November 13, 2024 • 30 mins
Peniley tells us the story of Elián after he returned to Cuba, where he studied engineering, fell in love and had a daughter. Back in his country, Elián became a favorite of Fidel Castro, much to the chagrin of Miami Cubans. Peniley reflects on Elián's journey and her own relationship with Cuba. She speaks to her children about her and Elián's Cubanismo.
This season's cover art by Ranfis Suárez Ramos.
Original Material Appeared In:
Al Jazeera English
AP Archive
Belly of The Beast
CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America"
CNN
Fidel Castro Ruz, Soldado de las Ideas
La Caja de Pandora
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It is July fourteen, in the year two thousand in Cuba.
The scene is green and lush, a home with trees
and grass all around. A black Mercedes in a caravan
pulls up and out of it emerges Fidel Castro, long
salt and pepper beard hair comes back o the green
(00:27):
military jacket. Elian's family awaits him inside the home. Smiling.
Fidel kisses the woman when he greets them, he puts
the children on the head, and then he gets to Elian,
(00:48):
the first time he has ever met the famous boy.
Elian is gripping his father's hand, standing close to him.
His mouth is slightly open, his eyes wide, his attention
and fixed looking up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
At I have heard a lot about you, Phidel tells Ilanne,
speaking in a soft boys crouching down to be closer
to the.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Child, to monson, I'm a friend of your dad. Did
you know that? Elien shakes his head now. Ellien's mouth
is still open, like he knows something big is happening,
and then Videl cracks a joke about a baby in
a diaper. Alien's younger brother, I can see you. It
(01:45):
is playful, and the family laughs. Elien does two some
of his teeth are missing, like a regular six year
old boy. He looks at is now his trains to
look up at the tall man in the green jacket.
This moment feels revealing to me. The pastor of Elian
so little looking up tall in passing Fidel looking down.
(02:14):
Elian was back in Cua, the island where Fidel was
not just a political leader, but also the person who
controlled the media, public conversation, and sometimes, as I have experienced,
even talks within families remembered throughout the ordeal. Alien's dad
always said the same thing. He wanted Elian back in Cua.
(02:38):
I know there is a controversy about Juamuel's true motivations,
but I do get white man so much. There is
something about standing on the soil where you were born,
about bathing in your homeland. It is a wish so
many of US Cubans still long for. I am Penny,
(03:02):
later Metz and this is chess peace. The Elian Gonzalez
Story a production of Futura Studios in partnership with Iheart's
Michael Duda podcast network. In the US, Elian was constantly
(03:27):
followed by cameras, but back in Cuba, he was mostly
a normal kid again, mostly because there were moments like
when he turned ten, when there was a big birthday
celebration at his school, Elian sang and in the front
(03:51):
row Videl Gastro looking proud. To be clear as I
can remember, no other kid in Cuba, not even Castro's
aunt sons, ever had a public celebration of their birthday
with Castro attending. After Castro's speech, the school children chanted
his name. Back in Miami, Cuban Americans cringed at Fidel
(04:24):
and Alien's friendship, but.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Also them on his wing. It was a shining star
of the revolution. Elian became all of a sudden, you know,
because Fideo had one. And that's what's so hurtful for
us in Miami.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
This is Alina mayoas the veteran Miami journalist you heard
from earlier in the series.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
You know, they keep him happy, and he's a symbol
that it was good to stay, that it was good
not to kind of abandon your homeland.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And here is Cuban American historian Alfere talking about older Aliens.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
The whole thing is just so sad, right like, because
what does it mean that he says he wants to
stay in Cuba. What does that mean? You know, in
what Cuba? Does he want to stay? He lives very well,
I think so would he say that if he was
living like a majority of people. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Some of the Cuban Americans we interviewed bilieve Elian has
received a special treatment from the Kuban government, but the
extent of the peruks Alian's family received from Fidel Castro
is hard to say. Because the Quban government denied me
a journalist visa, I wasn't able to interview Alian to
ask him directly about this. But what we do know
(05:43):
is that Elian and his family went on a two
month government sponsored vacasion when the boy returned to Cuba,
and that when Alian's home floated in a hurricane, they
were moved to a much larger house. The government also
provided bodyguards for Alian, which he described as some of
his best friends in childhood. But Delian's father went back
(06:05):
to work as a bartender. I even saw him working
once in Barradero while I was on vacation with my family.
He seemed like any other person, and Elian went back
to the same public school he attended before leaving Cuba.
Despite the occasional attention. Eliam seemed to live a relatively
(06:27):
normal life. He went to college where he studied industrial engineering.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
When I was a professor in the university and I
would see him, it was very encouraging to see that
apparently he didn't have any special attention. He would behave
like a normal student. You could actually miss him because
there was no special treatment towards him.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
This is Harold Cardinas, the Cuban journalists you have heard
in previous episodes.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
He was very discreet, he was very shy. I was
in the trivenal took his final test in the philosophy class,
and I remember him sitting there taking the test, and
when I said the grade that wasn't the highest grade,
I saw him look at me and he seemed like
he felt he was fair.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Eleen eventually fell in love and had a daughter. He
got a job at a government tourism company, and in
twenty twenty three he got into politics, serving in the
Kuban Congress.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
That's what the exile community feared that once he's over there,
as much as we didn't want to use him as
a political pawn, that's what Fidel was going to do,
and that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
In interviews, Elean has insisted that his heart is in Cuba,
that he's there because he wants to be. This is
him as a young adult in a television show in
Ecuador called La Cajale Pandora Alemjardo made in Peru. Another
(08:11):
child may have chosen material things provided by the Empire,
he said, as a child, I attended the Lianza in
public school system in Cuba, so I am not surprised
to hear Eliani us in terms like the Empire to
refer to the United States. Whether or not you think
this is an accurate way to describe the US is
(08:31):
beside the point. It is definitely language that is part
of our political education, or some might say in doctrination
in Cuba. It was printed in the school books we
all needed to study and memorize. In the same interview
in Ecuador, Elian talked about why he preferred to stay
in Cuba. Don't came REFERI fendela. But on the other hand,
(08:57):
I chose to be with my father and the and
the revolution. He also went on to say, fight for justice,
liberty and world peace. Again, I remember this language from
my own classes in Cuba, defending the revolution, fighting for justice.
On paper, it sounds nice, right. The problem is that
(09:18):
the same government who teaches the terms to its kids
also expects them to stay quiet about the lack of
press freedom and to never criticize the elections that confirmed
the same Cuban Communist Party over and over again for
over six decades. Elean is aware that if he had
made it to the US with his mother alive, he
(09:41):
would have a different life. In one of the handful
of interviews Elien has given as an adult, he was
emotional when thinking about what could have been.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
She iota bass on you.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
If she had not died, maybe I would be in
the United States and I would be coming to Cure
frequently to visit my father. But that is not how
his life turned out. He had to work within the
choices or lack of them, that he had as a child,
and Alien says that in Miami, when he was separated
from his father, he had no choices at all. When
(10:31):
asked about his time in the US, Ellen has said
he was kidnapped.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Joe to the.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
American this is a lean as a young adult. In
the same interview with the media in Ecuador, but he
says he's thankful for the other Americans who pushed for
his return to his father. The raid when Elian was
taking from the Miami house was a distressing event for
a young child, but it was also what led him
(11:02):
to be reunited with his father. To Elian, the raid
was not the betrayal that it was for Cuban exiles
in Miami.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
We fought so hard to keep the boy here.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Here is Alena again, the Miami based journalist. Years after
Elean returned to Cuba, she maintained hope he would eventually
be back in Miami.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Cami naive. I always thought that little boy, somebody put
a little seed in him, you know, and that seed
was going to one day sprout. I thought one day
he would say enough of this. I know how much
they loved me in Miami.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
But now with Elean as an adult, the hope has
greatly diminished.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Though possibility every year dims even more because of the circumstances,
because of the things he has said. You know that
he doesn't believe in God. If he did, the only
God he believed in was Fidel.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
This is true, by the way. In the twenty seventeen
c And documentary Elian said, no.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
Profession Pero de Seluel, But I meanel.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
It wasn't the first time he said this, Just like
people spoke about his father being pressured by the Cuban
government more than twenty years ago. Many Miami Cubans now
seem to think the same of Ilian Joe Kemucho's I
know many think I'm brainwashed, Lean said in the twenty
(12:40):
seventeen Ciena documentary.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Pero and and went to Meatli.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
But if I wanted to leave this island, I could go.
Elean knows people think he will controlled by Fidel Castro.
He has said it in interviews before, not for ame,
but Elian said the relationship was just a friendship. He
(13:16):
has also said he has a lot of gratitude for Castro.
Here is Ada Ferede again, the Queban American historian.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
It just shows this insistence on hanging on to to
these platitudes and to these old categories on either side,
because in Miami too, I mean, like it's either God
or the devil. But come on, that's not that's not
what history is, right.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And then recently, Elian said something in an interview with
Cuban media that really moved me. Ua for.
Speaker 7 (13:52):
San Diego, that it will be cowardly of him to
leave Cuba. Yo, he said, I owe the Cuban people something.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
They fought hard for me to be with my father.
It will be hypocritical for me to leave. This shows
there is another level of complexity here. Dailian feels in
debt to his own people. Maybe it's not so much
about Castro, but that it would feel wrong to leave
after a whole country fought for his return. I would
(14:38):
love to have asked him about this, but I could not.
I was not authorized by the same government. He defends
in the same interview he went a step further and
if I don't fight for Cuba, how will I fight
for us to be better? But in reality, despite the
(15:02):
land's convictions, things have not improved in Cuba for many
people from his and my generation. Most of the kids
I grew up within Cuba have left. Most of my
family is now out of the island. I could visit
all the people I know in Cuba just on a
weekend trip, and I'm not alone. Ten percent of the
(15:24):
island's population. More than a million people left. Between twenty
twenty two and twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
Three, Cuba saw its largest departure of people last year
since Fidel Castro's revolution in the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Agricultural production on the island dramatically decreased after COVID and
stricter US sanctions have made it difficult for the country
to import for supplies. This created big shortages in La
Padago Can. I will not turn by back on Cuba,
(16:00):
Elian said in a recent interview with Cuban Press. We
must fight for it here. Listening to Alian makes me
think of how once I felt that way too, when
I was just a kid. How I once, many years ago,
before I knew anything about the world outside of my island,
(16:20):
also believed in the propaganda. How I once believed that
defending the revolution was to defend my country. Now I
know my country and its government are different things. I
can love Cuba without defending its government, and even still
I long for the days when I lived and breathed
(16:41):
and loved in my homeland, just like Elean is doing now.
I see his interviews and he's so Cuban, his mannerisms,
his accent, that things he says they also Kuanimo, something
that far from my homeland. I sometimes fear has been
taking from me or not?
Speaker 7 (17:33):
Really?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Another important would you like to be more Cuban? I
asked my ten year old Santiago. Santiago goes by Tago.
He's a sensitive and smart boy who loves to play soccer,
listen to rock music, and practice his drums every day.
And what would you like about being more Cuban? I asked?
(17:58):
Well to be the cue to start with. Tago was
born and has grown up mostly in Mexico. Last time
I visited Cuba, I was pregnant with him. My other
son was a toddler all the time, so he has
no memories of that busy either. Lunga, I don't feel
(18:21):
very Cuban because I have never been to Cuba, he
tells me. Sea. I tell him, you have been to Cuba,
but he says inside my Tommy doesn't count. Of all
the things that make me proud of Santiago is that,
even at his young age, he's able to recognize and
(18:41):
express his opinion, even to adults and even to me. Cula,
I have never seen Cuba. Tago is right. He has
never seen the place where I was born. Tago has
not walked in my beautiful Havana where I spent my
life until I was born teen. I left Cuba because
(19:02):
I wanted to be closer to my dad, my mom,
who also left my brothers, and the rest of my family.
But it came with a price, very limited access to Cuba,
to the place that once was home. I can visit
the island as a tourist, not as a journalist, but
even as a tourist, I suspect the government could be
(19:25):
monitoring my work or my Twitter account, and I can
be called in for questioning while on the island. To
be honest, I have been a bit scared to go
back for that reason. But I was excited to visit
Cuba for this podcast. My husband and my sons even
(19:50):
wanted to come along. Jorge, my oldest who goes by Koke,
was looking forward to it.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
Less to It's okay, Simpremius Kumano.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
You have always talked about Cuba so much that I
crave to go, Coca says, this is the sacrifice I
paid to live the life I wanted. That my children
do not know my homeland, they don't identify as Cuban,
but I still see glimpses of Cuba, and my kids
(20:28):
like when they are a little naughty and sacno when
they are frustrated or surprised. It is a swear word,
but I love when I hear them saying it. I
recently told my dad about it. I told my dad
(20:49):
how happy it made me. It is in the blood.
My dad said, okay. My oldest is twelve years old.
He loves reading, so he speaks very proper, like a
little adult. He told me something I had not realized.
(21:12):
He noticed. He told me he saw what the similarity
was between Alan's story and mine. Passion familiar, tramitil, tramitielramite,
a complicated family separation, except Elean was reunited with his
family in Cuba and I was reunited with my family
(21:34):
in the United States after many years. Yo, tengo the better,
not than I got the possibility to shoot where I live,
(21:54):
what I say, what I do for a living, how
to make money. But Liang got something I didn't, Misi,
Who's the second? I missed so many things, like the
(22:22):
sound of the drums down the street from my Grandma's
house and the salt on my nose when we walk
in a malekon. I missed the frank and direct a
way people speak in Cuba, even if we're considered rude
by people from abroad. I miss that feeling of belonging,
(22:42):
of not needing to explain myself. Once I was in
a club in New Orleans dancing with my husband, and
the singer, who did not know me, said, let's cheer
for the Cuban dancer we have tonight. I asked her
how she knew I'm Cuba. Only Cubans can dance like you, girl.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
She said.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I treasure that moment, Miki, after all. During one of
his rare interviews with US media as an adult, Alien
(23:25):
said something I agreed with.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
I want to then punto Herita Ferente boy, still.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Differentia Politic is a band.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Everyone can hold different ideological and political views. But we
don't have to be separated as people, he said.
Speaker 7 (23:48):
Is a Bandla familia.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
We don't have to be separating families. He said. I
am grateful I'm not separated from my children and that
I can pass down my heritage to Cuban music like
Silvia Rodriez. For example. Now my son Koke is a
fan of Silvia's love songs.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
It is common deskuriminental kisimprestuo kurito.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Cuban music, and Silvia was a discovery that was hidden
in me. Kok recently told me. For many Cuban exiles
in the United States, even mentioned in Silvio is taboo,
as he is considered a defender of the Cuban Revolution
for many years. But I grew up listening to him.
He is part of the story of my life and
the life of many other Cubans. And then there is
(24:39):
the literature. I am remarried and divorced from the father
of my sons. So when Koka spends time with his
dad and he misses me, he reads Leda Deo, the
most famous book of the Cuban poet and independence hero
Jose martizim is a li It is a book that
(25:00):
means a lot for many Cubans, and it is also
the book that Videl Castro gave to Elian upon his
return to Cuba. My son Coke doesn't care about the
political uses of the book. He just cares that it
reminds him of me. Miami, Yesusta, and I asked him,
(25:21):
when we go to Miami together and you see me
in my Cuban and element dancing, eating my favorite meals,
recovering full in my accent, do you like Italy. It's
(25:44):
it's so pleasant to see you that way. Gok tells me.
It's like being home. It's so natural. I remember from
when I was a baby. I hear my children and
I recognize what they are telling me. Remember the word
Coke used when he said he wanted to go to Cuba.
(26:06):
Com He said he had that craving to go. Craving
develops from having something and then wanting it again, remembering
what it tastes like in your mouth. Something in Cocay
longs for Cuba, maybe even recognizes it, just like Cuban music,
(26:27):
a discovery that was already inside. My son said. And
when they see me dancing salsa, Kogi told me, come on,
start coming, it's like being home. It is my hole
that one day my children will experience Cuba like a
(26:50):
Lian's child has. That one day there will be no
need for families or people to separate like a lean,
said Liza Bandor. We don't need to keep separating people.
We don't need more kids growing up without their parents,
and we don't need your politics telling us how to live.
(27:12):
I dream about a day when the water's between my
homeland and my new home will not represent a wound,
a divide in line between people's But until then, Cuba,
my homeland, is inside of me, in my music, my books,
my accent, my beliefs, and to my children, I am Cuba,
(27:36):
a Cuba that they have come to love, even from
the other side of the ocean. And Lean survived jess
(28:24):
Peace Belian Gonzales Story is a production of Utuda Studios
in partnership with Iheart's Michael Tura podcast Network. This show
is written and reported by me Pennilei Ramdez with Maria Garcia,
Nicole Rothwell, and Tasha Sandoval. Our editor is Maria Garcia,
additional editing by Marlon Bishop. Our senior producer is Nicole Rothwell.
(28:47):
Our associate producers are Tasha Sandoval and Elisabeth Loental Torres.
Sound designed by Jacob Rosati with help from Julia Caruso,
and our intern is Evely Fajardo Alvares. Our senior production
manager is Jessica Elis, with production supports from Nancy to Hillo,
Francis Poon and Lodimar Martuez. Mixing by Stephanie Levo, Julia
(29:12):
Caruso and j J Caruvin, fat checking by Media Bautista,
Scoring and musical creation by Jacob Rossati and Stephanielevo and
credits music from Los Aceros or. Executive producers are Marlon
Bishop and Maria Garcia. Legal review by Neil Rossini. Whuturo
(29:32):
Media was founded by Maria Inovosa. For more podcasts, listen
to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows A Penileira Mirez, See you in
the next episode Novemo, Henessey and Episodia. To end this
(29:55):
season of Chess Peace, we are going to bring you
bonus content this next two weeks. Extended the interviews from
or reputting of the Lian Gonzales story. Next week, I
am co hosting with Tasha Sandoval and we are discussing
how the Lian saga impacted the Quban exiled community. See
you then for our first bonus episode. Novemo episode of
(30:18):
the Bonus
It is July fourteen, in the year two thousand in Cuba.
The scene is green and lush, a home with trees
and grass all around. A black Mercedes in a caravan
pulls up and out of it emerges Fidel Castro, long
salt and pepper beard hair comes back o the green
(00:27):
military jacket. Elian's family awaits him inside the home. Smiling.
Fidel kisses the woman when he greets them, he puts
the children on the head, and then he gets to Elian,
(00:48):
the first time he has ever met the famous boy.
Elian is gripping his father's hand, standing close to him.
His mouth is slightly open, his eyes wide, his attention
and fixed looking up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
At I have heard a lot about you, Phidel tells Ilanne,
speaking in a soft boys crouching down to be closer
to the.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Child, to monson, I'm a friend of your dad. Did
you know that? Elien shakes his head now. Ellien's mouth
is still open, like he knows something big is happening,
and then Videl cracks a joke about a baby in
a diaper. Alien's younger brother, I can see you. It
(01:45):
is playful, and the family laughs. Elien does two some
of his teeth are missing, like a regular six year
old boy. He looks at is now his trains to
look up at the tall man in the green jacket.
This moment feels revealing to me. The pastor of Elian
so little looking up tall in passing Fidel looking down.
(02:14):
Elian was back in Cua, the island where Fidel was
not just a political leader, but also the person who
controlled the media, public conversation, and sometimes, as I have experienced,
even talks within families remembered throughout the ordeal. Alien's dad
always said the same thing. He wanted Elian back in Cua.
(02:38):
I know there is a controversy about Juamuel's true motivations,
but I do get white man so much. There is
something about standing on the soil where you were born,
about bathing in your homeland. It is a wish so
many of US Cubans still long for. I am Penny,
(03:02):
later Metz and this is chess peace. The Elian Gonzalez
Story a production of Futura Studios in partnership with Iheart's
Michael Duda podcast network. In the US, Elian was constantly
(03:27):
followed by cameras, but back in Cuba, he was mostly
a normal kid again, mostly because there were moments like
when he turned ten, when there was a big birthday
celebration at his school, Elian sang and in the front
(03:51):
row Videl Gastro looking proud. To be clear as I
can remember, no other kid in Cuba, not even Castro's
aunt sons, ever had a public celebration of their birthday
with Castro attending. After Castro's speech, the school children chanted
his name. Back in Miami, Cuban Americans cringed at Fidel
(04:24):
and Alien's friendship, but.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Also them on his wing. It was a shining star
of the revolution. Elian became all of a sudden, you know,
because Fideo had one. And that's what's so hurtful for
us in Miami.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
This is Alina mayoas the veteran Miami journalist you heard
from earlier in the series.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
You know, they keep him happy, and he's a symbol
that it was good to stay, that it was good
not to kind of abandon your homeland.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And here is Cuban American historian Alfere talking about older Aliens.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
The whole thing is just so sad, right like, because
what does it mean that he says he wants to
stay in Cuba. What does that mean? You know, in
what Cuba? Does he want to stay? He lives very well,
I think so would he say that if he was
living like a majority of people. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Some of the Cuban Americans we interviewed bilieve Elian has
received a special treatment from the Kuban government, but the
extent of the peruks Alian's family received from Fidel Castro
is hard to say. Because the Quban government denied me
a journalist visa, I wasn't able to interview Alian to
ask him directly about this. But what we do know
(05:43):
is that Elian and his family went on a two
month government sponsored vacasion when the boy returned to Cuba,
and that when Alian's home floated in a hurricane, they
were moved to a much larger house. The government also
provided bodyguards for Alian, which he described as some of
his best friends in childhood. But Delian's father went back
(06:05):
to work as a bartender. I even saw him working
once in Barradero while I was on vacation with my family.
He seemed like any other person, and Elian went back
to the same public school he attended before leaving Cuba.
Despite the occasional attention. Eliam seemed to live a relatively
(06:27):
normal life. He went to college where he studied industrial engineering.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
When I was a professor in the university and I
would see him, it was very encouraging to see that
apparently he didn't have any special attention. He would behave
like a normal student. You could actually miss him because
there was no special treatment towards him.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
This is Harold Cardinas, the Cuban journalists you have heard
in previous episodes.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
He was very discreet, he was very shy. I was
in the trivenal took his final test in the philosophy class,
and I remember him sitting there taking the test, and
when I said the grade that wasn't the highest grade,
I saw him look at me and he seemed like
he felt he was fair.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Eleen eventually fell in love and had a daughter. He
got a job at a government tourism company, and in
twenty twenty three he got into politics, serving in the
Kuban Congress.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
That's what the exile community feared that once he's over there,
as much as we didn't want to use him as
a political pawn, that's what Fidel was going to do,
and that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
In interviews, Elean has insisted that his heart is in Cuba,
that he's there because he wants to be. This is
him as a young adult in a television show in
Ecuador called La Cajale Pandora Alemjardo made in Peru. Another
(08:11):
child may have chosen material things provided by the Empire,
he said, as a child, I attended the Lianza in
public school system in Cuba, so I am not surprised
to hear Eliani us in terms like the Empire to
refer to the United States. Whether or not you think
this is an accurate way to describe the US is
(08:31):
beside the point. It is definitely language that is part
of our political education, or some might say in doctrination
in Cuba. It was printed in the school books we
all needed to study and memorize. In the same interview
in Ecuador, Elian talked about why he preferred to stay
in Cuba. Don't came REFERI fendela. But on the other hand,
(08:57):
I chose to be with my father and the and
the revolution. He also went on to say, fight for justice,
liberty and world peace. Again, I remember this language from
my own classes in Cuba, defending the revolution, fighting for justice.
On paper, it sounds nice, right. The problem is that
(09:18):
the same government who teaches the terms to its kids
also expects them to stay quiet about the lack of
press freedom and to never criticize the elections that confirmed
the same Cuban Communist Party over and over again for
over six decades. Elean is aware that if he had
made it to the US with his mother alive, he
(09:41):
would have a different life. In one of the handful
of interviews Elien has given as an adult, he was
emotional when thinking about what could have been.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
She iota bass on you.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
If she had not died, maybe I would be in
the United States and I would be coming to Cure
frequently to visit my father. But that is not how
his life turned out. He had to work within the
choices or lack of them, that he had as a child,
and Alien says that in Miami, when he was separated
from his father, he had no choices at all. When
(10:31):
asked about his time in the US, Ellen has said
he was kidnapped.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
Joe to the.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
American this is a lean as a young adult. In
the same interview with the media in Ecuador, but he
says he's thankful for the other Americans who pushed for
his return to his father. The raid when Elian was
taking from the Miami house was a distressing event for
a young child, but it was also what led him
(11:02):
to be reunited with his father. To Elian, the raid
was not the betrayal that it was for Cuban exiles
in Miami.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
We fought so hard to keep the boy here.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Here is Alena again, the Miami based journalist. Years after
Elean returned to Cuba, she maintained hope he would eventually
be back in Miami.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Cami naive. I always thought that little boy, somebody put
a little seed in him, you know, and that seed
was going to one day sprout. I thought one day
he would say enough of this. I know how much
they loved me in Miami.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
But now with Elean as an adult, the hope has
greatly diminished.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Though possibility every year dims even more because of the circumstances,
because of the things he has said. You know that
he doesn't believe in God. If he did, the only
God he believed in was Fidel.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
This is true, by the way. In the twenty seventeen
c And documentary Elian said, no.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
Profession Pero de Seluel, But I meanel.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
It wasn't the first time he said this, Just like
people spoke about his father being pressured by the Cuban
government more than twenty years ago. Many Miami Cubans now
seem to think the same of Ilian Joe Kemucho's I
know many think I'm brainwashed, Lean said in the twenty
(12:40):
seventeen Ciena documentary.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Pero and and went to Meatli.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
But if I wanted to leave this island, I could go.
Elean knows people think he will controlled by Fidel Castro.
He has said it in interviews before, not for ame,
but Elian said the relationship was just a friendship. He
(13:16):
has also said he has a lot of gratitude for Castro.
Here is Ada Ferede again, the Queban American historian.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
It just shows this insistence on hanging on to to
these platitudes and to these old categories on either side,
because in Miami too, I mean, like it's either God
or the devil. But come on, that's not that's not
what history is, right.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And then recently, Elian said something in an interview with
Cuban media that really moved me. Ua for.
Speaker 7 (13:52):
San Diego, that it will be cowardly of him to
leave Cuba. Yo, he said, I owe the Cuban people something.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
They fought hard for me to be with my father.
It will be hypocritical for me to leave. This shows
there is another level of complexity here. Dailian feels in
debt to his own people. Maybe it's not so much
about Castro, but that it would feel wrong to leave
after a whole country fought for his return. I would
(14:38):
love to have asked him about this, but I could not.
I was not authorized by the same government. He defends
in the same interview he went a step further and
if I don't fight for Cuba, how will I fight
for us to be better? But in reality, despite the
(15:02):
land's convictions, things have not improved in Cuba for many
people from his and my generation. Most of the kids
I grew up within Cuba have left. Most of my
family is now out of the island. I could visit
all the people I know in Cuba just on a
weekend trip, and I'm not alone. Ten percent of the
(15:24):
island's population. More than a million people left. Between twenty
twenty two and twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
Three, Cuba saw its largest departure of people last year
since Fidel Castro's revolution in the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Agricultural production on the island dramatically decreased after COVID and
stricter US sanctions have made it difficult for the country
to import for supplies. This created big shortages in La
Padago Can. I will not turn by back on Cuba,
(16:00):
Elian said in a recent interview with Cuban Press. We
must fight for it here. Listening to Alian makes me
think of how once I felt that way too, when
I was just a kid. How I once, many years ago,
before I knew anything about the world outside of my island,
(16:20):
also believed in the propaganda. How I once believed that
defending the revolution was to defend my country. Now I
know my country and its government are different things. I
can love Cuba without defending its government, and even still
I long for the days when I lived and breathed
(16:41):
and loved in my homeland, just like Elean is doing now.
I see his interviews and he's so Cuban, his mannerisms,
his accent, that things he says they also Kuanimo, something
that far from my homeland. I sometimes fear has been
taking from me or not?
Speaker 7 (17:33):
Really?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Another important would you like to be more Cuban? I
asked my ten year old Santiago. Santiago goes by Tago.
He's a sensitive and smart boy who loves to play soccer,
listen to rock music, and practice his drums every day.
And what would you like about being more Cuban? I asked?
(17:58):
Well to be the cue to start with. Tago was
born and has grown up mostly in Mexico. Last time
I visited Cuba, I was pregnant with him. My other
son was a toddler all the time, so he has
no memories of that busy either. Lunga, I don't feel
(18:21):
very Cuban because I have never been to Cuba, he
tells me. Sea. I tell him, you have been to Cuba,
but he says inside my Tommy doesn't count. Of all
the things that make me proud of Santiago is that,
even at his young age, he's able to recognize and
(18:41):
express his opinion, even to adults and even to me. Cula,
I have never seen Cuba. Tago is right. He has
never seen the place where I was born. Tago has
not walked in my beautiful Havana where I spent my
life until I was born teen. I left Cuba because
(19:02):
I wanted to be closer to my dad, my mom,
who also left my brothers, and the rest of my family.
But it came with a price, very limited access to Cuba,
to the place that once was home. I can visit
the island as a tourist, not as a journalist, but
even as a tourist, I suspect the government could be
(19:25):
monitoring my work or my Twitter account, and I can
be called in for questioning while on the island. To
be honest, I have been a bit scared to go
back for that reason. But I was excited to visit
Cuba for this podcast. My husband and my sons even
(19:50):
wanted to come along. Jorge, my oldest who goes by Koke,
was looking forward to it.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
Less to It's okay, Simpremius Kumano.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
You have always talked about Cuba so much that I
crave to go, Coca says, this is the sacrifice I
paid to live the life I wanted. That my children
do not know my homeland, they don't identify as Cuban,
but I still see glimpses of Cuba, and my kids
(20:28):
like when they are a little naughty and sacno when
they are frustrated or surprised. It is a swear word,
but I love when I hear them saying it. I
recently told my dad about it. I told my dad
(20:49):
how happy it made me. It is in the blood.
My dad said, okay. My oldest is twelve years old.
He loves reading, so he speaks very proper, like a
little adult. He told me something I had not realized.
(21:12):
He noticed. He told me he saw what the similarity
was between Alan's story and mine. Passion familiar, tramitil, tramitielramite,
a complicated family separation, except Elean was reunited with his
family in Cuba and I was reunited with my family
(21:34):
in the United States after many years. Yo, tengo the better,
not than I got the possibility to shoot where I live,
(21:54):
what I say, what I do for a living, how
to make money. But Liang got something I didn't, Misi,
Who's the second? I missed so many things, like the
(22:22):
sound of the drums down the street from my Grandma's
house and the salt on my nose when we walk
in a malekon. I missed the frank and direct a
way people speak in Cuba, even if we're considered rude
by people from abroad. I miss that feeling of belonging,
(22:42):
of not needing to explain myself. Once I was in
a club in New Orleans dancing with my husband, and
the singer, who did not know me, said, let's cheer
for the Cuban dancer we have tonight. I asked her
how she knew I'm Cuba. Only Cubans can dance like you, girl.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
She said.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I treasure that moment, Miki, after all. During one of
his rare interviews with US media as an adult, Alien
(23:25):
said something I agreed with.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
I want to then punto Herita Ferente boy, still.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Differentia Politic is a band.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Everyone can hold different ideological and political views. But we
don't have to be separated as people, he said.
Speaker 7 (23:48):
Is a Bandla familia.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
We don't have to be separating families. He said. I
am grateful I'm not separated from my children and that
I can pass down my heritage to Cuban music like
Silvia Rodriez. For example. Now my son Koke is a
fan of Silvia's love songs.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
It is common deskuriminental kisimprestuo kurito.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Cuban music, and Silvia was a discovery that was hidden
in me. Kok recently told me. For many Cuban exiles
in the United States, even mentioned in Silvio is taboo,
as he is considered a defender of the Cuban Revolution
for many years. But I grew up listening to him.
He is part of the story of my life and
the life of many other Cubans. And then there is
(24:39):
the literature. I am remarried and divorced from the father
of my sons. So when Koka spends time with his
dad and he misses me, he reads Leda Deo, the
most famous book of the Cuban poet and independence hero
Jose martizim is a li It is a book that
(25:00):
means a lot for many Cubans, and it is also
the book that Videl Castro gave to Elian upon his
return to Cuba. My son Coke doesn't care about the
political uses of the book. He just cares that it
reminds him of me. Miami, Yesusta, and I asked him,
(25:21):
when we go to Miami together and you see me
in my Cuban and element dancing, eating my favorite meals,
recovering full in my accent, do you like Italy. It's
(25:44):
it's so pleasant to see you that way. Gok tells me.
It's like being home. It's so natural. I remember from
when I was a baby. I hear my children and
I recognize what they are telling me. Remember the word
Coke used when he said he wanted to go to Cuba.
(26:06):
Com He said he had that craving to go. Craving
develops from having something and then wanting it again, remembering
what it tastes like in your mouth. Something in Cocay
longs for Cuba, maybe even recognizes it, just like Cuban music,
(26:27):
a discovery that was already inside. My son said. And
when they see me dancing salsa, Kogi told me, come on,
start coming, it's like being home. It is my hole
that one day my children will experience Cuba like a
(26:50):
Lian's child has. That one day there will be no
need for families or people to separate like a lean,
said Liza Bandor. We don't need to keep separating people.
We don't need more kids growing up without their parents,
and we don't need your politics telling us how to live.
(27:12):
I dream about a day when the water's between my
homeland and my new home will not represent a wound,
a divide in line between people's But until then, Cuba,
my homeland, is inside of me, in my music, my books,
my accent, my beliefs, and to my children, I am Cuba,
(27:36):
a Cuba that they have come to love, even from
the other side of the ocean. And Lean survived jess
(28:24):
Peace Belian Gonzales Story is a production of Utuda Studios
in partnership with Iheart's Michael Tura podcast Network. This show
is written and reported by me Pennilei Ramdez with Maria Garcia,
Nicole Rothwell, and Tasha Sandoval. Our editor is Maria Garcia,
additional editing by Marlon Bishop. Our senior producer is Nicole Rothwell.
(28:47):
Our associate producers are Tasha Sandoval and Elisabeth Loental Torres.
Sound designed by Jacob Rosati with help from Julia Caruso,
and our intern is Evely Fajardo Alvares. Our senior production
manager is Jessica Elis, with production supports from Nancy to Hillo,
Francis Poon and Lodimar Martuez. Mixing by Stephanie Levo, Julia
(29:12):
Caruso and j J Caruvin, fat checking by Media Bautista,
Scoring and musical creation by Jacob Rossati and Stephanielevo and
credits music from Los Aceros or. Executive producers are Marlon
Bishop and Maria Garcia. Legal review by Neil Rossini. Whuturo
(29:32):
Media was founded by Maria Inovosa. For more podcasts, listen
to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows A Penileira Mirez, See you in
the next episode Novemo, Henessey and Episodia. To end this
(29:55):
season of Chess Peace, we are going to bring you
bonus content this next two weeks. Extended the interviews from
or reputting of the Lian Gonzales story. Next week, I
am co hosting with Tasha Sandoval and we are discussing
how the Lian saga impacted the Quban exiled community. See
you then for our first bonus episode. Novemo episode of
(30:18):
the Bonus
Host
Peniley Ramírez
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