WEBVTT - The Reunion 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.320 Jim Goldman, the agent in charge of the rape that 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.680 removed Ilam from his Miami family home, now sat with 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.320 a young boy in a leer jet. The two were 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:23.520 on the way to reunite Alan with his father. As 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.680 they flew over two hours to the DC area, the 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:34.320 sun rose. Once they landed, Alien's father, Emil Gonzalez, came 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:35.320 onto the lear jet. 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.040 I handed only into mister Gonzales and both of them. 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.400 If anybody ever thought that this was staged or artificial, 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.080 they're so wrong, because I was sitting right there and 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.760 both of them were in tears, hugging each other, and 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:55.560 they embraced what seemed like a long time. There was 0:00:56.000 --> 0:01:01.400 truly a sincere reunion. My son was exactly the same 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.640 age as Allien at the time, so I looked at 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:08.360 this is how happy would I be if somebody put 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:09.800 my child in my arms. 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.039 This scene of Elian and his father embrace him for 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.000 a long time reminded me of something I. 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:28.160 Read about them. 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.800 When Elea lived in Cuba, he split his time between 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:35.319 his mom and dad, and during their drop offs, his 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.600 father and him had a special goodbye ritual. Ellen and 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:44.000 his dad would give each other a racitos little hugs 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:48.920 over and over again. One friend said sometimes their goodbyes 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:55.240 would take ten minutes. As an adult, Elean said in 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.920 an interview with Cuban Press Dad and Memorial Mafelisa Kengo 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:05.000 and Momentum Contra Momental Bad he speaks with emotion in 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:09.160 his voice, saying that reuniting with his dad was one 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:18.200 of the happiest moments of his life. Reunions are powerful, 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:22.320 in particular for Cuban families who have been torn apart 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:27.160 by theopolitics. Our reunion is the first step in treating 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:40.720 the wound. It stops the bleeding. But the Gonzales family 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.960 had a new woe to tend to Mary LASiS and 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.160 the Miami relatives wearing despair after Elean was taken from them, 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.799 and the Gonzalezes of Miami were determined to get him back. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.840 And I demand, and I think I have the rights 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.200 to see this boy, because I've taken care of this 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.840 boy for five months when the father wasn't here for him. 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.359 Most too want exiles in Miami agreed with Mary Leasis. 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:12.640 The city was a blaze. 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:14.960 This is the last thing I can assure you that 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.639 the Cuban American leadership in this community wanted to see 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:19.920 the streets literally burning now another tire. 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.000 Miami was all in mourning for Ilian. They were just 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.200 I think they were shocked. They had expected the raid 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:29.520 to happen, but were shocked when it happened. They were saddened. 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.760 I think people felt powerless because they hadn't been able 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:33.440 to stop it. 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.160 Miami. Two ones could not stop the government from taking 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.280 it Yan, but they could show their anger by protesting. 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:42.839 Dear gas. 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:43.400 Tear gas. 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:48.000 Johnny, come back to us, Chazz right now, Chazz, right now, Chaz, 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:49.200 come back to us, right now. 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.840 Chet And the future of Illana and his father was 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.640 a seal in the hands of the US legal system. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.240 Look like soldiers are firing tear gas. 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:04.040 Later, Minus and this is chess Peace. The Elean Gonzalez 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:09.760 Story a production of Duda Studios in partnership with Iheartsmichael. 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:10.160 Durdah podcast Network. 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.719 The day after the raid, the Gonzalezes of Miami called 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:23.880 a news conference. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.080 What was done in my house. 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.560 Was the worst thing that could have happened to a family. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:35.200 Twenty one year old Mary Lezy Gonzalez spoke alongside her 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:40.440 family and Donato Dalrymple, the man who rescued Leannatzea. She 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.800 reminded the cameras that it had been heard to pick 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:51.760 Elean up from the hospital. She spoke and answered the 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.960 press questions for over thirty minutes. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.560 She was distressed, but determined his. 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.200 Father could have done this in a very peaceful way. 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.919 We've always wanted to see him. My doors have always 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.040 been opened to everybody. 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:11.480 She stood surrounded by the press holding the iconic photo 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:16.159 from the raid, Elianne screaming, crying in Donato's arms, with 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.520 an agent pointing a gun in their direction. Mary Leacy's 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.960 accused her cousin, Juan Miuel, for having a role in 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:28.440 the violence that breached her home, rieping Elean away from her. 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.160 And where is he that he couldn't prevent this and 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.440 that he hasn't said anything about this? Is this a 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.000 father that cares for the best entest of a child? 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:42.839 And then there was a moment where she turned to 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:44.200 the topic of elian. 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:45.640 All I ask is. 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.520 I need to see Elean and the conditions that they 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:52.880 took this boy out of my house. 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:55.680 I know he's not okay. 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.719 Marie Lesey's tone changed when she spoke about Elean. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.080 She was vulnerable and I know this boy needs to 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:14.560 see me too. 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.600 In a twenty seventeen Ciena documentary, Eleann spoke about Mary 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:24.320 Lacy's pain. 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:29.919 One ofka Mary. 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:34.719 Lease Mary Leasy's doesn't deserve my rage, he said, looking 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:35.880 towards the camera. 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:39.200 Da Karin. 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:41.760 As a moment, she tried to. 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.919 Give me the care I needed at that moment. It 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.640 is that care that we all witnessed back then, Mary 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.360 Lacy's and Eleane smiling together, hugging, seemingly happy. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.839 She is Malaysia. 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:00.440 She was just a young girl, a young girl at 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.520 a news conference after one of the most dramatic days 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.159 of her life. As she went on, Mary Lecy's began 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:11.800 to say things that to some people diminished her credibility. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.320 And the picture that they show with the father. 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:18.760 That is not Alean. 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.480 She spoke about a widely published photo of Eleane and 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:26.400 Ramiel back together. In the photo, Elean is with his dad, 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.400 his step mom, and his younger brother. Eleanne is in 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:34.080 his dad's arms, the boy's hand around his father's neck, 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.880 both of them smiling. Mary Lacy's questioned if it was 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:42.040 really Alien in the photo, that hair. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.440 Is not Alan's. I'm the one that cuts Alian's hair 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.120 and three days before I had given him a haircut. 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.480 To me, this reveals something deeper about Mary Lacy's her 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:00.160 despair at this moment. We only know Mary Lacy's from 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.200 this face in her life, her as a young twenty 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.360 one year old. Imagine if you were forever known and 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.280 judged for how you reacted to one of the most 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:15.640 agonizing moments in your life. I don't blame Mary Leasy's 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.880 for choosing to live a private life after this saga. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.640 There is something powerful in being the focal point of 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.400 one of the first viral stories and then saying this 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.360 is my boundary and I will never cross it again. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:31.160 I respect that. 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.319 For Eleian, the legal battle was not over yet, even 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.680 though he was fineinally with his dad, because before the raid, 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:04.880 the Miami family had. 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:10.480 Filed a request for an injunction against irons, and the 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.520 injunction would basically say he cannot be removed from the 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.040 United States so long as this appeal is pending. 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:21.319 Kendall Coffee, one of the family's lead attorneys. As a 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.120 Lion's case continued to move through the courts, he was 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.000 not allowed to leave the country, which meant to Lean 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.000 and his dad were living in the US for now 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:36.319 at least, and outside of the court rooms in Florida, people. 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:41.079 Lit the city on fire. Here in Miami, they were 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.720 rioting and they were breaking things, and they were destroying 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.600 things in the Miami police had to come out. 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.440 This is abuse, this is abused to the Cuman. 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:50.079 I'm ashamed to be American. 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.680 I'm a shame to be an American city. Let me 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:54.480 ask you this, what do you think will happen now? 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.680 Can will you express your anger? 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:57.760 And nobody can tell. 0:09:57.840 --> 0:09:59.720 Nobody can tell what's gonna happen in the future. 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:00.000 Nobody. 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:04.440 At this point, it felt like Miami was all in 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:06.440 mourning for Elian. 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:18.160 There was a huge protest march down Kyoto and it 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.560 was substantial, one of these few times where you actually 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:22.559 have thousands of. 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:32.000 People Guillermo Grenier Cuban American sociologist. But the government was 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.600 not the only one getting criticized. There were also other 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.079 Americans who spoke out against the Q and exiled community 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:40.200 in Miami. 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.560 And there was a counter demonstration. If you want to 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:49.240 look at it that way, it wasn't so much against Eleon, 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.280 but it was to support Janet Reno and then to 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:54.559 say that Eleon should go. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.160 Back to the Dad over eighty percent of Cuban Americans, 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.080 though the Elian case left a black mark on the 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:06.280 reputation in the country according to a later poll, perhaps 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.480 because after the raid, they witnessed a new group of 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.720 people taken to the streets in Miami. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.600 It was a midley crew of people that were trying 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:20.840 to express their opinions about Eleon, about immigration, about the 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:26.160 Democratic Party, the Republican Party. You had good old boys 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.040 and pickup trucks with Confederate flags driving down the street 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:32.120 with signs saying send them all. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:47.640 Back, we won't larn it back now. 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.720 So you had a kind of a counter demonstration that 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.160 was against the immigrant agenda of Miami Day Count, which 0:11:59.200 --> 0:11:59.960 is dominantly Cuban. 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.800 As Miami burned, Joe Garcia was called to lead the 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:05.640 Cuban American National Foundation. 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.360 Sometimes you can be right about something and people don't 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.320 agree with you, but you still have a responsibility as 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:14.280 a leader to protect your people from the loss. 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.640 He was tasked with damage control because things were not 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.839 looking good for the exiled community. 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.000 When you say that we lost, you mean you lost 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.480 the narrative or the legal case, or both. 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:29.720 We were losing both right. At that point, we were 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:30.319 losing both. 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.080 In the aftermath of the raid, the leader of this 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.680 powerful Cuban American organization admitted they were losing the narrative. 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.440 The Cuban community was no longer seeing just as allies 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.760 of the US pushing for democracy on our homeland. There 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:52.320 was also a new perception about US Cubans as troublemaker immigrants, 0:12:52.720 --> 0:13:11.280 ungrateful to the US and disrespectful to US law. As 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:15.760 a legal case continued, Gregory Craig, j Emiel's lawyer, stepped 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.719 outside the chore room to speak with the press. It 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.880 was hard to hear him over the protest and outrage 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:23.600 from the Cuban American community. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:29.080 The issue as whether a remote relative over the attractions 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:34.040 of a sick and loving father n forced the Irons 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:39.120 to accept and process in the fire application of crime, 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:44.319 which had read and told, considerably destroyed Ron Miguel's the 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.160 rental rights and dismantled his family, and. 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.800 Then Emiel received some good news. 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:55.640 The court sided with the Irons, saying that only Jamiel 0:13:55.760 --> 0:14:01.600 had authority to speak for his son. In a press 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:06.360 conference after the ruling, Ramiel seemed more relaxed and confident. 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:11.880 Yoga mobim heco. 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.480 In the course decision, he said, as his father, I 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.760 am the one who can speak for my son. 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:21.320 Made. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:34.200 Minaraila in necessiety, I mean want the profumia. 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.840 I love him so much and I really want all 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.240 of this to be over so that we can return 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.040 to our home with my son and all my family, 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:53.240 and for this not to take any longer. Yet, Jamiel 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:57.440 and Elan could still not leave. The injunction petitioned by 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:01.040 the Miami family lawyers was still in place parrying Elian 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:05.280 and his dad's departure. Attorney General Areno gave her own 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.360 press conference after the ruling. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.200 I am hopeful that this matter will soon reach a 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:14.880 final resolution so that Alian, his father, and the family 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.560 may resume their lives away from the scrutiny of the 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.560 media and the uncertainty that the legal battle has caused 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:22.880 for his entire family. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:25.560 And two weeks later, the. 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.560 Family tries to get the full court of. 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:32.160 Appeals Bernie Permotter, family law professor who you have heard 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:36.600 throughout the series. A week later, the federal appeals courts 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:37.960 declined to hear the case. 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:38.320 Furder. 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.479 The lower courts had decided that Elean had no independent 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.280 claim to asylum and only his biological father could speak 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:50.280 for him. That's when the Miami family had won last. 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.640 Bite at the apple, and that was two petitions the 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:53.360 Supreme Court. 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:57.360 The justices had to decide if they would hear the case. 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.880 Kendall Coffee, one of the Miamis family attorneys, was contacted 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.400 by a lawyer whose law firm wanted to help probono 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:06.960 with the Supreme Court case. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.040 And he had a partner who is also willing to 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:13.440 consider helping. Name Brett Kavanaugh. 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.080 Yes, that Brett Kavanah, the now Supreme Court justice. 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:23.960 We're here to determine whether Judge Kavanaugh has demonstrated the impartiality, 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:28.800 the temperament, the even handedness that's needed to serve on 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.160 this great high Court of our land. 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.360 In the application to the Supreme Court to consider the 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:39.840 alien case, Cavanan argued against something called the Chevron doctrine. 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.640 According to this doctrine, if an agency like the ins 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:47.160 had a policy about children like Elean, the course should 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:52.880 refer to the agency's reasonable interpretation of that policy. Recently, Cavanaugh, 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:56.120 as a member of the Supreme Court, voted to overturn 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:00.000 the Chevron doctrine, consistent with what he argued when represents 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.640 sent to Eliance relatives twenty five years ago. It is 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.600 a reminder that the Alien case involved many powerful people. 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.960 Kendall remembers the day of the Supreme Court ruling, waiting 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.399 for the call from Cavana. When the news came in. 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.520 Some of them went to a special place a day 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:20.560 of the ruling, and. 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:22.760 I can remember to this day because we went to 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.480 a chapel, Armita de la Caidad to wait for the news. 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.600 Leamita de la Garida. What a place. 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:34.600 It is located near downtown Miami along the coast, facing 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.400 south towards Cuba. It is one of the most important 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.840 Catholic locations for Cubans in the United States. Inside it 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.119 is decorated with a mural of Cuban heroes and saints, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.720 including lavign de la Garia Elgore, the Cuban patron saint. 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.720 If someone could make a miracle for the Gonzalezes of Miami, 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:57.040 it would be Lavin de la Garida. 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:09.960 And so they waited, and I. 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.760 Never forget the call. When I've read Kavanaugh called me, 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.680 it was the news. Was very, very disappointed. 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.200 After just two days, the highest court in the United 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:27.560 States returned that decision, declining to hear the case. The 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:32.040 lower court's decision stood. Only Alien's father could speak for 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.720 his son, and that was pretty much the end of 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:36.120 the case. 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:38.560 Good evening. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:40.840 He was here two hundred and seventeen days. 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.520 But tonight the legal fight between his father and his 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.000 Miami relatives is over, and Elian Gonzalez is on his 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:48.120 way to Havana. 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.200 We are happy to go hunt. 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:57.520 Thank you, Eleana, and his dad would finally be going 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.920 home to Cuba. Jamiel ended his time in the United 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:07.120 States on a hopeful note. During his final press conference here, 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.840 he talked about the beautiful and brilliant people he met 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:11.080 in the. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:16.560 US Supremento the myth amilia. 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:21.320 Eto a. 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:29.040 E we mos device, and that this actually gave him 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.600 hope for possible friendship between Cuba and the US in 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:34.240 the future. 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:45.720 Amima amdam amita from my. 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:27.720 I remember that they were saying he was coming, and 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:29.440 then you know they were very excited saying at what 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:30.439 time he was coming, and. 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:31.399 The Honda and George. 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.840 My younger brother Juankey was in Calawasar, Cuba in June 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.320 two thousand, the town outside Havana where he lived with 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:43.480 my step mom Biby, where I would still visit every 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:45.840 two weeks after my dad left Cuba. 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.760 I remember seeing the plane passing over the house going 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:52.840 to like the International for Emboyeros. 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:57.159 The plane he saw that June was carrying Elian Gonzalez 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.639 and his father Jamiel, bringing them back to Cuba for 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:05.160 their heroes welcome. Other Cubans also remember this moment. 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:14.000 I remember being in the living room of my grandparents 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:19.159 and I remember watching the airplane and the father and 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:21.639 the son walking down the airplane. 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:27.080 When we saw jan Miel, a young father and Elian 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:32.560 united was really like wow, yeah, we made it. 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:35.679 Now that he was on that plane landing in Cuba. 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:40.440 Miami was behind Elian. At the time, Mary Lacy's told 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:41.200 the press. 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:46.359 I believe that someday and we return here. Oh I 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:48.240 wish I mis luck. This is the way that I 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.399 wanted it. And we have to accept that. 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.879 Adelian has not returned to the US and he and 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.920 Mary Lacy's have not seen his shouthers. Years later, she 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.240 said in the Ciena documentary. 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:09.800 Whoever's right or wrong, we're family and we love each other. 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:23.080 Elemiel carried his son Elian off the flight and they 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:28.879 were greeted by cheering, elated crowds waving Cuban flags. Elian 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:37.360 remembers his father hugging him as the plane landed. That's 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:39.760 when Alan saw the rest of his family in Cuba. 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:44.200 Gitar guitar miss When he saw. 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:47.760 His family, he felt peace to be in Cuba, having 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:52.680 found his center again, but there was one key figure missing. 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:57.399 Fiel Castro reportedly did not want to create the media 0:22:57.520 --> 0:23:00.720 frenzy like he has seen in the United States, and 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:03.520 he was worried about what the Lean had been told 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:06.840 about him. So Castro did not show up to greet 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:12.040 the Lean, postponing their introduction. Eventually, Elean would get to 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:15.560 go home to his house in Carolinas. He would no 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:24.919 longer be away from his father again. In two thousand 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:27.200 and seven, when my mom was no longer working for 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.880 the Quban government as an executive for the Quban Flag Airline, 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:34.080 I was finally able to travel to Miami and reunite 0:23:34.119 --> 0:23:38.920 with my dad. I remember the excitement, the curiosity will 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:42.760 my dad and I reconnect after many years? Will we 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:47.200 be strangers? I recently asked my dad if he remembered 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:48.919 when we finally reunited. 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:52.679 As a premier partamento. 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:59.440 Miami, bib medihoto miconti and to come up. I spent 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:02.480 the night. I te in my dad's apartment and slept 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.480 in his bath like I did when I was a child. 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:09.120 We held hands the whole night too. 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:18.600 This is the first time I have asked my dad 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:22.919 how he remembers our reunion. He broke down in tears. 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:26.440 Me. 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:34.080 But if we only do it was so beautiful, he 0:24:34.280 --> 0:24:43.480 told me. Unlike me, my dad had no fears about 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:44.800 a reunion. 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:50.480 Physical. 0:24:51.280 --> 0:24:54.920 Our reunion just brought us back together physically, he says. 0:24:55.560 --> 0:25:01.240 Okay, see present, yes, yes, a lessons here, a little. 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:05.720 We were always present in each other's mind. And that's 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:07.840 the essence of everything. 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:10.480 Which it was assumed a care able million hour. 0:25:10.960 --> 0:25:12.840 Our look for. 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:21.040 All that stood between us was earth and water, nothing else, 0:25:21.240 --> 0:25:25.280 my dad told me. But I also know that my 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:28.200 dad was gone for some of the most difficult and 0:25:28.440 --> 0:25:32.280 happy moments of my life. When I celebrated my King Senira, 0:25:32.600 --> 0:25:35.399 when I started college, when I fell in love for 0:25:35.480 --> 0:25:41.960 the first time, That irreplaceable absence marked me. It made 0:25:41.960 --> 0:25:46.680 me more anxious about change, but braver to confront life's challenges. 0:25:53.800 --> 0:25:58.560 Eleianne spent six months separated from his dad. I spent 0:25:58.960 --> 0:26:01.240 eight years apart from mine. 0:26:01.720 --> 0:26:11.400 Kaku on the suada ITHINTI it told tinto. 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:17.800 My stepmom baby told me every Cuban has a book 0:26:17.880 --> 0:26:21.480 of pain. Everyone is different, but we are all the same. 0:26:21.600 --> 0:26:29.200 To exile and separation is a scar that never fully heals. Yes, 0:26:29.720 --> 0:26:33.160 I carry that scar with me. I imagine Elean also does. 0:26:34.119 --> 0:26:39.440 But I also carry so much more in me. I 0:26:39.600 --> 0:26:42.600 see the deep roots of my dad within me. His 0:26:42.800 --> 0:26:46.680 inheritance is in my devotion to my work, in my 0:26:46.880 --> 0:26:50.160 love for the water that brings me calm and focus, 0:26:51.040 --> 0:26:55.480 in my passionate character, and how small things fulfill me, 0:26:56.119 --> 0:26:59.600 like people hugging in airports, the love of a baby, 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:04.800 or the sunlight filtering between the trees leaves. My dad 0:27:05.040 --> 0:27:07.480 is still the first person I call when I'm having 0:27:07.520 --> 0:27:12.440 a bad day, and every time, like magic, he takes 0:27:12.520 --> 0:27:16.919 me out of the stress, makes me laugh, pushes me forward. 0:27:20.880 --> 0:27:23.760 Come on, MOONI you can do it, he always says. 0:27:24.560 --> 0:27:28.080 And of course, if my dad thinks I can do something, 0:27:28.720 --> 0:27:32.440 I know I can do it. And sometimes I wonder 0:27:33.119 --> 0:27:37.919 what Jamiel says to Elian to help him find his center. 0:28:03.200 --> 0:28:06.160 As Eleane was settling back home in Cuba, the US 0:28:06.320 --> 0:28:09.720 was about to face another political battle in the aftermath 0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:10.359 of the case. 0:28:11.600 --> 0:28:16.800 They blamed Clinton, they blamed Jenne Reno, and Gore was 0:28:17.000 --> 0:28:18.120 Clinton's vice president. 0:28:18.720 --> 0:28:21.960 As the US holds the twenty twenty four presidential election 0:28:22.240 --> 0:28:24.920 next week, we will take you back to the two 0:28:24.960 --> 0:28:28.359 thousand election when the fate of this country was in 0:28:28.440 --> 0:28:29.040 the hands. 0:28:28.840 --> 0:28:35.240 Of Miami voters. And to tell you what happened. 0:28:35.400 --> 0:28:37.879 In the next episode of the story, I will be 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:41.200 turning the mic over to my producer, you know her, 0:28:41.600 --> 0:28:42.600 Tasha san Noli. 0:28:43.160 --> 0:28:49.440