Young Elian Gonzales ten years later -- as a COMMUNIST!

[~~whimsy~~]

Ten years ago this month, the saga of a Cuban boy named Elian Gonzalez captivated the nation and much of the world. Elian, 6, was found floating on an inner tube off the coast of Florida, after his mother drowned trying to reach America.

The Cuban immigrant community in Florida embraced the boy as a symbol of the struggle of ordinary Cubans to flee the oppression of Fidel Castro's communist regime, and rallied behind the boy's extended family in Miami, which sought custody of young Elian.

But U.S. immigration officials insisted that the boy be returned to his father in Havana. Agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service conducted an armed raid on Elian's adoptive Miami home - yielding a powerful image of paramilitary forces in America menacing a frightened 6-year-old. Florida's Cuban immigrant community brandished that infamous photo as a reminder of what they considered American power effectively doing the bidding of a heartless Castro government.

A decade later, however, there are new photos of a nearly grown-up Elian Gonzalez - and they present a very different kind of propaganda image.

The new pictures show a serious-looking 16-year-old sporting a closely cropped haircut, wearing an olive-green military school uniform with red shoulder patches, as he attends a Young Communist Union meeting. The Cuban government press released the images under the none-too-subtle headline "Young Elian Gonzalez defends his revolution in the youth congress."

Since winning Elian's return to Cuba in 2000, the Castro regime has closely tracked the boy and his father. (Indeed, Cuban State Security has a monitoring station next to their home.) In his homeland, Elian Gonzalez is hailed as a national hero who embodies the triumph of Cuba over the United States. Every few years, the Cuban government has floated news updates and photographs trumpeting Elian's progress as a model young citizen of the Castro regime.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1481

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1481

What did you think he's be, a Libertarian?

 

[GregCentauro]

Good boy! :thumbsup:

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

Ooh, them Castro brothers sure won this PR war!

 

[BlueBalls]

:crying: They grow up so fast......

 

[Facial_King]

Now we'll have to KILL him.

 

[ballzano]

Now we'll have to KILL him.

Obama will need to make a call to RENO, Janet Reno!

 

[meesterperfect]

Ooh, them Castro brothers sure won this PR war!

i would think it would be more surprising if he were a (place ironic political party here).
i said it before and i'll say it again, that top photo with the gun in the face cost gore the 2000 election and changed history.
gore lost florida by 500 votes, 538 i believe.

that photo surely cost the dems at least that many, actually thousands of cuban votes.

therefore, gore president 2001-2005,possibly 2 terms, a republican president likely next, and where would that leave obama at this moment?

in an alternate timeline i suppose, but not this one.

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

i would think it would be more surprising if he were a (place ironic political party here).
i said it before and i'll say it again, that top photo with the gun in the face cost gore the 2000 election and changed history.
gore lost florida by 500 votes, 538 i believe.

that photo surely cost the dems at least that many, actually thousands of cuban votes.

therefore, gore president 2001-2005,possibly 2 terms, a republican president likely next, and where would that leave obama at this moment?

in an alternate timeline i suppose, but not this one.

I never really thought about the Floridian Cuban vote angle. That's probably right on the money.

 

[mrtrebus]

Good! Viva Cuba! Viva Elian!

 

[Metalmania]

So the poor kid is still in the middle of a PR battle...

 

[LaLiLuLeLohan]

So the poor kid is still in the middle of a PR battle...

I'm sure he's living a sweet life over there. As the rest of the country day dreams about drifting north while clinging to a refrigerator door and some empty milk jugs.

 

[calpoon]

i would think it would be more surprising if he were a (place ironic political party here).
i said it before and i'll say it again, that top photo with the gun in the face cost gore the 2000 election and changed history.
gore lost florida by 500 votes, 538 i believe.

that photo surely cost the dems at least that many, actually thousands of cuban votes.

therefore, gore president 2001-2005,possibly 2 terms, a republican president likely next, and where would that leave obama at this moment?

in an alternate timeline i suppose, but not this one.

Didn't you say that he was the most important person of the 20th century? Oh, you.

I think that the most influential person during the 2000 election was Chad. I'm not really sure who he was since they never said his last name, but I remember hearing them talk about him a lot.

 

[StanScratch]

I'm sure he's living a sweet life over there. As the rest of the country day dreams about drifting north while clinging to a refrigerator door and some empty milk jugs and his dead mother.

fixed it.

 

[Will E Worm]

They can keep him.

All of the leaders that are anti-capitalism are hypocrites.

They say they want what is best for their people, yet they live in poverty and are not free.

While the people of their country live in poverty the dictators sit on thrones wealthy beyond belief. Hypocrites everyone of them.

Capitalism for the win every time.

"I kill a communist for fun, but for a green card, I gonna carve him up real nice." Tony Montana

 

[calpoon]

All of the leaders that are anti-communism are hypocrites.

They say they want what is best for their people, yet they live in poverty and are not free.

While the people of their country live in poverty the dictators sit on thrones wealthy beyond belief. Hypocrites everyone of them.

Communism for the win every time.

 

[Will E Worm]

Communism for the win every time.

Nice plagiarism, communist.

Also, it's incorrect. :thefinger

You must move to Cuba or China immediately.

 

[meesterperfect]

Didn't you say that he was the most important person of the 20th century? Oh, you.

I think that the most influential person during the 2000 election was Chad. I'm not really sure who he was since they never said his last name, but I remember hearing them talk about him a lot.

i said influential, in regards to influencing recent history.

there is no doubt gore would have won florida in 2000 had it not been for the whole elian fiasco.
c'mon.........500 votes, 200,000 very pissed off at the democrats cubans?
easy.

 

[mrtrebus]

i said influential, in regards to influencing recent history.

:nono:
http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/818554-cheryl-cole-the-most-inspirational-woman-of-the-decade

 

[calpoon]

OT, but isn't the presidential vote based on the electoral college... so it's only 27 votes that matter for Florida.