Havana ? Elian Gonzalez, the young Cuban castaway whose international custody battle ended in his dramatic seizure from a Miami home five years ago, addressed a crowd of thousands Friday, thanking Cubans and Americans alike for fighting for his return to the island.

Elian, now 11, read a speech at a televised event in Havana marking the fifth anniversary of the April 22 raid in which armed U.S. federal agents snatched him from his Miami relatives.

“Five years ago I returned to my dad,” he said. “When I saw him, I became very happy. That was the happiest day of my life.”

Though the Cuban boy frequently appears in public alongside his father, this is the first time he has given an address at an event open to the international press. President Fidel Castro was among thousands in the audience and many of the boy’s remarks were sure to please the communist leader.

Elian was found clinging to an inner tube off the south Florida coast in November 1999. His mother, Elisabeth Brotons, perished in a failed attempt to reach the United States. Elian, then 5, was one of only three survivors.

His rescue set off a seven-month custody battle by the boy’s relatives, who fought to keep him in the United States.

The boy was reunited with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, in the United States after the armed federal raid on his relatives’ home.