Elian González Brotons case, 25 years later

Matanzas, 27 Jun.- Photographs of a little mentioned aspect of the case of Elian González Brotons are on display at the Enrique Estrada Fire Station Museum, with the motivation of the 25-year return to Cuba of the child kidnapped in the United States for which all the people of the island cried out.

Our collection includes snapshots of the work of Ministry of the Interior (MININT) operatives investigating the illegal departure from the country, which resulted in the deaths of 11 people and the subsequent kidnapping of the infant who survived the shipwreck, explained Biolexi Ballester Quintana, director of the Fire Museum.

Photographs show the wooden house where the illegal departure was prepared, on a farm in Jagüey Grande, where fuel tank remains, boat engine parts, and food were seized. Also shown is the KAMA truck used to transport the boat to Cárdenas, very close to the railroad crossing near the 13 de Marzo neighborhood.

In addition to those related to the research, the exhibition includes images of open forums where the Cuban people demanded Elian's return to his father, and items that visually distinguished that humanist struggle, such as sweaters and editorial publications.

Students, teachers, historians, combatants, and firefighters gathered at the opening of the museum exhibition, during which they shared opinions and interesting facts, such as the fact that, although many people use it, Elian's name does not have an accent mark.

In an interview published in 2020, Elian himself explains that although even relatives use it, his name does not have an accent, as it appears on his ID card, because it is the result of combining the first three letters of his mother's name (Elizabeth) and the last two of his father's (Juan), Ballester Quintana commented after reading it at https://www.juventudrebelde.cu/index.php/cuba/2020-06-28/mi-deseo-era-volver-a-mi-pupitre.

The catalog of "25 Years Later, the Elian González Brotons Case" explains that on November 22, 1999, 14 illegal Cuban emigrants capsized several miles off the coast of Florida; a married couple and a 5-year-old boy discovered clinging to a tire survived. After being found by fishermen from the United States, Elian González Brotons, against his father's will, was kidnapped for six months by relatives living in Miami, manipulated by the Cuban American Foundation.

The explanatory document for the museum exhibition states that the battle for the boy's return to his homeland, with his real family, mobilized the entire nation; after a legal process that reached the United States Supreme Court and with support based on surveys of the American population, Elian returned to Cuba on June 28, 2000. (Text and photo: ACN)