WEBVTT - The Rescue 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:17.200 The water changes from a beautiful shade of teal to 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:22.400 sapphire blue. When there's a storm, it looks almost black. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.880 It is a narrow strip of water, the space between 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:34.400 two landmasks, a place with dolphins and sharks and early 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.280 seven hundred species of marine life, more than any other 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.960 place in the Atlantic Ocean. It's a life giving place, 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:49.239 but it's also volatile, erratic taking life, and this stretch 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.879 of sea has often been deadly for people trying to 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.120 get from one side to the other. From Cuba, where 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.280 I was born, to Florida, where much my family now leaves. 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.480 The water in between these two places halts memories of 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.720 countless storms. I'm going to tell you about one of 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.360 these storms, a storm from twenty five years ago. 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:28.880 That morning, the seas were really rough, eight to twelve 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.600 foot swells, and the sky, i remember, was black to 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:38.959 one side, and daylight was coming up, and there was 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:40.280 like a rainbow out there. 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:42.800 This is the natal about Rinple. 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:47.360 He's been in Florida for years, a storm doesn't face him. 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.400 So on Thanksgiving nineteen ninety nine, he went to his 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.240 cousin Sam's house to go fishing. 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.000 Only for him to tell me that we weren't going 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.120 to go fishing because the Marine advisory was saying that 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.520 it was too rough to be out on the ocean 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:03.360 that day. 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.560 But Donato and his cousin braave the aftermath of the 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.800 storm anyways, and then they see something in the water, 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:16.040 and we. 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.840 Ran across an inner tube and that's where it began 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:24.600 for me. We found a little boy floating about three 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:27.160 miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:31.760 That little boy was five year old Alean Gonzalez. He 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.520 had been floating in the ocean for at least a day, 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:39.320 maybe two. The legend is that he was protected by 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:43.639 dolphins in the dark, dangerous storm waters. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.480 It looked like a little angel. 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:47.000 I mean, it looks so fresh. 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:52.040 An angel of a boy saved by dolphins. What an image, 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.920 what a story. Little did they not to know this 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:00.240 strong storm in the ocean will actually bring more, more 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.559 forceful storms, a political and legal storm. 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.040 He was cut in the crossfire between two governments, and 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.400 not just him, All Cubans are caught in that cross fire. 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:13.400 The law is very clear. 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:21.960 An abandoned child belongs with his father in particle prove. 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:25.840 The equat. 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.840 It was a very close pivotal controversial election year, and 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.320 we all remember what happened, right George W. Bush defeated 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.240 Al Gore and what state was the deciding state of Florida? 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:44.640 A media storm. 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.080 Tensions between the United States and Cuba get hotter every 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.240 day six year old Cuban refugee Ilian Gonzales remains in 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:51.840 this country. 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.280 It was impossible to not be aware that something big 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.640 was happening in association with Elian Gonzalez. 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.040 In three minutes, six year old Ellly Young Gunzas, dressed 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.040 in a T shirt, draped in fear. 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:06.000 Was gone. 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.760 It was before Lean and after Alian. It definitely marked 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.600 a line in the story in the history of the 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.960 Cuban exile in the United States, especially in Miami. 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.880 And a storm within a family. I feel that he 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:23.839 deserves to be here. 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:25.880 That's what his mom wanted it. 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.039 His mom is first to me. 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:32.040 Family. 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.839 We want him to be in a free country with 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:43.200 his father, not alone. We want his father to be 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.360 with him. Okay, we want his father to be with him, 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:47.200 but free. 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.640 As we all know, when Alan came and found himself 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:54.120 lonely in this country, without no family, without his dad, 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.120 I was there and so was my family supporting that 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.120 why are we giving the opportunity at this point? So 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:01.039 speak for him. 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:06.440 All of these storms will tear a family apart, several 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:11.640 entire communities. Some say the termine the fate of the 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.960 two thousand US presidential election. And in the eye of 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:29.400 these storms, this little boy, I'm pennilea miss and this 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:34.320 is chess peace. The Elian Gonzalez Story. This is a 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:39.880 production of Ututa Studios in partnership with Iheartsmichael Tura podcast Network. 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.279 Before I tell you more about these storms from twenty 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.280 five years ago, I want to introduce myself. I'm an 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:58.080 investigated reporter who built my career in Mexico City. We 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.280 put in on cartels and political corruption. 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:10.200 Ses the Esta Pista and Grasnrado spegan Gala Manires. 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.800 But now I want to tell you a story closer 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:16.320 to home. One that I relate to was a Cuban 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:21.279 as someone who, similar to Elian, was separated from my father. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.039 I was raised in Cuba, but lived most of my 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.720 life in Mexico. A few years ago, I moved to 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.440 New York. You can hear my accent. I haven't been 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.160 here for long. I want to tell you a Lian's 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.640 story in a New way. As someone who was raised 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:43.640 in Cuba but whose family has been in Miami for decades, 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:48.159 I have experienced both of the very divided sides that 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.560 animated Alian's story, a story that has proven to be 0:06:52.640 --> 0:07:03.040 one of the most difficult of my career. As the 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:07.200 sun rose on Fansgiving Day in nineteen ninety nine, Donato 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.560 and his cousin Sam were fishing for Mahi mahi seaweed 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:16.240 and the bree pepper dark ocean waters. They had fifties 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.000 music playing on the radio. 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.720 I remember the stinker round bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.240 tooty fruity. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.400 Sam told Donato the mahi mahi liked to hide in things. 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:31.440 Donato was on the lookout. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.640 That's when something caught his eyes some twenty five yards away. 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.000 I said, like over there by that inner tube, and 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.960 my cousin said, because you had gone over the inner tube. 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.679 And as they got closer, Donato told Sam, there's. 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.360 A dead person on this inner tube because he goes, no, no, 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.600 he goes, it's a sick joke that somebody would tie 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.720 a doll to this inner tube. 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:57.680 His cousin brought it off, thinking someone was messing with them, 0:07:57.960 --> 0:07:58.520 and then. 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.560 I looked again, and I seen a hand move, and 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:03.840 I told my cousin, You're not gonna believe this. I said, yes, 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.600 that person I thought was dead must be alive because 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:10.760 the hand moved. My cousin knew I wouldn't joke like 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:11.400 that with him. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:12.640 He goes, hurry, Herry here. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.040 They put the boat in gear and raced to the 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:16.679 inner tube. 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.920 Before I can blink my eye, my cousin was in 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.200 the water and he's screaming, it's a baby, it's a baby. 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.120 And I'm thinking myself, a baby. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:26.880 A frozen panic. 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.400 The next thing he remembers is his cousin Sam pushing 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.720 up this little body from the ocean. 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.880 What he said was a baby became a little five. 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:39.520 Year old boy, Elian Gonzalez. 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:46.080 Elian Gonzalezalez. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.760 When I got him into my arms and I asked him, 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:55.880 I said, oh, you okay, and he didn't answer me, 0:08:56.360 --> 0:09:00.160 and I said, pabo suspanol, and he said, see. 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:04.280 They gave the little boy some orange juice and a sweatshirt. 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:06.679 Donato saw he was scared. 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.640 He made like a sour face, like he wanted to cry, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:11.640 but he never cried. 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:17.480 Donato is a religious man and considers himself a missionary. 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.440 He was overcome with emotion. 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.640 I just looked up towards heaven. I didn't realize at 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.600 that moment that this would become another mission for me. 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.760 Eleian would become a mission for more than just Donato. 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:39.120 Eleian would become a cast on both sides of the 0:09:39.160 --> 0:10:01.400 Florida Strates. When Donato and s rescued Alien from the boat, 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.079 they called Sam's then wife, Nola, and she called nine 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.560 one one. Soon the coast Guard was on its way. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:10.959 And the first thing I said to the coast Guard 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.120 while we were on there, I said, is this boy 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:15.959 going to be able to make it to land? 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:22.240 The coast Guard took Elian to land. When they go 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:26.040 to the coast, an ambulance and the media were waiting 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:26.679 for Elian. 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.199 See do you know this boy? Yeah, we found. 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.960 You know, this beautiful little boy and his beautiful you know, 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:40.720 big eyes and smooth, smooth skin and a big bright smile. 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.280 It was like a miracle, right, a Thanksgiving miracle. 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:50.280 That's policer prise winning Quean American historian Ada Fere. The 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.600 fact that he was found on Thanksgiving is one of 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:58.599 those details that make Elian's origin story in the US 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:03.160 almost sacred. Over and over we spoke with people who 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.880 tell us something like this, so. 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:13.080 Most you know, like a biblical story. It was poetic ramifications. 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:17.360 He represented something, he represented a miracle. 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:21.480 And this became a symbol to them of the failure. 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.400 Of the communist system and the hope of the capitalist system, 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.400 the American system. 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.920 Thanksgiving is an American holiday, but it is a holiday 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:32.880 that people reflect. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.280 Eleon plays into that this is Cuban American. 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:41.240 Former Congressman Jogarcia, we talked about the symbolism of Ileane 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.880 arriving in the US on one of the holidays most 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:46.680 meaningful to Cubans here. 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.560 I don't know if you've ever had Cuban Thanksgiving, but 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.320 it transmograification occurs. 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:52.520 Right. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.480 They take a dry piece of turkey meat and they 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:57.080 make it taste like pork. 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.480 And yes, I have had this turkey transmuted into pork 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.959 many times. My family have lived in Miami for decades 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.320 and I have celebrated many Thanksgivings there. 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:14.160 Somehow, just like you know, a priest turns water into wine, 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.880 Cubans take a turkey, which is inedible, they fill with 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:22.760 pork and meat ground beef inside. Then they cover the 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.880 turkey in bacon, and then they cook it with moho 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.760 and what comes out is a pork. It may be 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:31.839 a turkey, but it tastes like pork, right, and. 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:34.120 It's delicious, And it's delicious. 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.600 I could see the congressman getting emotional about Qan Thanksgiving, 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.480 and I get it. For Cubans in the US, this 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:48.600 holiday holds a greater significance. It's a profound celebration for us, 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.040 right with meaning, and. 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:56.920 So many times when you are celebrating Thanksgiving, you are 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:58.280 thinking of those that can. 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.560 It's easy to get lost in the symbolism of Elian's rescue, 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:12.040 the image of an angel faced voy surrounded by dolphins in. 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.800 The dark seas, rescued. 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:19.199 On Thanksgiving of all days. But behind these idealistic symbols 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:24.439 there was a heroine journey. Cuban journalist Harold Calinas. 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.160 I think it's easy to forget that these childhood events 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:33.120 are a trauma for Alien, and people often talk to 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.600 him in Cuba like this is just a political event, 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.680 But for him, this is the death of his mother. 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:48.120 Elean, like me, grew up in Cuba between the worst parents. 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.560 His name is actually a combination of his parents' first 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:56.120 names Elizabeth and Jamiel. It had been Elean's mother who 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.720 decided to raise that narrow strip. 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.080 Of see to get to it in States. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.480 On the Sunday before Thanksgiving of nineteen ninety nine, she 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:11.960 took Elean, with her boyfriend, Rafa, and much of his 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:17.080 family to flee Cuba on Afflotia across the Florida Straits 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:21.480 to the United States. Elizabeth surely knew the risks. She 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.800 had dressed Elian in old orange, a colored fisherman had 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.360 told her would protect him against charts. 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:33.200 They hit bad weather the boat had started taking on water. 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.040 A giant wave flipped the boat over and left a 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:41.600 group of fourteen with only two inner tubes. One of 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.400 Raffa's brothers said he. 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.160 Could see the shore, maybe we can swim there, but 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.080 they were nowhere near the shore. 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:53.720 That's again Donato the rescue. From the beginning of the episode, 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:58.640 Alien's mother's boyfriend, Rafa, attempted to rescue his brother, who 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:00.120 had tried to swim. 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.160 To sure but nobody returned. 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.080 When Rafa's mother realized her sons had drowned, she let 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:13.680 go of her inner te Soon there were only four 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:18.120 people left, Elian and his mother Elizabeth and a young 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:23.440 couple Nevaldo Fernandez and Arian Orta. This couple was much 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:28.920 less in the media spotlight than Allan, but they also survived. Later, 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.200 Nvaldo would tell reporters Elizabeth's last words to. 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:38.960 Him and would tell me, take care of you, take 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:39.360 care of. 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:46.360 The board, trying to make it to land of free make. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.760 Sure that the child touches land in the United States. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.040 That night on the ocean, the inner tubes somehow were separated. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:59.960 Years later, Eleann will say he was in and out 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.800 of sleep on the inner tube and at some point 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.560 he raised his head and he didn't see his mom 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:11.800 and daldoes abamay she lost her life to save mine. 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:18.240 Elizabeth drowned protecting Elian. Her body was never found, lost 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:23.920 forever in this stretch of sea. The last thing Elian 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.960 remembered was looking up and being alone in the middle 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:34.240 of the sea. From there, Eleian traveled some thirty five 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:39.440 miles north alone toward Donato, and his cousin found him 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:45.400 that Thanksgiving Day. Elean later told journalist Diane Sawyer that 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.080 he awoke at night on this journey alone in the 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.280 sea and saw dolphins protecting him. 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:58.320 Wept some time drawing some waves a dolphin. 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:03.680 Himself in an inner tube me. 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:05.520 He said, I was sinking. 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:14.560 After the rescue, the cost guard took Elan, Donato and 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:18.600 his cousin Sam to land and from there Elian was 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:22.320 wrapped up in a thick blanket by medics, where news 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:26.439 footage captured his dazed, scared look on his face. 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.840 Where's he going out? 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.360 As they loaded Alan on the stretcher into the ambulance, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:40.000 Sam and Donato both patted him with care on his head. 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.080 They then follow Elian to the hospital. 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:48.040 That's today that I met Lazaro's uncle Delphine, which was 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.680 the great uncle, and Mary Lacy's. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.160 This is the Gonzales family of Miami. Elian's paternal great 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.680 uncles Lasaro and the Finn, and his second cousin Mary Less. 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:03.400 It's just a miracle. 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:06.879 God wanted him here for freedom. 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.480 Thanks here, and he's here. 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:10.760 And he will get it. 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:15.080 They knew Elian was coming because his father's family in 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:19.440 Cuba had called a few days before. Once they realized 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.600 Elean was taken by his mom, it would be the 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:27.280 first collect call of many during this saga. Puamillel eventually 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:30.960 sold his nineteen fifty six Nash ramble. 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:32.760 To afford all these calls. 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:38.280 The day after Thanksgiving, Elian was released from the hospital. 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:43.840 The former Immigration and Naturalization Service or I ins placed 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:48.040 Elian in temporary care with his relatives in Miami. 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:54.240 Policies and protocols were executed, and at the time it 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:58.080 required that he be placed into the care and custody 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.199 of the closest and media r relatives, which he was. 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.840 This is Jim Goldman, a former Ironist special agent who 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:06.800 worked the case. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.399 And that's sort of when it all began. 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.840 The storm in the ocean had subsided, but the tempest 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:46.239 was just beginning. When Eleane was rescued at sea. I 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:50.000 was a pre teen in Lawanna. I was born there 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:53.360 in nineteen eighty seven, just a few years before the 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:54.680 fall of the Berlin Wall. 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:57.800 The Iron curtain between East Germany and West Berlin has 0:19:57.840 --> 0:19:59.159 come tumbling down. 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.040 East Germany and and that meant a lot of changes 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:03.200 for my little island. 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.119 The embargo is finally having the effect on cashrew that 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:08.720 has been intended all along. 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.600 It's time to tighten the screws, not loose on the screws. 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.919 What I remember most was how poor the country was 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:22.440 with the Soviet Union falling apart and the US embargo 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:28.040 in place, cub Us foreign trade suffered drastically. We lived 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:33.360 in a scarcity, with no public transportation, no access to gasoline, 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:39.240 and almost no food. Havana was full of people biking everywhere, 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:44.400 and to me, everyone looked tired and thin. We had 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:48.640 four hours of electricity and then four hours without when 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:53.320 the electricity came back guandol Via la Loose, I remember 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.159 the collective celebration. 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:57.199 Bin Nola lu Forola lous. 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.840 I remember the happiness, the screens and everyone turning on 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:08.280 their televisions to watch the Delenoela. I lived mostly with 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:13.160 my mother stepfather brother ann Auela Delia, in an apartment 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:18.239 in Lositios, a Barrio Ravo, a dangerous neighborhood, but I 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:22.919 never felt unsafe. My mom was all about education and rules. 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.600 She was loving and straight. Some of my biggest life 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:31.320 lessons that I carry with me are from her. Every 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:34.639 two weeks I would visit my dad, my step mom, 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:38.360 and my little brother Juankey in the outstairs of Havana. 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:42.680 My dad would buy some seven miles or take an 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.520 old train to pick me up and drop me off 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.080 at my dad's. I felt more free He lived in 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:53.560 a tiny apartment inside a solar, the Cuban name for 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.879 places with rooms around apatio, sometimes with restrooms the whole 0:21:57.920 --> 0:21:58.720 building shared. 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:07.639 That's what he also Papa. 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.600 This is my dad who always calls me money short 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:12.240 for Mineka. 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:13.800 Do you guys look alike. 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.040 See me Money. 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:23.000 We're super close and trust each other with anything. 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:30.520 The time you need a secretis. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:33.000 A year before Elean was rescued. My father told me 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:38.359 a secret one, but I couldn't tell a soul. My 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:42.359 dad was a coach for Cuba's national diving team. In 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:45.720 nineteen ninety eight, he was headed to South Florida for 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.120 an international diving competition. 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.679 Before he left, he told me, he. 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:58.440 Said, money in Noway Reserve. He wouldn't be coming back 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:07.000 to Cuba, and I will be staying in Cuba. 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:08.720 It was a dangerous secret. 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:12.080 If I told my father could get in trouble with 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:15.920 the government. He could be prevented from traveling or even 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:21.440 go to jail. And it's something nearly three decades later 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:25.439 that my dad and I have never really talked about 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:30.320 until now, until I started digging into my memories of 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:33.200 Cuba during my reporting for this podcast. 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:41.679 Rago Avenia a Dando migaison. 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:45.600 Leaving Cuba was something that had been weighing on him. 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:49.280 He wanted to find a life with more food and 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:50.640 more freedom. 0:23:53.200 --> 0:24:01.920 In Josavaka Dimpo and padan moment when he decided to leave, 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:05.399 he had no idea when we will be able to 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:10.000 see each other again. I go the ako to talk again. 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:16.560 But my father wanted me to know the truth. So 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:23.439 my father went to Florida and never came back. He 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.560 found a job at a public pool, teaching kids how 0:24:26.600 --> 0:24:30.239 to swim. Most of them were second generation immigrants from 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:35.000 Latin America. Recently I spoke with some of the swimmers 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:35.640 he coaches. 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:43.160 He was my coach, a father figure, a grandpa, someone 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:44.840 you can ask advice for. 0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:48.520 His everything, He's my everything. 0:24:50.520 --> 0:24:54.040 It makes me emotional hearing his students calling him family. 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:59.720 They got to be with my dad for so many years. 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:00.159 Something that was taken from me. 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:12.280 In nineteen ninety eight, when my dad didn't return to Cuba, 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:15.320 he was marked as a traitor by the Cuban government 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:18.479 and my family paid the consequences. 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:24.880 Okay, can you parad kua no so in the sector 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:27.560 Yoso jun trailer. 0:25:27.920 --> 0:25:31.440 We were forbidden from leaving Cuba or seeing my dad 0:25:31.600 --> 0:25:36.399 for at least three years. He lost all parents, our rights. 0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:39.880 Oh say you feel direction. 0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:42.879 And superdo. 0:25:44.560 --> 0:25:48.840 To be Cuban like Elyan and me means that governments 0:25:48.960 --> 0:25:52.000 and their policies dictate if you can grow up with 0:25:52.119 --> 0:25:56.879 your parents. More often than not, the policies separate us 0:25:58.560 --> 0:26:02.280 as short now eighty mile stretch of ocean apart. 0:26:07.160 --> 0:26:15.680 Taking our shoes off to get onto the sand in 0:26:15.880 --> 0:26:20.119 the hot no, I feel I'm burning. Oh Jesus, Oh 0:26:20.200 --> 0:26:23.840 I can't do it. Oh my Okay, we're putting our 0:26:23.840 --> 0:26:24.520 shoes back. 0:26:26.240 --> 0:26:29.680 While reputting in Florida producer Tashas and Dovala and I 0:26:29.960 --> 0:26:33.040 tried to take a peaceful break at the beach, but 0:26:33.240 --> 0:26:35.840 the sun is too hot even in May. 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:40.240 So right now we're standing in a beautiful white sand 0:26:40.400 --> 0:26:44.680 beach and next to four dollars though, And we're just 0:26:45.160 --> 0:26:48.560 a few steps from the station of the US Coast 0:26:48.560 --> 0:26:51.920 Guard here in this place, and this is a station 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:56.400 where Elean Gonzalez was taken after he was found three 0:26:56.520 --> 0:26:58.639 miles from here in the middle of the ocean. 0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:03.480 It's a bit disorienting because the trees and land here 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:05.320 resemble the beaches. 0:27:05.440 --> 0:27:07.040 I remember as a kid in. 0:27:07.160 --> 0:27:10.760 Cuba, you can hear the airplanes from here because the 0:27:10.800 --> 0:27:16.000 airport it's so close. So it's this paradox of it 0:27:16.040 --> 0:27:18.800 could be so easy to get here, but it's so 0:27:19.080 --> 0:27:20.760 dangerous and so difficult. 0:27:22.000 --> 0:27:27.359 I look at the water today, is pristine, crystalline, calm. 0:27:28.240 --> 0:27:31.080 It makes me think of the beauty so many people 0:27:31.200 --> 0:27:36.680 describing Alian's rescue, the dolphins protecting this angelic boy on 0:27:36.880 --> 0:27:45.840 Thanksgiving Day. It's a poetic visual, but the Lian's story, 0:27:46.240 --> 0:27:49.960 just like the ocean, is darker than its glowing surface. 0:27:50.920 --> 0:27:54.280 We cannot know for certain that there were dolphins that 0:27:54.440 --> 0:27:57.760 protected a lan and maybe his face looked like an 0:27:57.800 --> 0:28:02.560