HAVANA – Cuba has released photos of one-time exile cause celebre Elian Gonzalez wearing an olive-green military school uniform and attending a Young Communist Union congress.
Gonzalez, now 16, is shown with fellow youth delegates during last weekend’s congress in western Havana. The images were posted Monday on Cuban government Web sites, then widely picked up by electronic, state-controlled media.
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When he was 5, Elian was found floating off the coast of Florida in an inner tube after his mother and others fleeing Cuba drowned trying to reach the U.S. Elian’s father, who was separated from his mother, had remained in Cuba.
U.S. immigration officials ruled the boy should return to Cuba over the objections of his Miami relatives and other Cuban exiles, creating a national furor.
His relatives refused to give him up. Federal agents raided the home of his uncle with guns drawn 10 years ago this month and seized the boy from a closet to return him to his father.
Elian was celebrated as a hero upon his return. His father, restaurant employee Juan Miguel Gonzalez, was elected to parliament — a seat he retains today.
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