Cuban refugee, age five when he became a world known figure by being rescued sometimes after dawn from the ocean on November 25, 1999. The 17-foot aluminum motor boat had left Cardenas, Cuba at 04:30 AM Local Cuba Time, on Sunday, November 21, 1999, holding 14 people including Elian, his mother (Elisabeth Broton Rodriguez), and her boyfriend (Lazaro Munero). The refugees had been escaping Cuba. The boat developed engine trouble, the “motor broke”, and despite bailing with nylon bags that were aboard the boat, the boat hit a storm, capsized and sank on November 23, 1999 in the ocean between Cuba and Florida. There were only 3 inner tubes aboard. One man and one woman grabbed one of the inner tubes, while Elian and five others grabbed the second. Elian’s “stepfather” lodged him into the center of the inner tube so he could better hold on and they all ended up in the water. Elian’s mother was focused only on her son and his needs, and she took off her coat and gave it to the cold child. She gave him all the fresh water she had until it was gone. Elian was very quiet and he never cried. He kept repeating a prayer he knew over and over asking his guardian angel to stay with him day and night and to protect him. Gradually the inner tube with Elian and his mother drifted away from that of the two other survivors. During the night, Elian watched as his mother, who could not swim, slipped off the inner tube and sank into the ocean. He never saw her again. Elian drifted for 50 hours in the Ocean. On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1999, 10:00 AM EST, a few miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, FL, two fishermen came upon the inner tube bobbing the water, carrying a limp five-year-old boy. He was taken to the hospital in Hollywood, FL. On November 29, 1999, U.S. Immigration Authorities gave him allowance to stay in the U.S. and set up a bid for permanent residency in one year. Elian’s father’s relatives had met the boy on a visit to Cuba so the child already knew his Miami family and Elian was taken to his dad’s relatives in the U.S.
Elian’s parents divorced before he was born; his dad had once tried to leave Cuba but failed. He was remarried with a second family and knew that his ex-wife was taking Elian in her attempt to defect. He has spoken to his dad on the phone, telling him that he wanted to stay in the U.S.
To the people of Little Havana, Elian has achieved mystical status as a “miracle child”. The Anti-Castro Cuban Foundation has taken up the child’s cause. By the beginning of 2000 the boy’s future was uncertain. Cuba claimed his return as national and political factions in the U.S. claimed his protection, making him the center of national and international news. On the orders of Janet Reno, on April 22, 2000, at 5:00 AM, INS agents moved into his uncle’s Miami home and seized the boy, taking him to be reunited with his father. Elian and his dad returned to Cuba together, leaving Washington DC on June 28, 2000, 4:40 PM EDT. Since then he has grown up, seemingly happy, in Cuba. He joined the Young Communist Union on June 14, 2008, with coverage of him on that day beamed from Cuba to the Western World! (Elian’s mother, Elizabeth Broton, was born September 10,1969 in Cardenas, Cuba. Her boyfriend, Lazaro Munero, was born January 12, 1975 in Havana. He had an arrest record for burglaries in 1992 and 1993 (from Judy Johns, Cuban magazine “Granma” 2/13/2000). His uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez was born 6/20/1950, in Cardenas, Cuba; he married in 1971, had two kids, and arrived in the US in 1983 or 1984.)
Link to Wikipedia biography
Link to Astrodienst discussion forum