Elian Gonzalez, now a seventh grader in Cuba who calls President Fidel Castro a friend and "father," would see his Miami relatives again, despite saying their treatment of him five years ago was wrong. Gonzalez is interviewed by Bob Simon for a 60 MINUTES report to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 2 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

 

Gonzalez, 11, is a hero in Cuba after what happened to him when he was just 6 years old: His mother died at sea and he was rescued two miles off Florida, after which he was repatriated following a months-long tug of war between Gonzalez' Miami relatives and his father and the Cuban government. In what Miami Cuban exiles would say is propaganda, Castro attended the boy's elementary school graduation and declared he was proud to have Gonzalez as his friend. The feeling is mutual. "It's also very moving to me and I also believe I am his friend," Gonzalez tells Simon. "Not only [do I think of Castro] as a friend, but also as a father," says Gonzalez. The boy believes that he could call the Cuban president on the phone if he wanted to.

 

Gonzalez gave a patriotic speech in front of Castro and cameras on the fifth anniversary of the day U.S. law enforcement officers raided his Miami relatives' house and removed him at gunpoint to be repatriated. It's all part of Castro's propagandist plans, says Ramon Sanchez, a Cuban-American who led demonstrations in Miami in support of keeping the boy in America five years ago. "[Gonzalez] is being brainwashed by the Cuban regime. When you see a child talking in the same exact way that the dictator has talked for 46 years, you know he has been indoctrinated," says Sanchez.

 

The boy says his Miami relatives, with whom he spent five months, tried to persuade him to stay in America. "They were telling me bad things about [my father]... They were also telling me to tell [my father] that I did not want to go back to Cuba and I always told them that I wanted to," he tells Simon. Gonzalez says he missed his father, school and his friends back in Cuba.

 

The worst parts of his Miami experience were the nights he found difficult to sleep through. "I would have nightmares and my uncles would talk to me about my mother... it was better not to remind me of that because that tormented me... I was very little," he recalls.

 

One of those great uncles who cared for him during that time, Delfin Gonzalez, denies that Elian was unhappy and says he doesn't believe anything he says in Cuba because the boy is a prisoner there.

 

Does Elian ever want to see those relatives again? "Yes," he tells Simon. "Despite everything they did, the way they did it, it was wrong, they are [still] my family... my uncles."

 

60 MINUTES is close-captioned in Spanish; the signal is on the "CC3" menu item.

 

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm

So much taxpayer money wasted on this little turd. Should've shot him back to Cuba on a short range ballistic missile.

What a shame. *sigh* Oh well...

Is his cousin still sort of cute?

I haven't seen her picture or anything in years. I do know she owns a beauty salon on 8th street though. I pass right by it all the time.

i said it years ago that they needed to send his ass back as soon as his dad said the word. dont get me started on how i felt about the protestors.

So much taxpayer money wasted on this little turd. Should've shot him back to Cuba on a short range ballistic missile.

 

the kid was a 6 years old. And didn't come here on his own. Not his fault that he was used as a political puppet down here.

all that matters is the kid is happy and well cared for. That should be enough for those that truly care about him.

 

That is more then alot of kids in america have.

Damnit, cant it just be over already?

Damnit, cant it just be over already?

 

Um, Im pretty sure it is 'over'....

Cuba si, Castro no! :shifty

 

I was at the "pan con ajo" place in Hialeah, 'batidos de Hialeah' or something like that, and they still have things with those slogans on them :thumbup

Is his cousin still sort of cute?

 

 

 

MyLazyAsses? The last I heard is that she opened up her own beauty salon. A local station did a story on her about it.

 

Nothing since. Guess no relatives have washed up on shore lately.

i said it years ago that they needed to send his ass back as soon as his dad said the word. dont get me started on how i felt about the protestors.

 

 

Right because protesting is wrong unless it involves burning American flags or camping outside of Bush's ranch. The protestor's stood up for the American dream in one of the most dramatic displays that an immigrant community has ever shown. So we should've sent his 'ass' back to Cuba as soon as he dad said so? Ever heard of 'el comite de la revolucion'? Apparently not, because if you have you wouldnt have taken his father's situation so lightly, as just an average dad wanting his son back. How do you feel about Haitian immigrnats by the way? Colombians? Chinese? Or are you only anti-cuban?

It is good that hes doing physically well in Cuba, which was to be expected considering that Castro continues to use him as a symbol of a perceived victory over America. Is he happy? No one of knowing really? Are the comments he made in that article the authentic feelings of an 11 year old retelling of somehting that happened when he was 6, or was that what he's been trained to say? We'll never know. By the way, he was used as a political puppet by the people in miami but also by Castro, whoever doesnt see that is an imbecil

i said it years ago that they needed to send his ass back as soon as his dad said the word. dont get me started on how i felt about the protestors.

 

 

Right because protesting is wrong unless it involves burning American flags or camping outside of Bush's ranch. The protestor's stood up for the American dream in one of the most dramatic displays that an immigrant community has ever shown. So we should've sent his 'ass' back to Cuba as soon as he dad said so? Ever heard of 'el comite de la revolucion'? Apparently not, because if you have you wouldnt have taken his father's situation so lightly, as just an average dad wanting his son back. How do you feel about Haitian immigrnats by the way? Colombians? Chinese? Or are you only anti-cuban?

It is good that hes doing physically well in Cuba, which was to be expected considering that Castro continues to use him as a symbol of a perceived victory over America. Is he happy? No one of knowing really? Are the comments he made in that article the authentic feelings of an 11 year old retelling of somehting that happened when he was 6, or was that what he's been trained to say? We'll never know. By the way, he was used as a political puppet by the people in miami but also by Castro, whoever doesnt see that is an imbecil

 

 

first of all, i cant stand the fools protesting outside the president's ranch screaming "the whole world's watching" thinking that its the 60's and its actually gonna make a difference. my beef with the protesters is the fact that they used him as a puppet like you said. they didnt give a f*** about the kid, they just wanted this little moral victory over castro. i realize his dad was under a lot of pressure and had to say what the govt wanted... (my parents are cuban btw and my grandpa from my dad's side actually went to prison over there before coming over). that doesnt change the fact though that he is the father and he was DEMANDING his kid back (even with a lot of pressure). at the end of the day, he's the father and no amount of protestors or annoying relatives who craved the attention can change that. i feel the haitians are treated very unfairly considering what htye have to go through to get here and all they get "rewarded" with when they make it is a trip to a detention center and an all expense paid trip back to the hellhole they were trying to get out of. if elian was a hatian this wouldve been an open and shut case and he wouldve been back on that island quickly. my biggest problem is the unfairness of the immigration policies. cuba aint the only country under a dictatorship or going through amazingly hard times yet cubans automatically stay as soon as they reach the shore while a bunch of haitians who went through the same struggle to get here could be running down the street and they'll be locked up until its time to go back to haiti.

 

 

and i realize you along with other cubans on here are gonna jump all over me and call me an arrepentido for feeling like that but thats how i feel and i cant help it.

i said it years ago that they needed to send his ass back as soon as his dad said the word. dont get me started on how i felt about the protestors.

 

 

Right because protesting is wrong unless it involves burning American flags or camping outside of Bush's ranch.

Right because people who disagree with you on a Cuban immigrant issue must conveniently be labeled for consistency reasons. How did you how this person felt about protesting by buring American flags or outside of Ws ranch?

i said it years ago that they needed to send his ass back as soon as his dad said the word. dont get me started on how i felt about the protestors.

 

 

Right because protesting is wrong unless it involves burning American flags or camping outside of Bush's ranch.

Right because people who disagree with you on a Cuban immigrant issue must conveniently be labeled for consistency reasons. How did you how this person felt about protesting by buring American flags or outside of Ws ranch?

 

I'm asking him a question. Does he feel that all protesting is wrong? Or just protesting that he doesnt agree with. And by his next response it seems he does not like the medium of assembled protest to convey ideas. Since he was consistent i backed down as you can see.