On This Day in History Shit Went Down: April 22

Elián González

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Jesus Christ what a clusterfuck. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the Pulitzer-winning photo of a federal agent armed with an automatic weapon seizing a terrified six-year-old Elián González from his relatives in Miami told at least that many. 

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: April 22, 2000--

In 1999, when Elián was five, he made the harrowing journey from Cuba to the U.S. with his mother and her boyfriend in a small boat with a faulty engine. There was a storm, and the boat began to sink. Elián was placed in an innertube to stay afloat. Of the 14 people on board, 11 of them died, including Elián’s mother and her boyfriend.

Elián and two others were discovered by fishermen and handed over to the U.S. Coast Guard. Elián was eventually released to his great-uncle, who lived in Miami. However, Elián’s father, Juan Miguel González, was alive and still living in Cuba. He proclaimed Elián’s mother had left Cuba with his son without his knowledge or permission. And he wanted his son back. 

But the boy’s uncle, Lázaro González, with the backing of Cuban Americans, said no fucking way. He stays in America, land of the At Least We’re Not Dirty Commies. Elián’s father Juan Miguel said hey Fidel help me out, and Castro saw this as a chance for a fuck you to America and demanded the young boy be repatriated to Cuba and returned to his father. The boy became the rope in an international tug-of-war, with the American government, Cuban exiles, and Elián’s Miami relatives on one side, and Elián’s father and the Cuban government on the other.

In addition to legal challenges, there was much fuckery and theatre. Both of Elián’s grandmothers traveled from Cuba to visit their grandson and appeal to Attorney General Janet Reno. An accusation was made that Lázaro tried to bribe Elián’s father with a house and a car to emigrate to the U.S. On April 14, six-year-old Elián was seen in a video saying he wanted to stay in Miami, but there were accusations he was coached. Elián later stated he always wanted to go home, despite his Miami family saying terrible things about his father in an effort to sway him. 

It was eventually decided that Elián would be returned to his father, but a crowd outside the Miami home wanted him to stay. In the early hours of April 22, 2000, U.S. Border Patrol knocked on the door. No one answered, so they broke in. Outside, members of the crowd tried to interfere and were pepper sprayed. 

Elián was returned to his father and continues to live in Cuba. The event polarized the nation and turned many Cuban exiles in Florida against the Clinton government. The following November Al Gore, who had been Clinton’s vice president, lost Florida to George W. Bush by only 537 votes in the 2000 presidential election. It’s possible this one event handed Bush the presidency.

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