Elian Gonzalez

Elián González is a teenager who, as a young child, was taken by his mother, by boat, from Cuba to the United States. His subsequent forcible return to his father in Cuba engendered an intense international political controversy in 2000.

After his mother died on the voyage, his father, who remained in Cuba, demanded that he be returned to the Communist island nation. After relatives of González refused to turn him over to U.S. authorities, the United States Justice Department headed by Janet Reno ordered law enforcement officials to forcibly enter the home where he was staying in Miami and take him to be sent back with his father to Cuba. The 2000 controversy became a media sensation, and a source of friction between Cuban exiles in Florida and the U.S. government.Frontline: Saving Elian