Posted on 01/24/2005 3:14:19 PM PST by Nice50BMG
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Mon Jan 24, 2:28 PM ET
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MIAMI - A trial opened Monday in a $3 million-plus lawsuit by 13 people who say they were injured or traumatized when federal agents seized a screaming Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives' home.
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The opening witness was neighbor Maria Riera, who testified that she clutched her chest and thought she was dying when an agent doused her with tear gas during the April 22, 2000, raid to reunite the 6-year-old boy with his father in Cuba.
The 13 neighbors and protesters are seeking up to $250,000 each, claiming that agents used excessive force during the armed raid.
"I was stopped by a gentleman on my left approaching me with a shotgun," said Riera, who lived across the street from the home where the boy had lived since shortly after he was rescued from a shipwreck on Thanksgiving Day 1999.
She said a black-garbed agent wearing a mask ordered her to "stand back" or he would shoot, adding a word of profanity. She said she complied, but a second agent approached with a gas gun as she stood in her driveway and left her in a gray cloud of tear gas.
A total of 108 people sued over the raid, but U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore limited the case to people who were not on the Gonzalez family property and were beyond police barricades.
Elian, now 11, was one of three survivors of a shipwreck that killed his mother.
The raid took place after the family refused to return the boy so he could be taken back to Cuba.
I was living in Miami when this happened. Jackboot Janet's boss paid for it dearly in 2000. My precint went 73% for Bush thanks largely to anger over Elian.
FYI
What was this mask stuff?
This trial needs to ID the agents by name and where they work.
Click the Graphic
They would bring our troops back from Iraq to go door-to-door at businesses and homes looking for illegal immigrants.
I hope Clinton and Janet Reno are included in that trial as defendants.
I wonder if Bill will have secret service protection if he winds up in the can.
Whether it was Elian or Waco, ClintonCo. used more force on American citizens than they ever did on those who were America's real enemies. Think about it...after the first WTC attack in 1993, it was Christians who were assaulted at Waco while the Islamofacists were afforded all the privlidges of our laws. And instead of busting down doors of suspected terrorists in this country (which we now know existed), federal agents were busy knocking down the door of a Miami family.
And the wacko democrats call GWB's followers fascist's? LOL
Good point. There was a group that INFURIATED the leftist national press when they converged on a counting room. It was, basically, a 'remember-the-raid' group of Cubans and supporters. A "mob" they were - unruly, violent, gun-toting, bomb-throwing leftis. . . er, Cubans, er, well, and the LM continued to try and portray these folks as if they were just your garden variety desperate Dem on the rampage, as with this 2004 election and all the breakins and vandalism of GOP HQs around the country.
I think that little demonstration resulted in a fairer count, at least in that area. If you'll also recall the Dem lust for chads, there was this Jewish woman who achieved prominence, and her place in history, by counting anything and everything put in front of her for - Gore. Four years ago, I know. But I also remember.
" They would bring our troops back from Iraq to go door-to-door at businesses and homes looking for illegal immigrants."
Yeah, we should just let them all stay. We need the cheap labor.
Returning this child to "Uncle Fidel" was child cruelty and Janet Reno should be tried for that crime along with her/his boss, EX-Pres Clintoon. Cuba is nothing but child abuse central. I hope these friends and neighbors and family of little Elian win their lawsuits. The Government was waaaaay out of line on this one.
GET RID OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS NOW!!!!
Bayou, there is a big difference between refugees from Communism who have their own mutual aid support network (Cubans) and those who merely cross the border because there be no work in Puebla this year.
Janet had a drama mentality. Waco, Ruby Ridge, Elian are all excellent examples of it.
They wouldn't have to if the authorities would simply fine the companies hiring the illegals for slave wages which drives the wages down for all and runs reputable companies out of state or out of business.
I have seen you on a lot of immigrant threads ... you really are a disgrace to this site.
Sometimes it's hard to determine whether to laugh at you or seek medical care for you.
I don't know of any anti-illegal immigrant folks who think what happened to Elian was right.
For the record we don't advocate busting down the doors of homes to find illegal immigrants either.
We do advocate businesses who employ illegals to be raided, if there is common knowledge that they are breaking the law. Any illegals found should be returned to their nation of origion, and the business owner prosecuted.
Illegal immigration is a crime as defined by the laws of the United States. Most conservatives I know advocate enforcement of our nation's laws.
Only DU, democrats, socialists, leftists, terrorists and a few others advocate our laws be ignored.
Yes, immigration is a good thing, WHEN REGULATED.
Who are we kidding here? This will end up like all the other cases in this vein. No one will go to jail or even get called on the carpet in a major way.
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