Elian Gonzalez set to become Cuban lawmaker; Elían González, the Cuban boy who once led the settlement in the Cold War. Has been nominat to the island’s national parliament, the Communist Party newspaper Granma announce on Monday.
The paper referred to the now 29-year-old González as “a representative of the most worthy of Cuban youth.”
González’s nomination guarantees hi
s post in the 470-member National Assembly. Which meets several times a year to debate bills that the body usually votes on unanimously.
Under Cuban law;
Under Cuban law, municipal councils nominate a candidate for the National Assembly, who Cubans can then confirm or vote against. A seat in the National As
sembly would be González’s highest office since a bitter custody battle between his father. Relatives in Miami. which led to the boy’s return to the communist regime in 2000.
On Thanksgiving Day 1999, six-year-old González became famous after being rescue from a swamp in Florida.
His mother, Elizabeth, and nine others on the secret voyage drowned after their terrifying ship capsized on the high seas while trying to get from Cuba to the United States.
González’s survival appeared miraculous, and distant relatives in Miami. With the support of the anti-Castro exile community, vowed to keep him in the United States.
Back home in Cuba, Elían’s father, Juan Miguel, fought to bring the boy home. Cold War politics soon dominated the custody battle as Cuban leader Fidel Castro led mass protests on the island demanding Elían’s return.
The case has become a new focal point in the already simmering conflict between supporters and opponents of Castro’s revolution.
Elían’s relatives in Miami claimed that if the boy return to Cuba. He would be Castro’s brainwash trophy in his long-standing feud with the United States.
As the two sides battled the contentious case in court. US immigration officials decided to place Elían in the custody of his father. Who had traveled to the US to advocate for his son’s return.
Elián’s relatives in Miami refused to hand him over, and in a nighttime raid. Armed federal agents stormed his uncle’s home and took the boy away.
Riots broke out in Miami as many in the Cuban-American Community reacted angrily to the boy’s arrest by federal agents.
Elían was reunit with his father, and after more court cases—which ended with the Supreme Court rejecting Miami relatives’ attempts to get him back—father and son flew home to Cuba.
A massive ‘welcome home’ demonstration
The Cuban government celebrated Elían’s return with huge demonstrations.
He was later surround by government bodyguards for years, and he later said they became his best childhood friends.
Father González, a servant who was ask to quit while in the United States, was appoint to the island’s National Assembly, but later quit without official explanation.
Elian Gonzalez set to become Cuban lawmaker; Despite promises to return to his old life, Elían González never stayed in the public spotlight for long. Cuban leader Fidel Castro was the guest of honor at the boy’s seventh birthday party. The celebratory images of Elían and Castro were first shown on the island’s state television and then broadcast around the world to audiences still fascinated by the raft incident.
I say that I have no religion, but if I did, my God would be Fidel Castro. It’s like a ship that knew how to direct its crew,” González said in an interview with state-run Cuban media in 2013.
González often said that Castro was like a second father to him.
In a rare interview with AZ24 News in 2017, González said he wanted to reconcile with his relatives in Miami, but also made it clear that he would continue to support the government that deported him.
González said that the people who live here owe it to the Cuban people. “He is the one I will always work and fight for.
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