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.
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11 Feb 2026
Introducing – La Brega: Season Three
The Futuro Studios podcast, La Brega, returns for its third season. In Season 3, La Brega shares stories of Puerto Rico’s champions. They take us to the ballfields and cultural battlegrounds where carrying the flag takes on even more meaning. You’ll meet fighters who have represented Puerto Rico in courtrooms and in boxing rings, and icons who have worn Puerto Rico on their sashes and their jerseys. La Brega asks: What do we learn about Puerto Ricanness by spending time with our champions?
La Brega: Season 3 is out everywhere on 2/3. New episodes every Tuesday on the La Brega: Campeones feed.
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28 Jul 2025
From Latino USA: "An ICE Raid at a Carwash and a New Tool Mapping the Terror in California"
Candido was working at a car wash when ICE agents pulled up in white vans, blocked all the entrances, and took him and his coworkers. The agents collected their phones but didn’t notice Candido’s Apple Watch right away. He used it to call his family, who otherwise wouldn't have known what happened to him.
We hear his story, and then, Maria Hinojosa speaks with Cal Matters investigative reporter Sergio Olmos about a new tool that exposes ICE’s targeted strategy of terror against Latinos in California.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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27 Nov 2024
Through Each Other’s Eyes
Peniley and Cuban American historian Ada Ferrer share Ada's family story of separation and reunification, revealing the deep wound of abandonment that can result from family separation.
20 Nov 2024
"Crazy Cubans"
Journalists Peniley and Tasha Sandoval reflect on their experiences reporting on the Elián González saga, exploring the lasting impact of the 'Crazy Cubans' narrative on the Cuban American community.
13 Nov 2024
Being Home
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
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
6 Nov 2024
The Punishment Vote
Elián and his dad went back to Cuba in June 2000, just four months before the US Presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Miami Cubans, hurt and angered by President Bill Clinton’s handling of the Elián case, resolved to vote against the Democrats and for the Republicans in what was called el voto castigo — the punishment vote.
To understand the political influence of Cuban-Americans, the stakes, and lasting impact of this moment, producer Tasha Sandoval takes the mic. We meet Tasha’s grandmother, an 87-year-old Miami Cuban, and learn how her story as a first wave Cuban exile informs her perspective.
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:
ABC News
AP Archive
CBS News
CNN Evening News
C-SPAN
Democracy Now!
HBO's "537 Votes"
Museum of the Moving Image
National Archives
NBC Evening News
NBC News
PBS NewsHour
Retro Report
The New York Times
Voice of America
YouTube/Plopsmom
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
30 Oct 2024
The Reunion
In the aftermath of the raid, agents brought Elián to Washington D.C. where father and son would finally reunite. But Elián and his dad were stuck in the United States while the court case played out — and while Miami burned with rage at what many Cuban Americans saw as a deep betrayal by the federal government.
Peniley reflects on the power of reunions. As Elián was reunited with his father, his cousin Marisleysis was in despair. And in April 2000, Peniley had just turned 13 years old, still separated from her own father as a result of US and Cuban policies.
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:
ABC Evening News
AP Archive
Belly of The Beast
CNN Evening News
CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America"
Cubadebate
C-SPAN
MSNBC
NPR's "All Things Considered"
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
23 Oct 2024
The Raid
As negotiations failed, the U.S. government had been carefully planning for the possibility of taking Elián by force. Then on Easter Weekend, the order came. Armed agents stormed the house in a pre-dawn raid, armed with tear gas and semi-automatic rifles. They smashed down the door of the Miami home where Elián's relatives were keeping him.
Donato Dalrymple, the man who had rescued Elián at sea, grabbed the boy and hid with him in a closet, but there was nowhere else to go. A news photographer caught the moment on camera, creating an image that would reverberate around the world — including in Cuba.
In this episode, we hear first hand accounts of the night of the raid, from the INS commander of the operation, a family lawyer who was inside the house that evening, and a Cuban exile activist who was outside the Little Havana home.
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:
CBS Evening News
C-SPAN
NBC 6 South Florida
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
16 Oct 2024
La Sombra
Throughout the ordeal, Elián's father always insisted he wanted the boy to return to Cuba. But many Cuban Americans speculated that Juan Miguel wasn't operating under free will — but rather under threat, and in the shadow of Fidel Castro.
As the Miami family refused to hand Elián over to his father, tensions boiled over and negotiations began. The Attorney General, lawyers and other negotiators tried to bring the two sides together. As Elián started to disappear from the public eye, authorities became increasingly worried about the boy's safety and well-being.
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:
7 News at 5pm
ABC Evening News
ABC Nightline
AP Archive
CBS Evening News
CNN
C-SPAN
Martí Noticias
NBC Evening News
Periódico Escambray
The Guardian
Univison
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
9 Oct 2024
La Yuma
While authorities decided how to proceed, Elián stayed in Little Havana with his Miami relatives, including with his older cousin turned mother figure, Marisleysis. The Cuban American community in Miami rallied around the family, arguing that Elián would only be free in the U.S., and that sending him back to Cuba was sentencing him to a life under the Communist regime.
This idea was fueled by traditional exile ideology, a set of beliefs informed by the Cuban American experience. Peniley explores how the staunch ideology, often informed by trauma, animated Elián' s story. While in Cuba, the ideology of the revolution also colored Elián's journey. Peniley reflects on what it has been like for her to experience Cuba and Miami — two places with very strong belief systems. And she revisits how the INS finally decided who Elián should stay with.
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:
CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America"
C-SPAN
Gabriel Iglesias' "How To Tell Latinos Apart"
Martí Noticias
Sony Pictures' "3:10 To Yuma"
YouTube/dvjmindsnare
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
2 Oct 2024
The Ultimatum
After Elián’s Thanksgiving rescue at sea, he was released to relatives in Miami. Just a day later, the Cuban government sent a note: the boy’s father and Fidel Castro wanted Elián back. Tensions between the U.S. and Cuba had long been high, and relations were about to be tested to the extreme as the Thanksgiving miracle became an international custody battle. Just over a week after his rescue, on Dec. 6, 1999, Elián turned six years old. That same day Fidel Castro sent an ultimatum to the U.S. to return the boy to his father within 72 hours.
In Cuba, Peni was a young teen when Elián made it to Miami. Peni remembers seeing Elián everywhere: T-shirts, billboards, daily Fidel Castro briefings. She also remembers attending protests. Peni sits down with her younger brother Juanki to discuss their memories of the case, a national cause really, in Cuba. At the heart of the case is something Peni and Juanki know intimately: family separation.
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:
ABC Evening News
ABC Nightline
Action News
AP Archive
BBC Panorama
CBS Early Show
CBS Evening News
CNN's "Elián: The Remarkable Story of A Cuban Boy's Journey to America"
C-SPAN
Good Morning America
NPR
RTVE Telediario
Universal Newsreel
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
25 Sept 2024
The Rescue
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 (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
18 Sept 2024
Introducing: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story
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.
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[…] Maybe if there had been another artist, another Latin idol who had come before me, I might have been less afraid. But the reality is that I didn't have a role model, and that, in my mind, helped make the whole thing entirely inconceivable." I bring up this quote because the so-called Latin boom was both a touchstone for Latinos, but also harmful. I believe that the way Ricky Martin was framed prevented him from being the full-dimensional person he is. And he had to write the script on his own. How to come out and to come out with a message of self-love and celebration. How to come back to singing in Spanish, to his original audience, to his artistic roots, even after the crossover success. […]
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