Elian Gonzalez interview sparks Miami Controversy, rebuke of communist sympathizers in western press
BBC News World Edition ^ | 30 September 2005, 22:27 GMT 23:27 UK | BBC News World Edition
Elian interview sparks Miami row
Relatives in Florida of the shipwrecked Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez have criticised an interview with him to be shown on US television on Sunday.
Cubans celebrated when Elian was returned to his father
In excerpts from the CBS network's 60 Minutes show Elian, now 11, calls Cuban leader Fidel Castro his friend.
He also accuses his family in Miami of trying to turn him against his father during a custody battle in 2000 which culminated in his return to Cuba.
A spokesman for the Florida relatives said Elian had been brainwashed.
Elian turned six soon after he was discovered floating alone in the Florida Straits, tied to an inner tube, in November 1999.
His mother and 10 others had drowned trying to make the crossing from Cuba to Florida.
Castro 'my friend'
Elian's Miami relatives and Cuban exile groups lost a fierce legal battle to keep him in the US. He was finally seized by armed US immigration officers and reunited with his father.
In the interview, Elian said Mr Castro had attended his elementary school graduation and told the boy he was his friend.
"I also believe I am his friend," Elian said. He considers Mr Castro "not only as a friend but as a father".
Elian was seized from his Miami relatives' home in an armed raid
He said his Miami relatives, with whom he spent five months, had tried to persuade him to stay.
"They were telling me bad things about [my father]," Elian is quoted by CBS as saying. "They were also telling me to tell [my father] that I did not want to go back to Cuba and I always told them I wanted to."
He said he would like to see his relatives in Miami again, however, adding: "Despite everything they did - the way they did it, it was wrong - they are my family."
Elian's aunt, Angela Gonzalez, told the Associated Press news agency she doubted whether the interview represented his true beliefs because of the controls imposed by Cuba on information.
Family members in Florida had been prevented from having any contact with Elian since he returned to Cuba, she said, but he "is always on our minds".
A spokesman for the relatives, Armando Gutierrez, said Elian had been brainwashed by the Cuban regime.
CBS said they had spoken to the boy, who is considered a hero in Cuba, in his hometown of Cardenas. His father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, was present but there were no Cuban officials, the network said.
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TheRealCuba.com posted this rebuttle to and rebuke of the communist sympathizers in the western press.
The Real Cuba:
200,000 deaths and 2,000,000 exiles!
46 years without human rights!
46 years without a free election!
46 years without a free press!
46 years of oppression!
46 years with a ration book!
The exploitation of the Cuban workers!
Elian Gonzalez
CBS News Anchorman Dan Rather shows his affection for communist dictator and mass murderer Fidel Castro by smiling as he holds Castro.
An indoctrinated Elian to appear on CBS' 60 Minutes on Sunday
After five years of indoctrination, Fidel Castro feels confident enough to allow his friends at CBS news to go to Cuba and interview Elian Gonzalez. As expected, Elian who is now 11 years old and has been receiving a full dose of Castro's indoctrination for five years, calls Fidel Castro not only his 'friend' but also his 'father.'
I remember at the beginning of Castro's 'rob-olution' when his regime wanted to end all vestiges of religion in Cuba, that Cuban children were asked by their teachers: "Close your eyes and ask the Three Magic Kings for toys." After a few seconds they were told to open their eyes and, as expected, there were no toys to be found. Then the teachers would say: "Close your eyes and ask Santa Claus for toys." Still no toys. And finally "Now, close your eyes and ask Fidel for toys." And a few seconds later, when they were told to open their eyes, the children would find bags full of toys. "You see," the teachers would say, "Santa Claus and the Three Magic Kings don't exist. Only Fidel is for real."
And now CBS goes to Cuba to interview Elian after five years of this 24/7 indoctrination to supposedly interview Elian, with his biological father sitting next to him and his other 'father' watching and hearing everything that he says to make sure that he follows the script. And the worst part is that CBS calls this interview: "Elian Gonzalez in his own words." How can anyone in Cuba speak in their own words? Those who have dared to do so are in jail or in the cemetery. But what else could you expect from CBS' 60 Minutes, the same program that was willing to broadcast forged documents in an effort to influence the results of the last presidential election?
If you want to see how 60 Minutes and other main street media programs stage their 'news,' click at the link below. You must watch this video! It is long, about 18 minutes, but it is worth watching if you want to understand how the news that you see on TV are doctored in order to promote a particular agenda:
seconddraft.org
The Cuban children, second class citizens in their own country!
Note that although the BBC article was accompanied by photos, the BBC avoided including any of the series of seven pictures, snapped by Associated Press photographer Alan Diaz, of federal agents seizing 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez from the arms of his protector. These widely distributed images showed a terrified child confronted by a heavily armed, helmeted, goggled, body-armored commando whose HK MP-5 submachinegun was clearly pointed towards, and threatening and endangering Elian Gonzalez and his Cuban refugee protector in Lazaro Gonzalez's home in Miami where the federal assault took place. Elian's protector and retreated to the closet area of the bedroom, as he attempted to shield Elian from the attacking federal agents.
Also note how the BBC article neglects to mention that the abduction of Elian Gonzalez and deporting him to the communist dictatorship in Cuba under the Demcrat President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno was a significant factor that cost the Democrats the 2000 and ultimately the 2004 Presidential election. Thus, the Democrats' respect, admiration, sympathy, and support for communist dictator and mass murderer Fidel Castro cost the Democrats the Presidency, and Elian Gonzalez reshaped U.S. and World history. Also, although Elian's mother drowned in her attempt to liberate her son from Castro's communist dictatorship, and althouth Elian was sent back to the hell hole from which he had escaped, his mother did not die for nothing. The death of Elian's mother, and the deportation of Elian to Cuba, in effect, helped save the Earth. (This should make the liberals happy!)
This was one of several factors that combine to cost the Democrats the 2000 and ultimately the 2004 election. Bill Clinton's enthusiastic and activist support for dangerous, counter-productive gun control laws that targeted, punished, and endangered ordinary nonviolent citizens help bring out the pro-gun voters including the cross-over Democrat voters who vote Republican due to "gun control" laws.
A memorable photo of Bill Clinton, with a pose and a camera angle to remind us of his affair with Monica Lewinsky ("In your face!")
Had Al Gore been president when the 9-11-2001 terrorist attack occurred, he probably would have taken the same approach that Bill Clinton took after previous attacks - and acts of war - against the World Trade Center, two U.S. embassies in Africa, the USS Cole Navy Ship, and other targets. He probably would have ordered the FBI investigate these actos of war as ordinary crimes.
Therefore, Ellian Gonzalez and American firearm owners from both political parties helped save the U.S. and the world from the dangers and ravages of another Democrat presidential administration.
Reason Magazine recounts the machinegun raid in April, 2000, to snatch Elian Gonzalez from his loving guardians to deport him to the evil communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro:
reason.com
Reading Elian
The camera doesn’t lie. But it will confess to just about anything.
By Charles Paul Freund
On the morning of April 22, Attorney General Janet Reno and other Justice Department officials woke to a very big problem: a series of seven pictures, snapped by Associated Press photographer Alan Diaz, of federal agents seizing the country’s most celebrated 6-year- old, Elian Gonzalez. Television and the Internet displayed images of a terrified child confronted by a heavily armed, helmeted, goggled, body-armored commando whose weapon was clearly pointed in the boy’s direction.
<snip>
Janet Reno and her allies used a variety of approaches in their attempt to change the meaning of the raid imagery and mitigate its impact. In fact, they may have broken new strategic ground in this field. Here’s a quick rundown of their major efforts.
<snip>
reason.com
As expected, the communist sypmathizers and supporters within the western and the U.S. press tried to minimize the impact of the photographic evidence against the Clinton administration and Janet Reno:
<snip>
The New York Times did not use the image inside the house but used the picture of Elian being transported from the home by an INS agent, Betty Mills. One interesting twist is that the Times opted to correct the "red-eye" of the subjects' eyes. The Los Angeles Times, using a similar image taken by their staff photographer, Carolyn Cole, did not remove the red-eye.
<snip>
legacy.poynter.org
Is Seeing No Longer Believing?
Elian Gonzalez Photos Examined
By KENNY IRBY
Poynter Visual Journalism Group Leader
frontpagemag.com
Beat the Press
By Chris Weinkopf
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 1, 2000
"ONE OF THE BEAUTIES OF TELEVISION," Attorney General Janet Reno recently told a news conference, "is that it shows exactly what the facts are." Beauty, as the cliché goes, is in the eye of the beholder. Facts are beautiful only to those with little to fear from them. For law-breakers and tyrants, they are unpleasant and irksome, a nuisance to be quashed at any price.
<snip>
thenewamerican.com
Vol. 16, No. 16
July 31, 2000
Such Genteel Storm Troopers!
by William F. Jasper
Federal agents are claiming that they politely and delicately removed Elian from the Gonzalez home, but witnesses and photographic evidence tell another story.
<snip> |
