After Elián’s Thanksgiving rescue at sea, he was released to relatives in Miami. Just a day later, the Cuban government sent a note: the boy’s father and Fidel Castro wanted Elián back. Tensions between the U.S. and Cuba had long been high, and relations were about to be tested to the extreme as the Thanksgiving miracle became an international custody battle. Just over a week after his rescue, on Dec. 6, 1999, Elián turned six years old. That same day Fidel Castro sent an ultimatum to the U.S. to return the boy to his father within 72 hours.
In Cuba, Peni was a young teen when Elián made it to Miami. Peni remembers seeing Elián everywhere: T-shirts, billboards, daily Fidel Castro briefings. She also remembers attending protests. Peni sits down with her younger brother Juanki to discuss their memories of the case, a national cause really, in Cuba. At the heart of the case is something Peni and Juanki know intimately: family separation.
This season's cover art by Ranfis Suárez Ramos.
Thanks to These Archival Sources:
Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives
Original Material Appeared In:
ABC Evening News
ABC Nightline
Action News
AP Archive
BBC Panorama
CBS Early Show
CBS Evening News
CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America"
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