Introducing: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story

This Day in History Class

iHeartPodcasts and HowStuffWorks

Society & Culture, History

4.3 • 913 Ratings

🗓️ 18 October 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hi History Fans! Take a listen to the trailer of our newest show, Chess Piece: The Elián González Story.

About the show: At the turn of the millennium, a five-year-old boy from Cuba found off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving became the most talked about child in America. Elián González had left Cuba with his mom and a dozen other migrants, trying to make it to the U.S. but on the way, the boat capsized. Elián’s mother drowned. Before she did, she tied her child to an inner tube, saving his life.

Relatives in Miami — Cuban exiles — took the boy in. His father in Cuba wanted him back. The ensuing international custody battle over Elián González became its own mini Cold War, pitting Cuban exiles in Miami against supporters of Castro’s regime on an island just 90 miles away.

The fight over Elián’s future came down to neighbor against neighbor, family against family. Now, 25 years later — we revisit his story through the voices of people who lived it firsthand.

Listen here and subscribe to Chess Piece: The Elián González Story on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On Thanksgiving Day 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean.
0:08.0	He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba.
0:12.0	Look like a little angel.
0:14.0	I mean, it looks so fresh.
0:16.0	Soon, that angelic face will be seen across the world
0:22.0	and his name,
0:24.0	Elyang Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere.
0:28.0	It happens at the same time that we have the modern media machine being created the 24-hour
0:35.4	news cycle.
0:36.4	Ilion Ganza.
0:38.0	Elian.
0:41.0	At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with.
0:47.0	His father in Cuba,
0:50.0	Mr. Gonzales wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him.
0:54.0	Or his relatives in Miami.
0:56.7	Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom.
1:02.1	This was not just any custody battle.
1:05.0	It was also a battle between two enemy nations.
1:09.0	Elyon comes.
1:10.0	Vidal hasn't gone down.
1:12.0	Everybody's not happy about that and by God Fidel's not going to get this
1:16.1	trophy. And there was a front page picture of Janet Reno and she took her sewing scissors
	...

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