The application for stay presented to Justice Kennedy and by him referred to the Court is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.

With that brief decision, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Juan Miguel González to return home with his son, Elián González. They did so on Wednesday, June 28, 2000.

The Elián González case gripped Cuba and the U.S. during the summer of 2000, with the young boy becoming the world's most famous refugee. This 6-year-old child was at the center of a heated custody and immigration battle involving the Cuban and United States governments, his father, his Miami and Cuban relatives, and the Cuban-American community of Miami.

The story was well known: small boy cast adrift on an inner tube when a migrant-smuggling boat capsized. Mother drowned. Boy rescued by fisherman, brought ashore in Miami, put in the custody of relatives who, backed by anti-Communist exiles, refuse to return him to his father in Fidel Castro's Cuba.

What followed then was a 6-month-long rhetorical battle ranging from Washington D.C., to Havana to the streets of Miami.

Path to Freedom.com was founded on December 18, 1999 by the Jules Dervaes family in reaction to the prolonged use of Elián as a political pawn, to defend a father's attempts to have his son returned to him, and to counter the protests of certain disgruntled groups bent on breaking the law to get their way through any means and using a young child as an anti-Castro tool.

From November 1999 to June 2000, the political fury over Elián raged. From the U.S. supreme court, to the media, to the protests on the streets, the Elián González saga exposed deep divisions and public opinion was widely polarized. But it was on the internet where the most important battles were "fought" for the hearts and minds of the public.

Path to Freedom.com soon became recognized as the leading spearhead of the movement to let Elián González return to his father and was the primary resource center for up-to-date latest news, petitions and "Action Alerts." It was used as source of information and was greatly implemental in educating the public to the legal and moral issue of the saga.

Its purpose was threefold: inform the uninformed, convince the undecided, and unite the supporters in common action.

Path to Freedom.com organized and led digital and physical campaigns and was a major counter to the those individuals, websites and organizations who sought to retain Elián in the U.S. and away from his father. Its persistent pressure on the U.S. government to allow Elián and his father to be reunited was acknowledged not only in America by major medias, the government, and public opinion, but also in Cuba and all over the world.

This intense, grassroots campaign paid off in the end. Path to Freedom.com''s influence played a significant role in the return of Elián to his father, and the González family to be allowed to return to their home in Cuba.

This section of the Path to Freedom.com website is an archive dedicated to chronicling the history of its involvement in this saga.

Today, the Jules Dervaes Family and Path to Freedom.com are leading a new revolution