Havana, April 22 (RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on Tuesday commemorated the 2000 rescue of Elián González, kidnapped in Miami, and the reunion with his father.d his father were reunited after a federal operation rescued the boy from his kidnappers," recalled the head of Cuban diplomacy in X.

Rodríguez commented on the platform that the "battle for his freedom, led by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, demonstrated popular unity in Cuba in the face of challenges provoked by anti-Cuban politicians."

In November 1999, Elián González (born December 6, 1993) was taken from Cuba by his mother, illegally and without his father's consent, in a small boat that lacked the safety requirements for sailing.

During the voyage, she and 10 others died, while Elián survived and was rescued off the coast of Florida by fishermen who handed him over to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service placed him in the care of a great-uncle living in Miami, who argued that he could remain in the United States because the so-called "wet foot, dry foot" principle, then in effect, granted the minor the right to apply for political asylum.

Juan Miguel González, his father, had requested custody of Elián, and after government negotiations between Cuba and the United States, he was granted custody.

The return was scheduled for April 13, 2000, and when his great-uncle and other relatives refused to return him, following an order from the Department of Justice, he was forcibly removed from the home where he was being held and handed over to Juan Miguel on April 22nd.

Elián and his father remained in the United States until the legal proceedings in the case were exhausted, which reached the U.S. Congress and sparked dozens of popular demonstrations on the island.

On June 28th of that same year, they returned permanently to Cuba.