MIAMI – Since Elian Gonzalez was removed from his Little Havana home 15 years ago, his family members in Miami have never really spoken to him back in Cuba. As the saga unfolded, several members of the family became well-known in the Miami community.
In the early-morning hours of April 22, 2000, U.S. immigration agents burst into his room, guns drawn, and took the 6-year-old boy away.
Elian was the focus of a battle between the United States and Cuba over where the boy should live.
In November 1999, Elian, his mother and 12 others left Cuba in an overcrowded boat seeking asylum in the U.S. Elian's mother and 10 others died trying to make it to Florida, but Elian was found floating on an inner-tube by himself.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued him and brought him to Florida, where his relatives fought to keep him in the country.
Marisleysis Gonzalez, a cousin, acted as surrogate mother to Elian days after he was rescued at sea off the coast of South Florida.
Her father, Lazaro Gonzalez, was constantly by his side.
But after months of protests in Cuba and his father's demands that he be reunited with his son, Attorney General Janet Reno ordered that Elian be returned to the island country by April 13.
To this day, another uncle, Delfin Gonzalez, keeps the memories alive by holding onto the items collected during the custody standoff between the U.S. and Cuba.
Delfin Gonzalez, 82, lives in the same Little Havana home that became the focal point of the battle and protests.
"It makes me happy to see he's doing well," Delfin Gonzalez told Local 10 News regarding Elian's exclusive interview with Jim Avila of ABC News.
The physical memories have been stored away in a warehouse, except the picture of Elian's mother, which is framed and attached to the home's fence, complete with a container where neighbors religiously place a flower on a weekly basis.
Delfin Gonzalez recalls some of his best Elian memories: a happy Elian with his family, including cousins who were his same age and had recently arrived from Cuba. The uncle said he remembers the role Marisleysis Gonzalez took as a mother figure in those crucial months of Elian's life.
Elian is not to blame for what happened, said Delfin Gonzalez, who blames leaders from both countries who made the decision to send Elian back.
"In life, everyone has a destiny," he said.
Had Elian stayed in the U.S., he would have taken a different path, his uncle said.
"Maybe he would have been a lawyer, a doctor -- whatever he wished," the uncle said.
Delfin Gonzalez learned that Elian speaks some English and chuckled when he heard him speak it.
He said he thinks Elian's English teacher maybe needs some English tutoring classes himself.
As for the possibility Elian may one day visit, he said he likes the idea.
"We welcome him here," he said. "Even though two governments have separated us, we are still family."
All these years after, he said he doesn't hold any grudges.
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