In The Thick Presents: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story

In The Thick

Futuro Media

News, Politics

4.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Introducing a new series that we think you'll love: "Chess Piece: The Elián González Story," from Futuro Studios, in collaboration with iHeartRadio's My Cultura Podcast Network.

In 1999, two Florida fishermen found a cherub of a boy named Elián González in the sea on Thanksgiving. The boy had floated alone for days. His mother managed to save her son’s life by strapping him to an inner tube before she drowned. Elián's father in Cuba desperately tried to get his son back.Our host, investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez, was also separated from her family by the Florida Straits. When Peni was 11 years old her dad told her a dangerous secret before he left on an official trip on behalf of the Cuban government — he would not be returning.Relating to Elián in many ways, Peniley seeks to unearth his story with the clarity of history, nearly a quarter century later. Looking beyond the mythology around Elián saga, from the miracle rescue to dolphins, Peni uncovers a more layered story, even dark at times.

This season on Chess Piece, we tell you the Elián story unlike you've heard before.

You can find and subscribe to "Chess Piece" on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also follow it on Instagram and Tiktok.

Transcript

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0:00.0	FUTuro It's me again, Mariano Hosa and oh my God. I'm so happy to be back this fall. I'm so so so happy
0:15.7	But I also want to tell you about this new podcast that Futuro Studios is
0:20.3	dropping now. It's called Chest Piece, the Elian Gonzalez story and it's
0:24.6	produced by our very own futuro studios in partnership with I-hearts Michael
0:29.9	Tura Podcast Network. Now it is about one of the biggest custody battles. Yes, in
0:36.7	history. This one involving Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban boy who survived a shipwrecked journey from Cuba to the United States in 1999 25 years ago.
0:47.6	Remember, they said that he was kept alive by the dolphins who surrounded him and brought him to safety. It was this mythic, mythic story, but ultimately it was a story about a battle of ideals between the boy's father who remained in Cuba and
1:07.1	the boy's relatives in Miami, so essentially a battle between Fidel Castro and between the exile leadership in Miami.
1:16.3	But there was also a whole side of immigration here, one that involved many U.S. government
1:21.9	agencies, several court cases months and months of
1:26.0	non-stop media coverage yeah I was one of the journalists who was there for 10 days
1:31.0	covering this story on the ground. Our story, our podcast, Chest Piece, is also about the pain of family separation, which is something that we talk about a lot and is really a core experience for many
1:44.8	many Cubans. The podcast is hosted by our very own Penny Lé Ramirez, co-cee CEO of Futuro Media, co-executive producer of Latino USA and co-host along with me of the
1:56.1	podcast USA versus Garcia Luna which you should also listen to.
2:00.4	Now the story coming up is gripping. It's about complicated geopolitics, about ideology, but also about love and family, and yes, it's going to be emotional. So enjoy the first episode, dear listener, and
2:15.0	subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to hear our full series which will be
2:20.9	airing this fall.
2:23.0	Enjoy. The water changes from a beautiful shade of teal to sapphire blue.
2:46.0	When there is a storm, it looks almost black.
2:52.0	It is an arrow strip of water, the space between two landmass. A place with dolphins and sharks,
3:01.0	and nearly 700 species of marine life, more than any other place in the Atlantic Ocean.
3:08.0	It's a life-giving place.
	...

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