Chess Piece: The Elián González Story

By: My Cultura and iHeartPodcasts
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  • Summary

  • 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.

    Episodes drop every Wednesday, starting 9/25/24.
    2024 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
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Episodes
  • The Rescue

    The Rescue
    Sep 25 2024

    In 1999, two Florida fishermen found a cherub of a boy named Elián González in the sea on Thanksgiving. The boy had floated alone for days. His mother managed to save her son’s life by strapping him to an inner tube before she drowned. Elián's father in Cuba desperately tried to get his son back.

    Our host, investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez, was also separated from her family by the Florida Straits. When Peni was 11 years old her dad told her a dangerous secret before he left on an official trip on behalf of the Cuban government — he would not be returning.

    Relating to Elián in many ways, Peniley seeks to unearth his story with the clarity of history, nearly a quarter century later. Looking beyond the mythology around Elián saga, from the miracle rescue to dolphins, Peni uncovers a more layered story, even dark at times. This season on Chess Piece, we tell you the Elián story unlike you've heard before.

    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:

    AP Archive

    Belly of The Beast

    Cuba CBS Early Show

    CBS Evening News

    CNN

    CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America"

    C-SPAN

    Cubavisión

    Good Morning America

    ITN Archive

    Univision

    7 News At 5pm

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    32 mins
  • Introducing: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story

    Introducing: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story
    Sep 18 2024

    On Thanksgiving 1999, five-year-old Elián González was rescued at sea near the Florida coast after his mother and others drowned on a make-shift boat, fleeing from Cuba. His miraculous survival would make global headlines, but Elián would be put in the middle of a dramatic familial feud and two enemy nations — highlighting the very Cuban experience of family separation.

    Episodes drop every Wednesday, starting 9/25/24.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    2 mins

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