On this day, April 22, in 2000, Elian Gonzalez was snatched by a SWAT team from his Florida relatives to return him to his father in Cuba.
The tug of war over the young boy generated a media frenzy.
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In November 1999, two fishermen found Elian off the coast. He was the lone survivor of 13 Cubans trying to reach American soil. His mother was among the dead.
Attorney General Janet Reno decided that Gonzalez should be returned to his father. The family in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood defied the order.
In a pre-dawn raid, Border Patrol agents entered the house and found 6-year-old Elian hiding in a closet with one of the fishermen who found him.
Four hours later, Elian and his father were reunited at Andrews Air Force Base.
