The Beeb has done a sweet little piece
on how well Elian Gonzalez and his father are doing 5 years after
their ordeal- you remember, the tortuous fight to return Elian to the
father and Presidente who loved him, the fight to wrest him from the
clutches of relatives in Miami who were using him to draw attention to
the supposed plight of Cubans, in a disgusting display of political
opportunism.
Finally, father Juan Miguel and La Barba Selvaje were joined in the fight by
Janet Reno,
who sent a SWAT team into rescue the little tyke from the evil uncle
because "she heard that there were guns in the house" (cue the twilight zone music and let your mind wander to Waco: "We heard that they were molesting children..."). We think that a Cuban should speak to this so we defer to Babalu Blog:
The Elian saga is over.
At 5:00 P.M. EDT, he is on his way back to the tropical worker's paradise. For those of us who love and cherish freedom and who truly know what this country stands for, it is the final nail in the coffin made board by board since April 22, 2000, at 5:15AM. It is a sad day indeed. For some, it will be a relief not to hear another word about the little kid. Still others are very happy at the result. Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and their stormtroopers are happy—sig heil, Bill and Janet! Keep those safeties on! Ruby Ridge, Waco, Miami: one more victory for the omnipotent state!
—The communists and their fellow travelers, hiding behind Oprahized touchy-feely, liberal hypocrisy, are happy.
—The Useful Idiots—the misguided and moronic left—are happy. Lenin was right.
—The infamous Christian (?) “reverend” Joan Brown Campbell is happy. Joan, Jesus is so proud! He's got a special place reserved just for you...
—Greg Craig is happy—and a little richer thanks to the aforementioned “reverend.”
—Kendall Coffey is happy—the albatross is finally off his back. That pepper spray you smell is the aroma of your failure.
—Fidel Castro is very happy (one more victory for La Revolución—socialismo o muerte, venceremos! It is a superior system, damn it!) And he continues to rule Cuba, continues to imprison, continues to murder and continues to silence dissent 41 years and counting...
—Juan Miguel is really, really happy—he won't be losing his neck in a sugarcane field or in a prison thanks to what he's done to his little boy.
In fact Juan Miguel has done very well for himself. According the aforementioned BBC article, he lives in one of the more comfortable houses in Cardenas, has a seat in the national assembly as of 2001, and still works as a waiter at a local tourist resort. As for Elian, he is a normal little boy. Everyone says so. His great aunt, who misses her family in Miami and has no way to contact them, says that Elian
Elian appears unaffected by the ordeal. "He's so like his mother," she says. "Very calm. Very quiet. He was always like that."
Yes, Haydee, so maybe someday he will die trying to get his child to freedom and a better life. Did we mention that his mother tied him to an inner tube to keep him from drowning before she herself perished with ten others off the coast of Florida? or as the BBC puts it
His mother, and 10 other people attempting to enter the US as illegal immigrants, drowned.By the way, her name was Elizabet Brontons.