the dispute over his son in July 2000 from the hands of Fidel Castro the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes - Order of the Cuban Council of State. He is still employed in the same restaurant business, where he has worked since 1990 and also holds a parliamentary seat in the semi-annually, which meets Cuban National Assembly, for which it is positioned for the beginning in the summer of 2013 legislative session as a candidate.

The measures taken by the U.S. government in accordance with the judicial decision for the transfer of Elián to his father was rejected by large sections of the public in the United States, the most controversial she was with the Cuban exiles in South Florida who in their rejection by the Governor of the State of Florida Jeb Bush, were supported. In the presidential elections six months held after the departure of Elián 537 valid from 5.9 million votes ensured in the State of Florida for voting decision and led to the defeat of the candidate of the Democratic Party and former Vice President Al Gore against the brother of the governor, the for the Republican party candidates later President George W. Bush.

In June 2008, Elián González member of the Young Communist League YCL, the youth organization of the Communist Party of Cuba. He aspired to a career in the Cuban military. In November 2013, the Cuban state media reported on an appearance González, who is now studying industrial engineering, as guest of honor of the youth and student festivals of its home province of Matanzas. He held there a the official government line supportive speech in which he denounced the U.S. policy towards Cuba, recalled his own case and President Obama for the release of the remaining four members of the Cuban intelligence asked, as part of the " Miami Five" since 1998, inter alia, imprisoned for espionage.

Miscellaneous

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