Elian Gonzalez, former child castaway, not angry at Florida relatives over U.S.- Cuba custody battle

No hard feelings.

The poster boy for an international custody battle between Cuba and the U.S. is speaking out for the first time in years. And he has one message.

Elian Gonzalez is not angry at the Miami relatives who struggled to keep him in the country 10 years ago.

“Even though they didn't help me in every way possible, they didn't help me move forward, they are still my family,” Elian, now 16, said.

The comments came after President Raul Castro attended a celebration on Wednesday commemorating the 10th anniversary of the former castaway’s return to Cuba.

“I don't have anger for them,” said the shy teenager of his Miami relatives. “It’s only that it wasn’t the best effort possible, and thanks to a large part of the American public, and our public, today I'm with my father and I feel happy here.”

But Elian’s father, John Miguel, blasted his own family.

Miguel said he was still furious with his relatives because “they let themselves get carried away with other things.”

He added that his son belonged in Cuba. “Today I'm more sure than I was then,” Miguel said.












Elian survived a November 1999 shipwreck that killed his mother and other Cubans who were seeking to defect to the U.S. Elian, just 5 years old at the time, was found floating off Florida’s coast in an inner tube.

U.S. immigration officials ruled the boy should return to Cuba over the objections of his Florida relatives and other Cuban exiles.

The boy's family in Miami refused to give him up. But he was eventually returned to his father in Cardenas, Cuba, after being snatched at gunpoint by U.S. agents.

Elian, dressed in a red-striped shirt, sat in the front row of the event next to Castro. The country's leader embraced the teenager and patted him on the back.

“It's the land where I'm from,” Elian said of Cuba. “Here I feel good, and thanks to my education and the strength my people have given me, today I'm almost a man.”

Local news agencies reported that Elian likes music, partying (though he’s not a good dancer), spending time on his computer and weightlifting with friends.

Winter Sonata Heroes Suicide

SEOUL, South Korea – A popular South Korean actor and singer was found dead Wednesday in an apparent suicide that would be the latest in a recent string of high-profile suicides in the Asian country, police and a news report said.

Park Yong-ha, 33, apparently hanged himself in his home in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported, citing police.

An official with Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told The Associated Press that Park was found hanging by the electric cord of his mobile phone battery charger. However, police were still trying to determine the exact cause of death, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Park debuted in the late 1990s and starred in the 2002 television drama "Winter Sonata," which drummed up a following in Japan and Southeast Asia. He held several concerts in Japan and one of his fans was said to be its former first lady Akie Abe.

Yonhap reported no suicide note was found, but the Seoul police agency said Park told his family "I'm sorry. I'm sorry" while massaging his father, who is terminally ill with stomach cancer, early Wednesday.