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Elian Gonzalez CBS Interview

Elian Gonzales, a name we had heard five years ago, has resurfaced once again. In 2000, the young Cuban boy was the center of major controversy between the United States and Cuba. After his mother, along with ten other people, had drowned while fleeing Cuba, Gonzales was found floating alone in the Florida Straits. His relatives in Miami strongly disapprove of the decision to broadcast an interview conducted by CBS with the young boy.

Elian`s relatives and Cuban exile groups worked to keep the young boy in the United States. The young boy was seized in the middle of the night from his relatives` home by armed US immigration officers and was later reunited with his father in Cuba.

Elian`s relatives in Florida have been prevented to have any contact with the young boy since the raid over five years ago. Elian`s aunt, Angela Gonzalez, told the Associated Press news agency she doubted whether the interview represented his true beliefs because of the controls imposed by Cuba on information.

In the interview, which is to be shown by CBS on Sunday, Elian says that Fidel Castro had attended his elementary school graduation and told the boy he was his friend. "I also believe I am his friend," Elian says. He considers Mr. Castro "not only as a friend but as a father". He continued to say that his Miami relatives, with whom he spent five months, had tried to persuade him to stay. "They were telling me bad things about [my father]," Elian is quoted by CBS as saying. "They were also telling me to tell [my father] that I did not want to go back to Cuba and I always told them I wanted to."