Speaker 1: Jim Goldman, the agent in charge of the rape that
Speaker 1: removed Ilam from his Miami family home, now sat with
Speaker 1: a young boy in a leer jet. The two were
Speaker 1: on the way to reunite Alan with his father. As
Speaker 1: they flew over two hours to the DC area, the
Speaker 1: sun rose. Once they landed, Alien's father, Emil Gonzalez, came
Speaker 1: onto the lear jet.
Speaker 2: I handed only into mister Gonzales and both of them.
Speaker 2: If anybody ever thought that this was staged or artificial,
Speaker 2: they're so wrong, because I was sitting right there and
Speaker 2: both of them were in tears, hugging each other, and
Speaker 2: they embraced what seemed like a long time. There was
Speaker 2: truly a sincere reunion. My son was exactly the same
Speaker 2: age as Allien at the time, so I looked at
Speaker 2: this is how happy would I be if somebody put
Speaker 2: my child in my arms.
Speaker 1: This scene of Elian and his father embrace him for
Speaker 1: a long time reminded me of something I.
Speaker 3: Read about them.
Speaker 1: When Elea lived in Cuba, he split his time between
Speaker 1: his mom and dad, and during their drop offs, his
Speaker 1: father and him had a special goodbye ritual. Ellen and
Speaker 1: his dad would give each other a racitos little hugs
Speaker 1: over and over again. One friend said sometimes their goodbyes
Speaker 1: would take ten minutes. As an adult, Elean said in
Speaker 1: an interview with Cuban Press Dad and Memorial Mafelisa Kengo
Speaker 1: and Momentum Contra Momental Bad he speaks with emotion in
Speaker 1: his voice, saying that reuniting with his dad was one
Speaker 1: of the happiest moments of his life. Reunions are powerful,
Speaker 1: in particular for Cuban families who have been torn apart
Speaker 1: by theopolitics. Our reunion is the first step in treating
Speaker 1: the wound. It stops the bleeding. But the Gonzales family
Speaker 1: had a new woe to tend to Mary LASiS and
Speaker 1: the Miami relatives wearing despair after Elean was taken from them,
Speaker 1: and the Gonzalezes of Miami were determined to get him back.
Speaker 4: And I demand, and I think I have the rights
Speaker 4: to see this boy, because I've taken care of this
Speaker 4: boy for five months when the father wasn't here for him.
Speaker 1: Most too want exiles in Miami agreed with Mary Leasis.
Speaker 3: The city was a blaze.
Speaker 5: This is the last thing I can assure you that
Speaker 5: the Cuban American leadership in this community wanted to see
Speaker 5: the streets literally burning now another tire.
Speaker 6: Miami was all in mourning for Ilian. They were just
Speaker 6: I think they were shocked. They had expected the raid
Speaker 6: to happen, but were shocked when it happened. They were saddened.
Speaker 6: I think people felt powerless because they hadn't been able
Speaker 6: to stop it.
Speaker 1: Miami. Two ones could not stop the government from taking
Speaker 1: it Yan, but they could show their anger by protesting.
Speaker 7: Dear gas.
Speaker 8: Tear gas.
Speaker 4: Johnny, come back to us, Chazz right now, Chazz, right now, Chaz,
Speaker 4: come back to us, right now.
Speaker 1: Chet And the future of Illana and his father was
Speaker 1: a seal in the hands of the US legal system.
Speaker 9: Look like soldiers are firing tear gas.
Speaker 1: Later, Minus and this is chess Peace. The Elean Gonzalez
Speaker 1: Story a production of Duda Studios in partnership with Iheartsmichael.
Speaker 3: Durdah podcast Network.
Speaker 1: The day after the raid, the Gonzalezes of Miami called
Speaker 1: a news conference.
Speaker 10: What was done in my house.
Speaker 4: Was the worst thing that could have happened to a family.
Speaker 1: Twenty one year old Mary Lezy Gonzalez spoke alongside her
Speaker 1: family and Donato Dalrymple, the man who rescued Leannatzea. She
Speaker 1: reminded the cameras that it had been heard to pick
Speaker 1: Elean up from the hospital. She spoke and answered the
Speaker 1: press questions for over thirty minutes.
Speaker 3: She was distressed, but determined his.
Speaker 11: Father could have done this in a very peaceful way.
Speaker 11: We've always wanted to see him. My doors have always
Speaker 11: been opened to everybody.
Speaker 1: She stood surrounded by the press holding the iconic photo
Speaker 1: from the raid, Elianne screaming, crying in Donato's arms, with
Speaker 1: an agent pointing a gun in their direction. Mary Leacy's
Speaker 1: accused her cousin, Juan Miuel, for having a role in
Speaker 1: the violence that breached her home, rieping Elean away from her.
Speaker 11: And where is he that he couldn't prevent this and
Speaker 11: that he hasn't said anything about this? Is this a
Speaker 11: father that cares for the best entest of a child?
Speaker 1: And then there was a moment where she turned to
Speaker 1: the topic of elian.
Speaker 10: All I ask is.
Speaker 11: I need to see Elean and the conditions that they
Speaker 11: took this boy out of my house.
Speaker 10: I know he's not okay.
Speaker 1: Marie Lesey's tone changed when she spoke about Elean.
Speaker 10: She was vulnerable and I know this boy needs to
Speaker 10: see me too.
Speaker 1: In a twenty seventeen Ciena documentary, Eleann spoke about Mary
Speaker 1: Lacy's pain.
Speaker 3: One ofka Mary.
Speaker 1: Lease Mary Leasy's doesn't deserve my rage, he said, looking
Speaker 1: towards the camera.
Speaker 11: Da Karin.
Speaker 3: As a moment, she tried to.
Speaker 1: Give me the care I needed at that moment. It
Speaker 1: is that care that we all witnessed back then, Mary
Speaker 1: Lacy's and Eleane smiling together, hugging, seemingly happy.
Speaker 3: She is Malaysia.
Speaker 1: She was just a young girl, a young girl at
Speaker 1: a news conference after one of the most dramatic days
Speaker 1: of her life. As she went on, Mary Lecy's began
Speaker 1: to say things that to some people diminished her credibility.
Speaker 11: And the picture that they show with the father.
Speaker 10: That is not Alean.
Speaker 1: She spoke about a widely published photo of Eleane and
Speaker 1: Ramiel back together. In the photo, Elean is with his dad,
Speaker 1: his step mom, and his younger brother. Eleanne is in
Speaker 1: his dad's arms, the boy's hand around his father's neck,
Speaker 1: both of them smiling. Mary Lacy's questioned if it was
Speaker 1: really Alien in the photo, that hair.
Speaker 11: Is not Alan's. I'm the one that cuts Alian's hair
Speaker 11: and three days before I had given him a haircut.
Speaker 1: To me, this reveals something deeper about Mary Lacy's her
Speaker 1: despair at this moment. We only know Mary Lacy's from
Speaker 1: this face in her life, her as a young twenty
Speaker 1: one year old. Imagine if you were forever known and
Speaker 1: judged for how you reacted to one of the most
Speaker 1: agonizing moments in your life. I don't blame Mary Leasy's
Speaker 1: for choosing to live a private life after this saga.
Speaker 1: There is something powerful in being the focal point of
Speaker 1: one of the first viral stories and then saying this
Speaker 1: is my boundary and I will never cross it again.
Speaker 3: I respect that.
Speaker 1: For Eleian, the legal battle was not over yet, even
Speaker 1: though he was fineinally with his dad, because before the raid,
Speaker 1: the Miami family had.
Speaker 5: Filed a request for an injunction against irons, and the
Speaker 5: injunction would basically say he cannot be removed from the
Speaker 5: United States so long as this appeal is pending.
Speaker 1: Kendall Coffee, one of the family's lead attorneys. As a
Speaker 1: Lion's case continued to move through the courts, he was
Speaker 1: not allowed to leave the country, which meant to Lean
Speaker 1: and his dad were living in the US for now
Speaker 1: at least, and outside of the court rooms in Florida, people.
Speaker 2: Lit the city on fire. Here in Miami, they were
Speaker 2: rioting and they were breaking things, and they were destroying
Speaker 2: things in the Miami police had to come out.
Speaker 11: This is abuse, this is abused to the Cuman.
Speaker 12: I'm ashamed to be American.
Speaker 10: I'm a shame to be an American city. Let me
Speaker 10: ask you this, what do you think will happen now?
Speaker 11: Can will you express your anger?
Speaker 1: And nobody can tell.
Speaker 10: Nobody can tell what's gonna happen in the future.
Speaker 13: Nobody.
Speaker 6: At this point, it felt like Miami was all in
Speaker 6: mourning for Elian.
Speaker 14: There was a huge protest march down Kyoto and it
Speaker 14: was substantial, one of these few times where you actually
Speaker 14: have thousands of.
Speaker 1: People Guillermo Grenier Cuban American sociologist. But the government was
Speaker 1: not the only one getting criticized. There were also other
Speaker 1: Americans who spoke out against the Q and exiled community
Speaker 1: in Miami.
Speaker 14: And there was a counter demonstration. If you want to
Speaker 14: look at it that way, it wasn't so much against Eleon,
Speaker 14: but it was to support Janet Reno and then to
Speaker 14: say that Eleon should go.
Speaker 1: Back to the Dad over eighty percent of Cuban Americans,
Speaker 1: though the Elian case left a black mark on the
Speaker 1: reputation in the country according to a later poll, perhaps
Speaker 1: because after the raid, they witnessed a new group of
Speaker 1: people taken to the streets in Miami.
Speaker 14: It was a midley crew of people that were trying
Speaker 14: to express their opinions about Eleon, about immigration, about the
Speaker 14: Democratic Party, the Republican Party. You had good old boys
Speaker 14: and pickup trucks with Confederate flags driving down the street
Speaker 14: with signs saying send them all.
Speaker 8: Back, we won't larn it back now.
Speaker 14: So you had a kind of a counter demonstration that
Speaker 14: was against the immigrant agenda of Miami Day Count, which
Speaker 14: is dominantly Cuban.
Speaker 1: As Miami burned, Joe Garcia was called to lead the
Speaker 1: Cuban American National Foundation.
Speaker 15: Sometimes you can be right about something and people don't
Speaker 15: agree with you, but you still have a responsibility as
Speaker 15: a leader to protect your people from the loss.
Speaker 1: He was tasked with damage control because things were not
Speaker 1: looking good for the exiled community.
Speaker 3: When you say that we lost, you mean you lost
Speaker 3: the narrative or the legal case, or both.
Speaker 2: We were losing both right. At that point, we were
Speaker 2: losing both.
Speaker 1: In the aftermath of the raid, the leader of this
Speaker 1: powerful Cuban American organization admitted they were losing the narrative.
Speaker 1: The Cuban community was no longer seeing just as allies
Speaker 1: of the US pushing for democracy on our homeland. There
Speaker 1: was also a new perception about US Cubans as troublemaker immigrants,
Speaker 1: ungrateful to the US and disrespectful to US law. As
Speaker 1: a legal case continued, Gregory Craig, j Emiel's lawyer, stepped
Speaker 1: outside the chore room to speak with the press. It
Speaker 1: was hard to hear him over the protest and outrage
Speaker 1: from the Cuban American community.
Speaker 16: The issue as whether a remote relative over the attractions
Speaker 16: of a sick and loving father n forced the Irons
Speaker 16: to accept and process in the fire application of crime,
Speaker 16: which had read and told, considerably destroyed Ron Miguel's the
Speaker 16: rental rights and dismantled his family, and.
Speaker 3: Then Emiel received some good news.
Speaker 1: The court sided with the Irons, saying that only Jamiel
Speaker 1: had authority to speak for his son. In a press
Speaker 1: conference after the ruling, Ramiel seemed more relaxed and confident.
Speaker 17: Yoga mobim heco.
Speaker 1: In the course decision, he said, as his father, I
Speaker 1: am the one who can speak for my son.
Speaker 9: Made.
Speaker 17: Minaraila in necessiety, I mean want the profumia.
Speaker 1: I love him so much and I really want all
Speaker 1: of this to be over so that we can return
Speaker 1: to our home with my son and all my family,
Speaker 1: and for this not to take any longer. Yet, Jamiel
Speaker 1: and Elan could still not leave. The injunction petitioned by
Speaker 1: the Miami family lawyers was still in place parrying Elian
Speaker 1: and his dad's departure. Attorney General Areno gave her own
Speaker 1: press conference after the ruling.
Speaker 12: I am hopeful that this matter will soon reach a
Speaker 12: final resolution so that Alian, his father, and the family
Speaker 12: may resume their lives away from the scrutiny of the
Speaker 12: media and the uncertainty that the legal battle has caused
Speaker 12: for his entire family.
Speaker 3: And two weeks later, the.
Speaker 2: Family tries to get the full court of.
Speaker 1: Appeals Bernie Permotter, family law professor who you have heard
Speaker 1: throughout the series. A week later, the federal appeals courts
Speaker 1: declined to hear the case.
Speaker 12: Furder.
Speaker 1: The lower courts had decided that Elean had no independent
Speaker 1: claim to asylum and only his biological father could speak
Speaker 1: for him. That's when the Miami family had won last.
Speaker 2: Bite at the apple, and that was two petitions the
Speaker 2: Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: The justices had to decide if they would hear the case.
Speaker 1: Kendall Coffee, one of the Miamis family attorneys, was contacted
Speaker 1: by a lawyer whose law firm wanted to help probono
Speaker 1: with the Supreme Court case.
Speaker 5: And he had a partner who is also willing to
Speaker 5: consider helping. Name Brett Kavanaugh.
Speaker 3: Yes, that Brett Kavanah, the now Supreme Court justice.
Speaker 9: We're here to determine whether Judge Kavanaugh has demonstrated the impartiality,
Speaker 9: the temperament, the even handedness that's needed to serve on
Speaker 9: this great high Court of our land.
Speaker 1: In the application to the Supreme Court to consider the
Speaker 1: alien case, Cavanan argued against something called the Chevron doctrine.
Speaker 1: According to this doctrine, if an agency like the ins
Speaker 1: had a policy about children like Elean, the course should
Speaker 1: refer to the agency's reasonable interpretation of that policy. Recently, Cavanaugh,
Speaker 1: as a member of the Supreme Court, voted to overturn
Speaker 1: the Chevron doctrine, consistent with what he argued when represents
Speaker 1: sent to Eliance relatives twenty five years ago. It is
Speaker 1: a reminder that the Alien case involved many powerful people.
Speaker 1: Kendall remembers the day of the Supreme Court ruling, waiting
Speaker 1: for the call from Cavana. When the news came in.
Speaker 1: Some of them went to a special place a day
Speaker 1: of the ruling, and.
Speaker 5: I can remember to this day because we went to
Speaker 5: a chapel, Armita de la Caidad to wait for the news.
Speaker 3: Leamita de la Garida. What a place.
Speaker 1: It is located near downtown Miami along the coast, facing
Speaker 1: south towards Cuba. It is one of the most important
Speaker 1: Catholic locations for Cubans in the United States. Inside it
Speaker 1: is decorated with a mural of Cuban heroes and saints,
Speaker 1: including lavign de la Garia Elgore, the Cuban patron saint.
Speaker 1: If someone could make a miracle for the Gonzalezes of Miami,
Speaker 1: it would be Lavin de la Garida.
Speaker 3: And so they waited, and I.
Speaker 5: Never forget the call. When I've read Kavanaugh called me,
Speaker 5: it was the news. Was very, very disappointed.
Speaker 1: After just two days, the highest court in the United
Speaker 1: States returned that decision, declining to hear the case. The
Speaker 1: lower court's decision stood. Only Alien's father could speak for
Speaker 1: his son, and that was pretty much the end of
Speaker 1: the case.
Speaker 12: Good evening.
Speaker 3: He was here two hundred and seventeen days.
Speaker 15: But tonight the legal fight between his father and his
Speaker 15: Miami relatives is over, and Elian Gonzalez is on his
Speaker 15: way to Havana.
Speaker 2: We are happy to go hunt.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Eleana, and his dad would finally be going
Speaker 1: home to Cuba. Jamiel ended his time in the United
Speaker 1: States on a hopeful note. During his final press conference here,
Speaker 1: he talked about the beautiful and brilliant people he met
Speaker 1: in the.
Speaker 17: US Supremento the myth amilia.
Speaker 14: Eto a.
Speaker 18: E we mos device, and that this actually gave him
Speaker 18: hope for possible friendship between Cuba and the US in
Speaker 18: the future.
Speaker 17: Amima amdam amita from my.
Speaker 1: I remember that they were saying he was coming, and
Speaker 1: then you know they were very excited saying at what
Speaker 1: time he was coming, and.
Speaker 11: The Honda and George.
Speaker 1: My younger brother Juankey was in Calawasar, Cuba in June
Speaker 1: two thousand, the town outside Havana where he lived with
Speaker 1: my step mom Biby, where I would still visit every
Speaker 1: two weeks after my dad left Cuba.
Speaker 5: I remember seeing the plane passing over the house going
Speaker 5: to like the International for Emboyeros.
Speaker 1: The plane he saw that June was carrying Elian Gonzalez
Speaker 1: and his father Jamiel, bringing them back to Cuba for
Speaker 1: their heroes welcome. Other Cubans also remember this moment.
Speaker 15: I remember being in the living room of my grandparents
Speaker 15: and I remember watching the airplane and the father and
Speaker 15: the son walking down the airplane.
Speaker 7: When we saw jan Miel, a young father and Elian
Speaker 7: united was really like wow, yeah, we made it.
Speaker 1: Now that he was on that plane landing in Cuba.
Speaker 1: Miami was behind Elian. At the time, Mary Lacy's told
Speaker 1: the press.
Speaker 13: I believe that someday and we return here. Oh I
Speaker 13: wish I mis luck. This is the way that I
Speaker 13: wanted it. And we have to accept that.
Speaker 1: Adelian has not returned to the US and he and
Speaker 1: Mary Lacy's have not seen his shouthers. Years later, she
Speaker 1: said in the Ciena documentary.
Speaker 10: Whoever's right or wrong, we're family and we love each other.
Speaker 1: Elemiel carried his son Elian off the flight and they
Speaker 1: were greeted by cheering, elated crowds waving Cuban flags. Elian
Speaker 1: remembers his father hugging him as the plane landed. That's
Speaker 1: when Alan saw the rest of his family in Cuba.
Speaker 3: Gitar guitar miss When he saw.
Speaker 1: His family, he felt peace to be in Cuba, having
Speaker 1: found his center again, but there was one key figure missing.
Speaker 1: Fiel Castro reportedly did not want to create the media
Speaker 1: frenzy like he has seen in the United States, and
Speaker 1: he was worried about what the Lean had been told
Speaker 1: about him. So Castro did not show up to greet
Speaker 1: the Lean, postponing their introduction. Eventually, Elean would get to
Speaker 1: go home to his house in Carolinas. He would no
Speaker 1: longer be away from his father again. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, when my mom was no longer working for
Speaker 1: the Quban government as an executive for the Quban Flag Airline,
Speaker 1: I was finally able to travel to Miami and reunite
Speaker 1: with my dad. I remember the excitement, the curiosity will
Speaker 1: my dad and I reconnect after many years? Will we
Speaker 1: be strangers? I recently asked my dad if he remembered
Speaker 1: when we finally reunited.
Speaker 3: As a premier partamento.
Speaker 1: Miami, bib medihoto miconti and to come up. I spent
Speaker 1: the night. I te in my dad's apartment and slept
Speaker 1: in his bath like I did when I was a child.
Speaker 3: We held hands the whole night too.
Speaker 1: This is the first time I have asked my dad
Speaker 1: how he remembers our reunion. He broke down in tears.
Speaker 12: Me.
Speaker 3: But if we only do it was so beautiful, he
Speaker 3: told me. Unlike me, my dad had no fears about
Speaker 3: a reunion.
Speaker 18: Physical.
Speaker 1: Our reunion just brought us back together physically, he says.
Speaker 11: Okay, see present, yes, yes, a lessons here, a little.
Speaker 3: We were always present in each other's mind. And that's
Speaker 3: the essence of everything.
Speaker 2: Which it was assumed a care able million hour.
Speaker 3: Our look for.
Speaker 1: All that stood between us was earth and water, nothing else,
Speaker 1: my dad told me. But I also know that my
Speaker 1: dad was gone for some of the most difficult and
Speaker 1: happy moments of my life. When I celebrated my King Senira,
Speaker 1: when I started college, when I fell in love for
Speaker 1: the first time, That irreplaceable absence marked me. It made
Speaker 1: me more anxious about change, but braver to confront life's challenges.
Speaker 1: Eleianne spent six months separated from his dad. I spent
Speaker 1: eight years apart from mine.
Speaker 3: Kaku on the suada ITHINTI it told tinto.
Speaker 1: My stepmom baby told me every Cuban has a book
Speaker 1: of pain. Everyone is different, but we are all the same.
Speaker 1: To exile and separation is a scar that never fully heals. Yes,
Speaker 1: I carry that scar with me. I imagine Elean also does.
Speaker 1: But I also carry so much more in me. I
Speaker 1: see the deep roots of my dad within me. His
Speaker 1: inheritance is in my devotion to my work, in my
Speaker 1: love for the water that brings me calm and focus,
Speaker 1: in my passionate character, and how small things fulfill me,
Speaker 1: like people hugging in airports, the love of a baby,
Speaker 1: or the sunlight filtering between the trees leaves. My dad
Speaker 1: is still the first person I call when I'm having
Speaker 1: a bad day, and every time, like magic, he takes
Speaker 1: me out of the stress, makes me laugh, pushes me forward.
Speaker 1: Come on, MOONI you can do it, he always says.
Speaker 1: And of course, if my dad thinks I can do something,
Speaker 1: I know I can do it. And sometimes I wonder
Speaker 1: what Jamiel says to Elian to help him find his center.
Speaker 1: As Eleane was settling back home in Cuba, the US
Speaker 1: was about to face another political battle in the aftermath
Speaker 1: of the case.
Speaker 6: They blamed Clinton, they blamed Jenne Reno, and Gore was
Speaker 6: Clinton's vice president.
Speaker 1: As the US holds the twenty twenty four presidential election
Speaker 1: next week, we will take you back to the two
Speaker 1: thousand election when the fate of this country was in
Speaker 1: the hands.
Speaker 3: Of Miami voters. And to tell you what happened.
Speaker 1: In the next episode of the story, I will be
Speaker 1: turning the mic over to my producer, you know her,
Speaker 1: Tasha san Noli.
Speaker 6: What can da Mastashi Rui Sashi rely come on Manatacha Shikita.
Speaker 3: Tasha and Harauelita.
Speaker 1: That is, Tasha reflects on the Liang case with her
Speaker 1: grandma and Miami Cuban about how the exile.
Speaker 3: Experience shaped her work Jess Peace.
Speaker 1: The Lean Gonzales Story is a production of Tuo Studios
Speaker 1: in partnership with Iheartsmichael Gura podcast Network. This show is
Speaker 1: written and reported by me Penni Lei Ramidez 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 Rodwell.
Speaker 1: Our associate producers are Tasha Sandoval and Elisabeth Loental Torres.
Speaker 1: Sound designed by Jacob Rosati with help from Stephanie Lebon
Speaker 1: and our intern is Evelin Fajardo Alvarez. Our senior production
Speaker 1: manager is Jessica Elis, with production supports from Nancy Trujillo,
Speaker 1: Francis Poon and Lolimar Marquez. 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 Stephanie Levo
Speaker 1: and credits music from Los Aceros Or. Executive producers are
Speaker 1: Marlon Bishop and Maria Garcia. Legal review by Neil Rossini.
Speaker 1: Huturo Media was founded by Maria Noofosa. For more podcasts,
Speaker 1: listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. A Penileira Mirez see you
Speaker 1: in the next episode, Novemo Hennessey and Episodia