Existing comment:
2001 Breaking News: Elian:
It was dawn in Miami's Little Havana. Photographers and reporters dozed on lawn chairs. Demonstrators milled about after an all-night vigil. Inside the house, a family lawyer negotiated by phone with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. On the sofa, 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez slept.
AP photographer Alan Diaz stood at the backyard fence. For five months from this spot, Diaz had covered the international custody war between the child's cousins in Miami and father in Cuba.
At 5am on April 22, 2000, rumors began to swirl that a temporary accord might allow a visit with the boy's father. The rumors proved untrue. Suddenly, Diaz heard heavy boots stampeding the backyard. A family friend let him in the front door and locked it just before federal agents smashed into the house. "What's happening?" Elian asked. "What's happening?" Diaz tried to calm Elian down. One agent pointed a 9 mm submachine gun. Diaz took the picture: a terrified child being seized by the federal government. |