On Thanksgiving Day 1999, little Elian Gonzalez was found floating in the Florida Straits. He had escaped Cuba with his mother, who sadly drowned on the way to freedom.
In mid-2000, the Clinton Administration picked up Elian, reunited him with his father, the same man who walked away from him and his mother years before, and sent them back to Cuba.
It was a shameful performance by the Clinton administration, specially the scene of commandos grabbing the little boy.
Why didn’t President Clinton show this toughness to Al Qaeda sitting in Afghanistan and preparing attacks on the US?
Today, Elian is a young man and a mouthpiece for the dictatorship’s talking points:
“In an ABC News exclusive interview, Elian said his relationship with the former Cuban president is one of friendship.“I am his friend but above all i consider him my father, my grandfather,” Elian said.“Fidel, he is an incredible person. Everyone has his own opinion. It is somewhat difficult to refer to Fidel, because everyone thinks of Fidel as a god or those who rejects him call him the devil. But I’ve known one side of Fidel and what I have left to say is he is a normal person. He is a friend. He’s someone you can share with, you can laugh with.””
The problem is that Elian has forgotten, or forced to forget, his mother’s courageous story.
She put him on that boat so that little Elian could live in freedom. I doubt that Elian’s mother wanted her son to become a propaganda mouthpiece for the dictatorship that she was running away from.
Elian’s mother must be crying in heaven watching what her little boy has turned into!
I hope that Elian comes to terms with the reality that he is chosen a different path than the one that his courageous mother died to give him.
P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.
P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.
Thursday: Elian Gonzalez is back in the news and a few other thoughts.... http://t.co/mxp07BYihQ
— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) May 21, 2015
Tags: Elian Gonzalez 1999 and 2015 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
