From what I can tell, most of the readers of this blog are in their mid-thirties to early forties, so I can post this without getting a “WTF is he talking about?” response. See the video above (along with the story). I remember the political anger that came of the event. For those who are too young to remember, ten years ago 13 Cuban migrants tried to escape Cuba and enter Florida. Almost all of the migrants, including Elian’s mom, died, but Elian, who was 5 at the time, survived. His father, who was back in Cuba, wanted his son returned to Cuba, while many among the Cuban American population in Florida wanted him to stay in the U.S. Elian’s U.S. based relatives refused to hand over the child, so Janet Reno sent federal agents armed with guns and tear gas to their door.
When I think about the incident ten years later, this is the image I remember most:
This is what Elian looks like now:
He’s now a student at a military academy and is a communist. By most accounts, he’s doing well. Good for him.
Some activists get so drunk on ideology that they lose perspective on what is important. A son escapes to one country, while a father lives in another country. The mother is deceased. The father wants to raise his son in his own country. Why should there ever have been any question at all over where Elian should live?
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The thing is, he, his family, and the cuban community in FL were all pawns in the game of international politics. The situation ever would have gotten so far as to require armed soldiers if secret US organizations like the CIA/NSA/FBI/NED/etc. weren’t looking to topple Castro and egged on and fund any group that was anti-castro.
Simiarly, the same groups fund and support the dalai lama, uighurs, taiwan, etc., to try to sow disorder and chaos in china. So you don’t get the wrong idea, I’m in no way a supporter of the chinese gov’t. But the fact is the US gov’t does a lot of pretty sh*tty things around the world.