Elian Gonzalez thanks U.S. for return to dad
HAVANA, Cuba – Elian Gonzalez made his public speaking debut at a political rally late Friday night, thanking the American people for supporting his reunion with his father five years ago and making his “dream of being a free child come true.”
Standing on a stage in his red and white school uniform, the 11-year-old former castaway faltered at times as he read a prepared speech recalling the day U.S. federal agents seized him from the home of his Miami relatives and turned him over to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez.
“Five years ago I returned to my dad,” he said. “When I saw him I got very happy. I could hug him. I could see my little brother. That was the happiest day of my life.”
“I want to thank the American people for supporting our cause, which greatly contributed to my return,” Elian told thousands of cheering, flag-waving Cubans assembled at Havana’s so-called “protest-o-drome,” a plaza built in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission where government-organized rallies are often held. Dressed in his customary military uniform, President Fidel Castro sat in the front row with other government leaders.
Elian’s speech also touched on the Cuban government’s campaign to free five convicted Cuban agents serving sentences in U.S. federal prisons.
“Those five are heroes of our history,” Elian said. “On behalf of the Cuban people, I want to ask the American people to do (for them) as they did for me to return to my family.”
Elian ended his speech by saying Cuba’s socialist revolution “is as big as the sky” and repeating the slogan, “Homeland or death, we shall overcome!”
Elian gained international celebrity when he was only 5, surviving a shipwreck that killed his mother and 10 others. He clung to an inner tube in the Florida Straits for two days until two fishermen plucked him from the sea off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. A fierce, seven-month custody battle ensued, pitting his father against his uncles and aunts in Miami. After months of waiting, Elian and his father returned to Cuba after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the boy’s Miami relatives.