Elián thanks the US people

ELIAN González has thanked the US people for the support they gave him, which contributed to his return to the island with his father. "I want to say thank you to the US people for the support they gave our cause, which greatly contributed to my return," stated Elián, now 11 years old, and who was speaking for the first time in public on Friday evening, April 22.

The young boy read out a message before hundreds of people at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune facing the US Interests Section in Havana, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of his reunion with his father in Washington, the first step in his return to the island. The ceremony was broadcast on national television.

"When I saw him [his father], I was very happy, I could hug him and talk to him, could see my little brother and play. That was the happiest day of my life," Elián affirmed, adding that the reunion was possible "thanks to my family, the Cuban people and our Commander in Chief Fidel."

President Fidel Castro, dressed in his khaki uniform, attended the event where he also made a brief speech, addressing Juan Miguel González, Elián’s father.

Elián survived the shipwreck of a group of 13 people attempting to travel illegally to Miami in late 1999; he was rescued by two US fishermen.

The boy, then five years old, was one of three survivors of the shipwreck, in which his mother, Elizabeth Brotons, lost her life.

Elián was the focus of a dispute between relatives who kidnapped him in Miami after the shipwreck with the backing of the extreme right and the Cuban-American mafia, and the government of the island, which was supporting the rights of his father, Juan Miguel González, who was asking for his son to be returned to the island.

The US Supreme Court of Justice decided that the child should be with his father. But in Miami, his great-uncle, sponsored by the Cuban American National Foundation, refused to hand the child over. On April 22, 2000, US federal agents rescued Elián from the house in which he was being held in Miami. They then took him to his father, who was waiting for him in Washington.

Finally, in June 2000, father and son returned together to the island.

"I want to thank everyone who made my dreams of being a free child come true," said Elián, who is now at school in Cárdenas, a city located 140 kilometers from the capital, where "I spend my time with my friends… running, jumping, playing… or reading," the boy affirmed.

Elián also spoke of Ivette González, the youngest daughter of René González, one of the five Cubans serving harsh sentences in US prisons for combating terrorism.

"A six-year-old girl who cannot be with her father just because he went there to stop people being killed; he was put in chains with four of his comrades. Those Five are the heroes of our history," Elián said, adding:

"And I, on behalf of all the Cuban people, would like to ask the people of the United States to do what they did for me so that I could go back to my family, to fight so that our five Heroes can come back and so that Ivette can enjoy her father’s love.