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Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban castaway boy who became the object of an international custody battle a decade ago in Miami, said on Wednesday he was happy he ended up back in Cuba.
But, in his first public comments in several years, he also said he has no hard feelings toward the Miami relatives who fought to keep him there, on grounds that he would have a better life in the United States.
"This is the place I belong. Here I feel good," Gonzalez told reporters after a Havana church service commemorating the 10th anniversary of his return.
"Thanks to the help of a big part of the American people and of our people, today I'm with my father, and that is everything," said the clean-cut 16-year-old who is studying to become a Cuban military officer.
Elian was a photogenic five-year-old when he was found floating on an inner tube off the Florida coast in November 1999.
His mother and other Cubans accompanying the boy had died trying to get to the United States from the communist island 90 miles to the south.
He was returned to Cuba and a big welcome on June 28, 2000. Two days later, Fidel Castro attended a celebratory service at the same Episcopal church where Wednesday's event was held.
Castro, now 83 and ailing, did not attend this time, but his brother and replacement, President Raul Castro, sat front and center with young Elian, who was dressed in white jeans and a striped short-sleeve shirt.
They chatted throughout the service and President Castro hugged him and his family before leaving, without speaking to reporters.
His father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, speaking to reporters while he and his son posed for pictures with church-goers, said it was definitely the right decision to bring Elian back to Cuba.
<span style="font-weight: bold">"I am even more certain today than I was at that moment," he said. "To see him today, doing well, with good grades in school, it shows that what we did, we did not do for no reason."</span>
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Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban castaway boy who became the object of an international custody battle a decade ago in Miami, said on Wednesday he was happy he ended up back in Cuba.
But, in his first public comments in several years, he also said he has no hard feelings toward the Miami relatives who fought to keep him there, on grounds that he would have a better life in the United States.
"This is the place I belong. Here I feel good," Gonzalez told reporters after a Havana church service commemorating the 10th anniversary of his return.
"Thanks to the help of a big part of the American people and of our people, today I'm with my father, and that is everything," said the clean-cut 16-year-old who is studying to become a Cuban military officer.
Elian was a photogenic five-year-old when he was found floating on an inner tube off the Florida coast in November 1999.
His mother and other Cubans accompanying the boy had died trying to get to the United States from the communist island 90 miles to the south.
He was returned to Cuba and a big welcome on June 28, 2000. Two days later, Fidel Castro attended a celebratory service at the same Episcopal church where Wednesday's event was held.
Castro, now 83 and ailing, did not attend this time, but his brother and replacement, President Raul Castro, sat front and center with young Elian, who was dressed in white jeans and a striped short-sleeve shirt.
They chatted throughout the service and President Castro hugged him and his family before leaving, without speaking to reporters.
His father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, speaking to reporters while he and his son posed for pictures with church-goers, said it was definitely the right decision to bring Elian back to Cuba.
<span style="font-weight: bold">"I am even more certain today than I was at that moment," he said. "To see him today, doing well, with good grades in school, it shows that what we did, we did not do for no reason."</span>
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