His mother tried to cross the Florida Straights with Elian. Tragically she drowned, surprisingly, Elian survived and on Thanksgiving Day, 1999 he was rescued by fishermen and brought to Miami, where he was taken in by his Cuban ex-pat relatives. Then his father came over from Cuba and after a lengthy legal battle culminating in stormtrooper style raid on the abode, Elian was rescued at gunpoint and delivered from the tyrannical hands of the people who were caring for him.
He is back in Cuba where he attended a private school set up to “re-adapt” him to life in Cuba. Fidel Castro champions him as a hero and his signature has been used in state declarations. The Cuban government setup and maintains the elian.cu website.
Back in the USA, the house he lived in in Miami has been turned into a museum: Unidos en Casa Elian (United in Elian House) and a plethora of parasites turned up on Ebay selling “Elian” items (purported drawings by him, hair fished out of the trashbin, etc)
