What happened to Elian Gonzalez? To know everything about him, keep reading.
Elian Gonzalez is a Cuban citizen known for child custody and immigration case.
In a 2017 interview, he spoke about his hopefulness to reconcile with his Miami relatives one day.
Photo Story: What Happened To Elian Gonzalez, Where Is He Now?
Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban citizen who became embroiled in a heated international custody and immigration controversy in 2000, is likely living peacefully in Cuba.
The story that involved the governments of his native country and the United States began on 25 November 1999 after two fishermen rescued a five-year-old boy clinging to an inner tube in the Florida Straits on Thanksgiving Day and handed him to the Coast Guard.
Elian, his mother, Elizabeth Brotons Rodríguez, and her common-law-husband, Lázaro Munero García, attempted an escape from Cárdenas as a part of a 14-refugee-group on a boat. Elizabeth drowned, but he survived and later found himself in a hospital.
Then the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) gave him a temporary deferral and released him to his great-uncle, Lázaro González, who lived in Little Havana, Miami. Although he escaped death and Cuba, a custody battle involving his father, Juan Miguel, Miami relatives, and state actors from both countries followed him.
This tug of war between the nations garnered global attention. Months after the initial rescue, the US officials decide to send Elian back to his father against the American relatives’ wishes.
On 22 April 2000, a pre-drawn raid happened in which the agents seized the kid and returned him to his father. After two months of court procedures, the father and son duo finally moved to Cuba.
When an armed agent wearing riot gear stormed the room, Alan Diaz took a photo of him pointing a rifle at Elian. For the picture he snapped despite the warning to back off, he won a Pulitzer Prize. In 2018, the photojournalist passed away at 71.
Elian Gonzalez Wife And Family
Photojournalist Alan Diaz, whose photo of a terrified 6-year-old Cuban boy named Elian Gonzalez earned him the Pulitzer Prize, has died at age 71. https://t.co/rtqIO488uJ pic.twitter.com/GRLUBqURcK
— ABC News (@ABC) July 4, 2018
As for Elian Gonzalez’s wife, the identity remains unknown.
However, on Father’s day of 2020, he announced that he was becoming a father as his fiancee became pregnant with a girl. It’s been over a year since then, probably he became a parent and got married to his baby mama.
As for the exact details, it remains a mystery. However, we know about some of Elian’s family members. His father is Juan Miguel González Quintana. As for his Miami relatives, they include Lázaro González and Marisleysis González.