Elián Gonzalez Biography
(Cuban Citizen Who Got Embroiled in Immigration Controversy)
Birthday: December 6, 1993 (Sagittarius)
Born In: Cardenas, Cuba
Elián Gonzalez is a Cuban industrial engineer. In 2000, as a young boy, he was the subject of a bitter international custody and immigration dispute, which involved the governments of Cuba and the United States, his father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, his other relatives in Cuba and Miami, Florida, and Miami's Cuban American community. While trying to get to the United States from Cuba illegally with her boyfriend and Elián, his mother perished at sea. At first, he was put with his paternal relatives in Miami who wanted to keep him in US, disregarding his father’s demands of sending him back to Cuba. A US district court in Florida ruled that only his father, and not the relatives, could apply for asylum on his behalf. This judgement was vindicated by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Following the US Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case, Elián was sent back to his father in Cuba. He has since grown up and studied industrial engineering at the University of Matanzas. Following his graduation, he joined a state-run company as a technology specialist.