a small boy plucked from the sea after his mother dies trying to bring hip -- bring him to the u.s. thrown into the eye of a political fire storm. >> what did you do to this boy? >> tonight we'll retrace the journey of elian gonzalez straight ahead on a second look. good evening and welcome to a second look. i'm julie haener. it was november of 1999 when a small aluminum boat overloaded

with people fleeing cuba began taking on water in the midst of a storm. as the boat sinks, a young mother places a 9-year-old son in an inner tube. for two days the small boy drifts until the child is found by a fisherman. the small boy finds himself in the center of a political hurricane. >> reporter: doctors at a hollywood florida hospital say 5-year-old elian gonzalez is in remarkably good shape considering his ordeal. terrified they say but fine. >> you know this boy? >> reporter: the boy was rescued yesterday by two men fishing for dolphin off the fort lauderdale coast. >> he was in the inner tube with one hand just hanging on like this. like his fingers were just hanging on to it. >> we thought it was a joke. like someone tied a kid to a draft. it looked like a dummy to a raft that's what it looked like. >> reporter: the boy told paramedics his parents drowned.

>> i tried to talk to him in spanish a little bit. i speak very little. he didn't really reply. he just grabbed on to my arms like he was relieved. he was hanging on for his life for probably hours. >> reporter: two adult cubans a man and woman drifted to shore clinging to an inner tube near key biscayne. >> they're in very serious condition because of the dehydration and beating they took. >> reporter: the woman survivor told this man. >> they all went into tubes and one by one, according to what she was saying one by one after a few days in the sea, just started drowning. >> reporter: how did the 5-year- old make it alone for days in the atlantic? >> the first thing that came to my mind how did he survive by himself when he's only five. and i'm still thinking about it and the only thing i can say is it's a miracle. god wanted him here for freedom. >> for elian gonzalez's family in miami the judges ruling is a

major victory. it gives temporary legal custody of 6-year-old elian to the boy's great uncle in miami lazaro gonzalez and orders elian to stay in the u.s. until a hearing on march 6 on whether to make it permanent custody. this opposes an order from the u.s. immigration and naturalization service that elian be returned to his father in cuba by friday. in announcing her decision, rodriguez noted if family's argument that elian would be harmed by returning to cuba. ira kurzban says the state has no jurisdiction in this case. >> the general attorney can step forward and say they have no jurisdiction to hear the matter. >> reporter: what in most cases would have been a court matter mushroomed into an impassioned battle of wills between florida's anti castro community

and fidel castro's cuba including elian's father. randy shandobil reported on that battle back on january of 2000. >> reporter: in an extraordinary seaside rally tonight in cuba a massive crowd chanted viva fidel. >> reporter: and then elian gonzalez's father, his grand parents and great grand parents came to the stage. >> it has been 48 days since we have embraced, kissed or talked to my beloved son. this cannot be described in mere words. >> reporter: a cuban band sang, elian, cuba awaits you with kisses. as the crowd in cuba demanded elian's return a smaller crowd in miami demanded that elian not return. demanded that he stay with aunts and uncles in miami.

today's protests were peaceful but last night's demonstrations got out of control. and police had to break them up with tear gas. because of the trouble on the streets, because of a threat by demonstrators to shut down the miami airport, elian's aunts and uncles feared for his safety and kept him home from school today. a crowd of photographers watched as he played with a new puppy. elian first made headlines on thanksgiving day last year. his mother and nine other people drowned while trying to make it to florida on a small boat. >> this is a volatile and difficult case, and those who want to challenge it will have to follow the law and the procedures. i think that's the only way to do this. we need to keep this out of the political process as much as possible within the established legal channels. >> reporter: and the president

says he believes immigration officials made the right decision the ruling for now elian gonzalez must return to cuba by next friday. this rally called the march of the combatant mothers was organized by the cuban government. observers say it was one of the largest cuban rallies since fidel castro first took power 41 years ago. >> i am a retiree, a grandmother, nobody told me i had to come. i came because i'm convinced i should because they have the duty to return elian to us. >> reporter: leading the march, elian's two grandmothers and his 6 -month-old half brother. >> if i have to go there to bring him here myself i will go get him. >> reporter: today was supposed to be the day elian returned to cuba that's what american immigration officials had originally ordered but attorney general reno lifted the deadline to give elian's miami

family a chance to fight in court. elian gonzalez is forcibly removed from his miami relatives home. >> my god america what did you do to this boy. >> and what happened after this early morning raid.

welcome back to second look. tonight the saga of elian gonzalez 15 years after he arrived in the u.s. the boy's miami relatives petitioned to keep the boy in the united states. but a district court ruled that only the boy's father could apply for asylum. with that, the district attorney ordered his relatives to return the boy. that's when federal agents were sent in to forcibly remove the boy. >> reporter: at 5:00 a.m. eastern time three white vans roared up in front of the home as a small crowd of protesters and media kept their vigil

outside the house. about two dozen armed agents jumped from the vans some set up a protective perimeter, others headed for the front lawn. six went through the front door with guns drawn. elian's cousin says agents broke down the door of the bedroom she shared with elian. >> they broke the closet door. they broke, they broke elian's bed. >> reporter: elian wasn't there. the fisherman who rescued him had taken elian into another bedroom to protect him. >> these people had guns. i heard people screaming and screaming. so i stood this far. >> reporter: associated press photographer allen diaz captured the scene as federal agents reached.

>> elian was screaming in english, help me. help me. and he was looking and saying que pasa, que pasa. my god america what did you do to this boy. i mean i held him and they came in with guns. >> reporter: that's when diaz captured this picture. per happen it is most dramatic of the raid. >> give me the boy, give me the boy. there was a lady with a blanket. she took him and put it over his face. >> reporter: an english speaking agent took elian. from start to finish the entire raid took some three minutes as agents backed away from the house angry demonstrators began throwing objects at the retreating vans. agents tried to control the crowd with bursts of pepper spray. meantime elian was driven to a helicopter pad less than five minutes away and flown to

homestead air force base. within an hour of being seized the 6-year-old boy was on board a government plane headed for andrus air force base where elian's father was waiting. >> the federal courts had ruled it was elian's father who should decide the boy's future. and as we reported in june 2000, that cleared the way for elian gonzalez to return to cuba. the long and contentious legal battle ended today in washington, d.c. when the supreme court rejected a last ditch appeal by elian's u.s. relatives to keep him in the u.s. following the high court ruling,elian gonzalez wasted no time. before they left juan miguel had something to say. >> i believe i know that this country is very elegant and

beautiful, and i hope in the future that my country and the united states can be different. and i wish that i could be here under different circumstances. >> in florida where the cuban american community had waged a vigorous fight to keep elian from returning to his homeland there was an outpouring of emotion. outside the home of elian's miami relatives a small group of demonstrators reacted to the supreme court decision with anger. >> this is a community tragedy because it hurts each and every one of us. >> reporter: the finality of the moment hit elian's relatives especially hard. the family's attorney says they are devastated. >> we are truly heartbroken at this moment. with a sense of sadness that an injustice has occurred and especially a sense of sadness in our concern for this child. >> reporter: the boy's return

home marks the end of a seven month long tug of war that began in the waters off the florida coast last november. >> a year after elian's saga reporter chugian got this look at what his life was like in cuba. >> reporter: when the young gonzalez stepped off this plane on to cuban territory many wondered what would happen to the little boy who had become a familiar face around the world. more seven months the cuban government mobilized a large amount of citizens in a campaign for his return from the united states. many predicted he would be paraded as a trophy if he ever returned to cuba. in this day, his face is gone. the boy's name is hardly mentioned. elian's father juan miguel

gonzalez makes occasional appearances at public rallies where president castro is speaking. but since his return, the boy himself has been kept out of his limelight with the exception of his day back to school and his birthday. on this day, police stand guard. one person who's always welcomed to the family is the american fisherman who jumped into the water and rescued him off the coast of miami on thanksgiving day. san chianchio said he found elian well. >> it was a mistake on the united states not to return the boy sooner. but he's here now and i think he's doing great. >> reporter: in an earlier interview, the boy's father said the boy has totally adjusted to his life back in cuba and doesn't seem to be traumatized despite his ordeal. in these pictures provided by cuban state police he doesn't even appear to be afraid of

water. >> at all times his expressions, gestures his way of acting has gone back to the way it was before. i've seen no change that would warrant a psychologist. >> many ordinary cubans remember elian as a political signal. >> we fought a great battle against the americans, against imperialism and we won says this man. >> reporter: still while elian the symbol may be remembered, many cubans agree with his family that elian the boy is just an ordinary child who lived through extraordinary times that should now be left in peace. >> reporter: in december of last year, 20-year-old elian gonzalez ventured out of cuba for the first time since he left miami. gonzalez was in ecuador where people from around the world described global struggles. there elian described his life

in cuba as magnificent and says he suffered no trauma suffered from the raid at his family's home. >> i haven't suffered any consequences by what had happened. it's not affected me psychologically but it's been hard for my family. those were tough times. >> gonzalez is a military cadet currently studying industrial engineering. when we come back on a second look, before elian gonzalez made his way to the u.s., another embarrassing defection for fidel castro as his daughter flees cuba.

welcome back to a second look, another high profile case shook castro's cuba. in december of 1973, fidel castro learned his own daughter had defected to the united states. as gary tuckman reported she

called cuba a quote dead end street. >> reporter: she was born a few years before the end of the cuban revolution that her father led. fidel castro's daughter elina says she has spent several years since the revolution trying to get out of cuba. this year she escaped in an airplane using a fake identity. >> i made my own escape. i put on a lot of make up. i tried to gain a lot of weight in the last two months. everything happened as if by a miracle. >> reporter: but fernandez escaped without her daughter. elina maria turned 16 earl littler this week and did not know her mother was planning on leaving the day after her birthday. but she says her daughter wanted her to leave for the good of both of them and hope one day they can be together. >> i'm trying to be very strong but the only way i had of being

able to do something for her was myself leaving. escaping. >> reporter: fernandez flew from havana to spain posing as a tourist complete with a wig. she asked for asylum in madrid then fled to the united states who is taying -- who is staying in the home of a woman who is campaigning for those who want to leave cuba. alina says she loves her father but will not change. >> you don't even acknowledge he's your father anymore. >> no never, i never said father. >> reporter: she didn't have to wait long to be reunited with her daughter. just a week after she left cuba her daughter alina was allowed to join her. the two toasted the new year together. castro's granddaughter alina salgado works at the rockefeller

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ranked highest in customer satisfaction. ikea kitchens. welcome back to a second look. 27 years ago this month the berlin fall fell. it was a visible symbol of a momentum political shift. on the tenth anniversary of when the wall fell, randy shandobil filed this report. >> reporter: as music played outside the gate tonight, as fire works exploded over berlin the rush of emotions came back. >> reporter: germans crying and laughing tonight just like they

did 10 years ago. that night it was a party the whole world watched, berlinners defiantly danced on top of the wall, kissed, hugged and wielded hammers what had been the symbol of the iron curtain, the symbol of the cold war itself came down that night piece by piece. it had been there for 28 years, first the barbed wire fence, eventually a concrete wall. a barrier separating the soviet controlled east berlin from the west which was controlled by the americans, british and french. over the years hundreds of germans died trying to cross from one side to the other, many killed by armed guards.

>> mr. gorbechov tear down that wall. >> reporter: but those words were considered so -- that the president was asked not to use them at all. >> he said i'm the president right. yes you're the president. he says i get to decide whether that line stays in. and we say yes mr. president. he said, well it stays in. >> reporter: his reform policies brought down communism. today gorbechov and former president bush were honored by the former parliament. >> people always ask me who was the hero bush. i always say, the real heros were the people. >> it was a real sight, as

dahli had painted it. then the realizization of what we were seeing. the dam had been breeched and water was cascading over the wall. and while many people may think communist east germany is a good thing to forget, as chris burns reported, others take pleasure at returns to familiar things from the past. >> reporter: it's a hotel that's like a time machine. in former communist east germany the hotel everyone has a border checkpoint. welcome to the germany democratic republic he says your passports please. just like the old days you're required to change currency to buy anything on the hotel. for guests who lived in the east, it's both strange and amusing. after all the old days days

was just 10 years ago. >> when you first get to the gates it's strange. you remember a lot of things good and bad. >> reporter: not everyone is happy about the idea of a reto communist hotel. >> man on the phone called me a red swine and communist pig. i told him to come here and have a look but he hung up. >> reporter: there's plenty of paraphernalia from four decades of communism including the toiletries arranged. >> we definitely do not want to bring back the old german politics. >> chris burns, berlin. >> that's it for this week's second look. i'm julie haener, thank you for

watching.

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