Chess Piece: The Elián González Story

Este podcast se adentra en la vida de los soldados latinoamericanos que han viajado a Ucrania para combatir en una guerra muy lejos de casa. A través de sus historias, la corresponsal Carolina Chimoy explora qué los llevó al frente de batalla, cómo han vivido la guerra y qué han encontrado allí: violencia, miedo, pérdida, pero también pertenencia, propósito e incluso el amor. A través de la historia de Cóndor y otros soldados, este podcast plantea una pregunta central: ¿qué busca alguien cuando decide arriesgar su vida por un país que no es el suyo? Esto es Alias Cóndor, Soldados latinos en la guerra de Ucrania, una producción de DW, LA Times Studios y Futuro Studios.

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In the final episode this season, Peniley reflects on the throughline of the Elián story: family separation.
In an extended interview with Cuban American historian Ada Ferrer, we share her family’s story of separation and reunification. Her mom left Cuba when she was pregnant with Ada in 1963, soon after the revolution. They left behind her 9-year old brother, Poly, or Hipólito, playing in the yard without telling him they wouldn’t be returning. She tells us how years later he would eventually come to the U.S. too, and be reunited, but that the wound of abandonment would prove deep.
To read Ada's family story, here is her New Yorker article, My Brother's Keeper.
 
This season's cover art by Ranfis Suárez Ramos.
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After taking you through the Elián González story, we’re sharing some reporting and interview content that didn’t make it into our narrative series.
This week, Peniley and producer, Tasha Sandoval, sit down to reflect on their experiences reporting on this project, particularly through their perspectives as Cubans: Peniley, a Cuban who grew up in Cuba, and Tasha, a second-generation Cuban-American.
During the Elian saga, the Cuban American community in Miami gained a negative reputation as “crazy,” something that came up in several interviews. We hear from writer Vanessa Garcia and former Executive Director of the Cuban American National foundation, Joe Garcia, to reflect on how this perception of “Crazy Cubans” and that the community lost the narrative, may have reverberations to this day.
 
This season's cover art by Ranfis Suárez Ramos.
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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
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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
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