Speaker 1: It is July fourteen, in the year two thousand in Cuba.
Speaker 1: The scene is green and lush, a home with trees
Speaker 1: and grass all around. A black Mercedes in a caravan
Speaker 1: pulls up and out of it emerges Fidel Castro, long
Speaker 1: salt and pepper beard hair comes back o the green
Speaker 1: military jacket. Elian's family awaits him inside the home. Smiling.
Speaker 1: Fidel kisses the woman when he greets them, he puts
Speaker 1: the children on the head, and then he gets to Elian,
Speaker 1: the first time he has ever met the famous boy.
Speaker 1: Elian is gripping his father's hand, standing close to him.
Speaker 1: His mouth is slightly open, his eyes wide, his attention
Speaker 1: and fixed looking up.
Speaker 2: At I have heard a lot about you, Phidel tells Ilanne,
Speaker 2: speaking in a soft boys crouching down to be closer
Speaker 2: to the.
Speaker 1: Child, to monson, I'm a friend of your dad. Did
Speaker 1: you know that? Elien shakes his head now. Ellien's mouth
Speaker 1: is still open, like he knows something big is happening,
Speaker 1: and then Videl cracks a joke about a baby in
Speaker 1: a diaper. Alien's younger brother, I can see you. It
Speaker 1: is playful, and the family laughs. Elien does two some
Speaker 1: of his teeth are missing, like a regular six year
Speaker 1: old boy. He looks at is now his trains to
Speaker 1: look up at the tall man in the green jacket.
Speaker 1: This moment feels revealing to me. The pastor of Elian
Speaker 1: so little looking up tall in passing Fidel looking down.
Speaker 1: Elian was back in Cua, the island where Fidel was
Speaker 1: not just a political leader, but also the person who
Speaker 1: controlled the media, public conversation, and sometimes, as I have experienced,
Speaker 1: even talks within families remembered throughout the ordeal. Alien's dad
Speaker 1: always said the same thing. He wanted Elian back in Cua.
Speaker 1: I know there is a controversy about Juamuel's true motivations,
Speaker 1: but I do get white man so much. There is
Speaker 1: something about standing on the soil where you were born,
Speaker 1: about bathing in your homeland. It is a wish so
Speaker 1: many of US Cubans still long for. I am Penny,
Speaker 1: later Metz and this is chess peace. The Elian Gonzalez
Speaker 1: Story a production of Futura Studios in partnership with Iheart's
Speaker 1: Michael Duda podcast network. In the US, Elian was constantly
Speaker 1: followed by cameras, but back in Cuba, he was mostly
Speaker 1: a normal kid again, mostly because there were moments like
Speaker 1: when he turned ten, when there was a big birthday
Speaker 1: celebration at his school, Elian sang and in the front
Speaker 1: row Videl Gastro looking proud. To be clear as I
Speaker 1: can remember, no other kid in Cuba, not even Castro's
Speaker 1: aunt sons, ever had a public celebration of their birthday
Speaker 1: with Castro attending. After Castro's speech, the school children chanted
Speaker 1: his name. Back in Miami, Cuban Americans cringed at Fidel
Speaker 1: and Alien's friendship, but.
Speaker 3: Also them on his wing. It was a shining star
Speaker 3: of the revolution. Elian became all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 3: because Fideo had one. And that's what's so hurtful for
Speaker 3: us in Miami.
Speaker 1: This is Alina mayoas the veteran Miami journalist you heard
Speaker 1: from earlier in the series.
Speaker 4: You know, they keep him happy, and he's a symbol
Speaker 4: that it was good to stay, that it was good
Speaker 4: not to kind of abandon your homeland.
Speaker 1: And here is Cuban American historian Alfere talking about older Aliens.
Speaker 4: The whole thing is just so sad, right like, because
Speaker 4: what does it mean that he says he wants to
Speaker 4: stay in Cuba. What does that mean? You know, in
Speaker 4: what Cuba? Does he want to stay? He lives very well,
Speaker 4: I think so would he say that if he was
Speaker 4: living like a majority of people. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: Some of the Cuban Americans we interviewed bilieve Elian has
Speaker 1: received a special treatment from the Kuban government, but the
Speaker 1: extent of the peruks Alian's family received from Fidel Castro
Speaker 1: is hard to say. Because the Quban government denied me
Speaker 1: a journalist visa, I wasn't able to interview Alian to
Speaker 1: ask him directly about this. But what we do know
Speaker 1: is that Elian and his family went on a two
Speaker 1: month government sponsored vacasion when the boy returned to Cuba,
Speaker 1: and that when Alian's home floated in a hurricane, they
Speaker 1: were moved to a much larger house. The government also
Speaker 1: provided bodyguards for Alian, which he described as some of
Speaker 1: his best friends in childhood. But Delian's father went back
Speaker 1: to work as a bartender. I even saw him working
Speaker 1: once in Barradero while I was on vacation with my family.
Speaker 1: He seemed like any other person, and Elian went back
Speaker 1: to the same public school he attended before leaving Cuba.
Speaker 1: Despite the occasional attention. Eliam seemed to live a relatively
Speaker 1: normal life. He went to college where he studied industrial engineering.
Speaker 5: When I was a professor in the university and I
Speaker 5: would see him, it was very encouraging to see that
Speaker 5: apparently he didn't have any special attention. He would behave
Speaker 5: like a normal student. You could actually miss him because
Speaker 5: there was no special treatment towards him.
Speaker 1: This is Harold Cardinas, the Cuban journalists you have heard
Speaker 1: in previous episodes.
Speaker 5: He was very discreet, he was very shy. I was
Speaker 5: in the trivenal took his final test in the philosophy class,
Speaker 5: and I remember him sitting there taking the test, and
Speaker 5: when I said the grade that wasn't the highest grade,
Speaker 5: I saw him look at me and he seemed like
Speaker 5: he felt he was fair.
Speaker 1: Eleen eventually fell in love and had a daughter. He
Speaker 1: got a job at a government tourism company, and in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three he got into politics, serving in the
Speaker 1: Kuban Congress.
Speaker 3: That's what the exile community feared that once he's over there,
Speaker 3: as much as we didn't want to use him as
Speaker 3: a political pawn, that's what Fidel was going to do,
Speaker 3: and that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1: In interviews, Elean has insisted that his heart is in Cuba,
Speaker 1: that he's there because he wants to be. This is
Speaker 1: him as a young adult in a television show in
Speaker 1: Ecuador called La Cajale Pandora Alemjardo made in Peru. Another
Speaker 1: child may have chosen material things provided by the Empire,
Speaker 1: he said, as a child, I attended the Lianza in
Speaker 1: public school system in Cuba, so I am not surprised
Speaker 1: to hear Eliani us in terms like the Empire to
Speaker 1: refer to the United States. Whether or not you think
Speaker 1: this is an accurate way to describe the US is
Speaker 1: beside the point. It is definitely language that is part
Speaker 1: of our political education, or some might say in doctrination
Speaker 1: in Cuba. It was printed in the school books we
Speaker 1: all needed to study and memorize. In the same interview
Speaker 1: in Ecuador, Elian talked about why he preferred to stay
Speaker 1: in Cuba. Don't came REFERI fendela. But on the other hand,
Speaker 1: I chose to be with my father and the and
Speaker 1: the revolution. He also went on to say, fight for justice,
Speaker 1: liberty and world peace. Again, I remember this language from
Speaker 1: my own classes in Cuba, defending the revolution, fighting for justice.
Speaker 1: On paper, it sounds nice, right. The problem is that
Speaker 1: the same government who teaches the terms to its kids
Speaker 1: also expects them to stay quiet about the lack of
Speaker 1: press freedom and to never criticize the elections that confirmed
Speaker 1: the same Cuban Communist Party over and over again for
Speaker 1: over six decades. Elean is aware that if he had
Speaker 1: made it to the US with his mother alive, he
Speaker 1: would have a different life. In one of the handful
Speaker 1: of interviews Elien has given as an adult, he was
Speaker 1: emotional when thinking about what could have been.
Speaker 6: She iota bass on you.
Speaker 1: If she had not died, maybe I would be in
Speaker 1: the United States and I would be coming to Cure
Speaker 1: frequently to visit my father. But that is not how
Speaker 1: his life turned out. He had to work within the
Speaker 1: choices or lack of them, that he had as a child,
Speaker 1: and Alien says that in Miami, when he was separated
Speaker 1: from his father, he had no choices at all. When
Speaker 1: asked about his time in the US, Ellen has said
Speaker 1: he was kidnapped.
Speaker 6: Joe to the.
Speaker 1: American this is a lean as a young adult. In
Speaker 1: the same interview with the media in Ecuador, but he
Speaker 1: says he's thankful for the other Americans who pushed for
Speaker 1: his return to his father. The raid when Elian was
Speaker 1: taking from the Miami house was a distressing event for
Speaker 1: a young child, but it was also what led him
Speaker 1: to be reunited with his father. To Elian, the raid
Speaker 1: was not the betrayal that it was for Cuban exiles
Speaker 1: in Miami.
Speaker 3: We fought so hard to keep the boy here.
Speaker 1: Here is Alena again, the Miami based journalist. Years after
Speaker 1: Elean returned to Cuba, she maintained hope he would eventually
Speaker 1: be back in Miami.
Speaker 3: Cami naive. I always thought that little boy, somebody put
Speaker 3: a little seed in him, you know, and that seed
Speaker 3: was going to one day sprout. I thought one day
Speaker 3: he would say enough of this. I know how much
Speaker 3: they loved me in Miami.
Speaker 1: But now with Elean as an adult, the hope has
Speaker 1: greatly diminished.
Speaker 3: Though possibility every year dims even more because of the circumstances,
Speaker 3: because of the things he has said. You know that
Speaker 3: he doesn't believe in God. If he did, the only
Speaker 3: God he believed in was Fidel.
Speaker 1: This is true, by the way. In the twenty seventeen
Speaker 1: c And documentary Elian said, no.
Speaker 6: Profession Pero de Seluel, But I meanel.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the first time he said this, Just like
Speaker 1: people spoke about his father being pressured by the Cuban
Speaker 1: government more than twenty years ago. Many Miami Cubans now
Speaker 1: seem to think the same of Ilian Joe Kemucho's I
Speaker 1: know many think I'm brainwashed, Lean said in the twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen Ciena documentary.
Speaker 6: Pero and and went to Meatli.
Speaker 1: But if I wanted to leave this island, I could go.
Speaker 1: Elean knows people think he will controlled by Fidel Castro.
Speaker 1: He has said it in interviews before, not for ame,
Speaker 1: but Elian said the relationship was just a friendship. He
Speaker 1: has also said he has a lot of gratitude for Castro.
Speaker 1: Here is Ada Ferede again, the Queban American historian.
Speaker 4: It just shows this insistence on hanging on to to
Speaker 4: these platitudes and to these old categories on either side,
Speaker 4: because in Miami too, I mean, like it's either God
Speaker 4: or the devil. But come on, that's not that's not
Speaker 4: what history is, right.
Speaker 1: And then recently, Elian said something in an interview with
Speaker 1: Cuban media that really moved me. Ua for.
Speaker 7: San Diego, that it will be cowardly of him to
Speaker 7: leave Cuba. Yo, he said, I owe the Cuban people something.
Speaker 1: They fought hard for me to be with my father.
Speaker 1: It will be hypocritical for me to leave. This shows
Speaker 1: there is another level of complexity here. Dailian feels in
Speaker 1: debt to his own people. Maybe it's not so much
Speaker 1: about Castro, but that it would feel wrong to leave
Speaker 1: after a whole country fought for his return. I would
Speaker 1: love to have asked him about this, but I could not.
Speaker 1: I was not authorized by the same government. He defends
Speaker 1: in the same interview he went a step further and
Speaker 1: if I don't fight for Cuba, how will I fight
Speaker 1: for us to be better? But in reality, despite the
Speaker 1: land's convictions, things have not improved in Cuba for many
Speaker 1: people from his and my generation. Most of the kids
Speaker 1: I grew up within Cuba have left. Most of my
Speaker 1: family is now out of the island. I could visit
Speaker 1: all the people I know in Cuba just on a
Speaker 1: weekend trip, and I'm not alone. Ten percent of the
Speaker 1: island's population. More than a million people left. Between twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two and twenty twenty.
Speaker 5: Three, Cuba saw its largest departure of people last year
Speaker 5: since Fidel Castro's revolution in the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 1: Agricultural production on the island dramatically decreased after COVID and
Speaker 1: stricter US sanctions have made it difficult for the country
Speaker 1: to import for supplies. This created big shortages in La
Speaker 1: Padago Can. I will not turn by back on Cuba,
Speaker 1: Elian said in a recent interview with Cuban Press. We
Speaker 1: must fight for it here. Listening to Alian makes me
Speaker 1: think of how once I felt that way too, when
Speaker 1: I was just a kid. How I once, many years ago,
Speaker 1: before I knew anything about the world outside of my island,
Speaker 1: also believed in the propaganda. How I once believed that
Speaker 1: defending the revolution was to defend my country. Now I
Speaker 1: know my country and its government are different things. I
Speaker 1: can love Cuba without defending its government, and even still
Speaker 1: I long for the days when I lived and breathed
Speaker 1: and loved in my homeland, just like Elean is doing now.
Speaker 1: I see his interviews and he's so Cuban, his mannerisms,
Speaker 1: his accent, that things he says they also Kuanimo, something
Speaker 1: that far from my homeland. I sometimes fear has been
Speaker 1: taking from me or not?
Speaker 7: Really?
Speaker 1: Another important would you like to be more Cuban? I
Speaker 1: asked my ten year old Santiago. Santiago goes by Tago.
Speaker 1: He's a sensitive and smart boy who loves to play soccer,
Speaker 1: listen to rock music, and practice his drums every day.
Speaker 1: And what would you like about being more Cuban? I asked?
Speaker 1: Well to be the cue to start with. Tago was
Speaker 1: born and has grown up mostly in Mexico. Last time
Speaker 1: I visited Cuba, I was pregnant with him. My other
Speaker 1: son was a toddler all the time, so he has
Speaker 1: no memories of that busy either. Lunga, I don't feel
Speaker 1: very Cuban because I have never been to Cuba, he
Speaker 1: tells me. Sea. I tell him, you have been to Cuba,
Speaker 1: but he says inside my Tommy doesn't count. Of all
Speaker 1: the things that make me proud of Santiago is that,
Speaker 1: even at his young age, he's able to recognize and
Speaker 1: express his opinion, even to adults and even to me. Cula,
Speaker 1: I have never seen Cuba. Tago is right. He has
Speaker 1: never seen the place where I was born. Tago has
Speaker 1: not walked in my beautiful Havana where I spent my
Speaker 1: life until I was born teen. I left Cuba because
Speaker 1: I wanted to be closer to my dad, my mom,
Speaker 1: who also left my brothers, and the rest of my family.
Speaker 1: But it came with a price, very limited access to Cuba,
Speaker 1: to the place that once was home. I can visit
Speaker 1: the island as a tourist, not as a journalist, but
Speaker 1: even as a tourist, I suspect the government could be
Speaker 1: monitoring my work or my Twitter account, and I can
Speaker 1: be called in for questioning while on the island. To
Speaker 1: be honest, I have been a bit scared to go
Speaker 1: back for that reason. But I was excited to visit
Speaker 1: Cuba for this podcast. My husband and my sons even
Speaker 1: wanted to come along. Jorge, my oldest who goes by Koke,
Speaker 1: was looking forward to it.
Speaker 6: Less to It's okay, Simpremius Kumano.
Speaker 1: You have always talked about Cuba so much that I
Speaker 1: crave to go, Coca says, this is the sacrifice I
Speaker 1: paid to live the life I wanted. That my children
Speaker 1: do not know my homeland, they don't identify as Cuban,
Speaker 1: but I still see glimpses of Cuba, and my kids
Speaker 1: like when they are a little naughty and sacno when
Speaker 1: they are frustrated or surprised. It is a swear word,
Speaker 1: but I love when I hear them saying it. I
Speaker 1: recently told my dad about it. I told my dad
Speaker 1: how happy it made me. It is in the blood.
Speaker 1: My dad said, okay. My oldest is twelve years old.
Speaker 1: He loves reading, so he speaks very proper, like a
Speaker 1: little adult. He told me something I had not realized.
Speaker 1: He noticed. He told me he saw what the similarity
Speaker 1: was between Alan's story and mine. Passion familiar, tramitil, tramitielramite,
Speaker 1: a complicated family separation, except Elean was reunited with his
Speaker 1: family in Cuba and I was reunited with my family
Speaker 1: in the United States after many years. Yo, tengo the better,
Speaker 1: not than I got the possibility to shoot where I live,
Speaker 1: what I say, what I do for a living, how
Speaker 1: to make money. But Liang got something I didn't, Misi,
Speaker 1: Who's the second? I missed so many things, like the
Speaker 1: sound of the drums down the street from my Grandma's
Speaker 1: house and the salt on my nose when we walk
Speaker 1: in a malekon. I missed the frank and direct a
Speaker 1: way people speak in Cuba, even if we're considered rude
Speaker 1: by people from abroad. I miss that feeling of belonging,
Speaker 1: of not needing to explain myself. Once I was in
Speaker 1: a club in New Orleans dancing with my husband, and
Speaker 1: the singer, who did not know me, said, let's cheer
Speaker 1: for the Cuban dancer we have tonight. I asked her
Speaker 1: how she knew I'm Cuba. Only Cubans can dance like you, girl.
Speaker 4: She said.
Speaker 1: I treasure that moment, Miki, after all. During one of
Speaker 1: his rare interviews with US media as an adult, Alien
Speaker 1: said something I agreed with.
Speaker 6: I want to then punto Herita Ferente boy, still.
Speaker 5: Differentia Politic is a band.
Speaker 1: Everyone can hold different ideological and political views. But we
Speaker 1: don't have to be separated as people, he said.
Speaker 7: Is a Bandla familia.
Speaker 1: We don't have to be separating families. He said. I
Speaker 1: am grateful I'm not separated from my children and that
Speaker 1: I can pass down my heritage to Cuban music like
Speaker 1: Silvia Rodriez. For example. Now my son Koke is a
Speaker 1: fan of Silvia's love songs.
Speaker 6: It is common deskuriminental kisimprestuo kurito.
Speaker 1: Cuban music, and Silvia was a discovery that was hidden
Speaker 1: in me. Kok recently told me. For many Cuban exiles
Speaker 1: in the United States, even mentioned in Silvio is taboo,
Speaker 1: as he is considered a defender of the Cuban Revolution
Speaker 1: for many years. But I grew up listening to him.
Speaker 1: He is part of the story of my life and
Speaker 1: the life of many other Cubans. And then there is
Speaker 1: the literature. I am remarried and divorced from the father
Speaker 1: of my sons. So when Koka spends time with his
Speaker 1: dad and he misses me, he reads Leda Deo, the
Speaker 1: most famous book of the Cuban poet and independence hero
Speaker 1: Jose martizim is a li It is a book that
Speaker 1: means a lot for many Cubans, and it is also
Speaker 1: the book that Videl Castro gave to Elian upon his
Speaker 1: return to Cuba. My son Coke doesn't care about the
Speaker 1: political uses of the book. He just cares that it
Speaker 1: reminds him of me. Miami, Yesusta, and I asked him,
Speaker 1: when we go to Miami together and you see me
Speaker 1: in my Cuban and element dancing, eating my favorite meals,
Speaker 1: recovering full in my accent, do you like Italy. It's
Speaker 1: it's so pleasant to see you that way. Gok tells me.
Speaker 1: It's like being home. It's so natural. I remember from
Speaker 1: when I was a baby. I hear my children and
Speaker 1: I recognize what they are telling me. Remember the word
Speaker 1: Coke used when he said he wanted to go to Cuba.
Speaker 1: Com He said he had that craving to go. Craving
Speaker 1: develops from having something and then wanting it again, remembering
Speaker 1: what it tastes like in your mouth. Something in Cocay
Speaker 1: longs for Cuba, maybe even recognizes it, just like Cuban music,
Speaker 1: a discovery that was already inside. My son said. And
Speaker 1: when they see me dancing salsa, Kogi told me, come on,
Speaker 1: start coming, it's like being home. It is my hole
Speaker 1: that one day my children will experience Cuba like a
Speaker 1: Lian's child has. That one day there will be no
Speaker 1: need for families or people to separate like a lean,
Speaker 1: said Liza Bandor. We don't need to keep separating people.
Speaker 1: We don't need more kids growing up without their parents,
Speaker 1: and we don't need your politics telling us how to live.
Speaker 1: I dream about a day when the water's between my
Speaker 1: homeland and my new home will not represent a wound,
Speaker 1: a divide in line between people's But until then, Cuba,
Speaker 1: my homeland, is inside of me, in my music, my books,
Speaker 1: my accent, my beliefs, and to my children, I am Cuba,
Speaker 1: a Cuba that they have come to love, even from
Speaker 1: the other side of the ocean. And Lean survived jess
Speaker 1: Peace Belian Gonzales Story is a production of Utuda Studios
Speaker 1: in partnership with Iheart's Michael Tura podcast Network. This show
Speaker 1: is written and reported by me Pennilei Ramdez with Maria Garcia,
Speaker 1: Nicole Rothwell, and Tasha Sandoval. Our editor is Maria Garcia,
Speaker 1: additional editing by Marlon Bishop. Our senior producer is Nicole Rothwell.
Speaker 1: Our associate producers are Tasha Sandoval and Elisabeth Loental Torres.
Speaker 1: Sound designed by Jacob Rosati with help from Julia Caruso,
Speaker 1: and our intern is Evely Fajardo Alvares. Our senior production
Speaker 1: manager is Jessica Elis, with production supports from Nancy to Hillo,
Speaker 1: Francis Poon and Lodimar Martuez. Mixing by Stephanie Levo, Julia
Speaker 1: Caruso and j J Caruvin, fat checking by Media Bautista,
Speaker 1: Scoring and musical creation by Jacob Rossati and Stephanielevo and
Speaker 1: credits music from Los Aceros or. Executive producers are Marlon
Speaker 1: Bishop and Maria Garcia. Legal review by Neil Rossini. Whuturo
Speaker 1: Media was founded by Maria Inovosa. For more podcasts, listen
Speaker 1: to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows A Penileira Mirez, See you in
Speaker 1: the next episode Novemo, Henessey and Episodia. To end this
Speaker 1: season of Chess Peace, we are going to bring you
Speaker 1: bonus content this next two weeks. Extended the interviews from
Speaker 1: or reputting of the Lian Gonzales story. Next week, I
Speaker 1: am co hosting with Tasha Sandoval and we are discussing
Speaker 1: how the Lian saga impacted the Quban exiled community. See
Speaker 1: you then for our first bonus episode. Novemo episode of
Speaker 1: the Bonus