Elian Gonzalez

Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban castaway boy who was in the center of an international custody battle, said that he has no grudge against their relatives in the United States his first public comments.
Now 16, he said, his relatives, Florida: "Even if they do not help me at all possible - they do not help me move forward - they are still my family.


"I have no anger for them."
"It's just that it was not the best possible effort, and because a large part of the American public, and our society, today I am with my father and I'm happy here," he said, breaking years of silence, 10-year anniversary of his return to Cuba.


Ten years ago, the 5-year-old boy was found drifting just off the coast of Florida in honor of his mother and others fleeing Cuba drowned trying to reach U.S. territory.

American officials of the immigration rules the boy should return to his father in Cuba, despite the objections of his Miami relatives and significant populations of Cuban exiles in Florida, creating the furore that caused even the presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore to weigh in.

Fidel Castro launched an international campaign for his return to his father. A number of completed U.S. immigration agents seized the boy at gunpoint from the house of his Miami relatives.

Elian was celebrated as a hero in Cuba after his return and his father, worker of the restaurant, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, was elected to parliament - a place he retains today.

Cuba marks anniversary Elian every December 7 parades.

16-year-old was shown for the first time in the past ten years, three months ago, in a single member of the Komsomol, when it became clear that he was studying to become a Cuban military.

On Wednesday he attended the church service celebrating the tenth anniversary of his return to Cuba, sitting next to President Raul Castro.

The boy's father, speaking to reporters while he and his son posed for photos go to church, said the return of Elian to Cuba was the right decision.

"I am even more certain today than I did at that moment, he said." To see him today, very good, with good grades in school, it shows that we did, we did not do nothing. "

Unlike his son, the elder Mr. González said that he still bears a grudge against the family in Miami, helped him to get Elian back, and he was a simple message for them.

"Here we are united with my people, who behaved better than they did," he said.