MIAMI, United States. – This Thursday the play “Elián” was premiered at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach, inspired by the story of the Cuban rafter boy who was rescued in the Straits of Florida in 1999.
“We have worked hard. First of all, it is an event that everyone has a very emotional relationship with, because it divided the community”, told the EFE news agency Venezuelan Michel Hausmann, creator of the Miami New Drama company and in charge of the staging of “Elián”.
Both Hausmann and Cuban-American playwright Rogelio Martínez have spent two years conducting “deep research” to conceive the play and bring it to the stage.
“Elián” will be presented in English with Spanish subtitles and will be in theaters until November 20.
Elián González Brotons was rescued on November 25, 1999, after spending days at sea on a tire. The boy had left Cuba with his mother, who died during the journey, as well as 10 other Cubans who were trying to reach the Florida coast.
“The raft boy”, as the media around the world called him, was rescued by fisherman Donato Dalrymple and his cousin Sam Cianco. After a hospital stay, he was handed over to his relatives in the United States.
The Cuban regime insisted on his return to the island, which made possible a ruling by the US Justice after five months of the shipwreck, during which he was living with his great-uncles Lázaro and Delfín González and his cousin Marisleysis.
At 5:00 on the morning of April 22, federal agents began shouting “Duck or we shoot, duck or we shoot” and forced their way into the house.
This moment He was captured by AP photographer Alan Díaz, who had managed to enter the house. The following year his snapshot won the Pulitzer Prize in the category of “Breaking News Photographs”.
Finally, on June 28, 2000, after six months in the United States that unleashed a legal, family and political battle for his custody, Elián returned to the Island.
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