From a scared boy in Miami to a successful college student in Cuba, Elian Gonzalez has thrived in the 15 years since his relatives’ home was raided in Miami on April 22, 2000.
At the time, Gonzalez was just 6 years old when his mother drowned while attempting to leave Cuba with her son and boyfriend. The little boy survived and was found floating in an inner tube. He was placed in the care of his maternal relatives as his father fought to have Elian returned to him in Cuba.
Ultimately, it was decided that the child go back to Cuba to be with his father, and in a headline-making moment, federal agents raided the Miami home and extracted a screaming Elian.
Fifteen years later, Gonzalez is a 21-year-old college student, studying industrial engineering at the University of Matanzas in Cuba, according to ABC News in a new profile. He remains a supporter of Fidel Castro and is a member of Cuba’s Militant Union of Young Communists.
Gonzalez has a bit of a celebrity status in Cuba — Castro attends his birthday parties — and has made several public appearances to speak out against the U.S. embargo.
“Cuba, even with all its problems has progressed over the years,” Gonzalez said at a Youth Congress in Ecuador in 2013. He has yet to publicly comment on the improved relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.
