BY FRANCES ROBLES

 WASHINGTON -- The world's most publicly tormented father called his Miami relatives child-abusers and kidnappers Sunday, saying on a 60 Minutes appearance that his family has turned Elian Gonzalez against his own dad.

 Juan Miguel Gonzalez also spoke harshly about the United States, saying this country is not his idea of the land of freedom. His Miami relatives, he added, have harmed his son more than the tragedy that killed his mother.

 ''Actually, he's suffering more here among them than he suffered in the sea,'' he said.

 In an interview with CBS' Dan Rather, Gonzalez spoke out nationally for the first time since his arrival in the United States 10 days ago. Gonzalez was serious, somber, and occasionally choked up and frustrated. His first complaint: He has spoken to Elian only twice since he arrived here to reclaim him.

 Gonzalez said his firstborn has betrayed him -- the result of manipulation by Miami relatives who seek to keep the child in the United States.

 Rather asked Gonzalez to share his thoughts on the videotape released last week showing a defiant, finger-pointing 6-year-old telling his father that he doesn't want to go back home. Did he weep? Rather asked.

 NO TEARS LEFT

 ''I'm going to tell you the truth, I don't have any tears left,'' Gonzalez replied. ''I've cried too much. During this whole period of time, I've cried a lot and suffered greatly, and I'm still in pain. To tell you the truth, I have no tears left. I have -- I don't know -- I've run dry.''

 The biting words he heard his son speak were not his, Gonzalez said.

 ''This is child abuse and mistreatment what they're doing to this boy,'' Gonzalez said. ''And it is something that has been induced, because these aren't the boy's true feelings. That's not the way this boy feels. And I know I'm right in saying that we have to take him back immediately because what they're doing is making this child suffer.''

 Although he did not speak of them by name, it was clear Gonzalez was accusing his uncle Lazaro Gonzalez, who took the boy in after he was found floating in an inner tube and then refused to give him back.

 Lazaro said he watched the interview but had no comment on it. It was not clear if Elian watched but during the time that 60 Minutes was on the boy was seen playing in the front yard of his relatives' Miami home and speaking on a cordless telephone.

 The international custody battle has waged for nearly five months, with the Miami family on one side and Juan Miguel Gonzalez and the U.S. government on the other.

 CALMER TENOR

 Although Gonzalez sometimes came across as agitated, the short broadcast was a far cry from his last national television interview. In January, Gonzalez made headlines for a live Nightline interview in which he said he wanted to take a rifle to
 the people causing him troubles.

 A CBS spokesman said no Cuban officials or attorneys were present during Saturday's taping. Rather took the chance to ask Gonzalez whether he was speaking freely.

 ''Let me give you the argument that these relatives in Miami and other people make: They say, No. 1, you're not your own man,'' Rather said. ''That you are a puppet at the end of Fidel Castro's strings.''

 Gonzalez snapped back at the veteran broadcaster, asking why the name of Cuba's president is constantly invoked in what is basically a simple family matter.

 ''Why do you have to mix in Fidel Castro into all of this?'' he said. ''It's just me claiming my son. It's my son and not Fidel Castro's. It's a way of bringing in Fidel Castro and making it political.''

 FREEDOM QUESTIONED

 Gonzalez added that he didn't buy Rather's description of America as a place of ''freedom and opportunity.'' When asked why he does not stay here with his son, Gonzalez cited the Communist Party proclamations common at the rallies frequently held in Havana on his son's behalf.

 ''I ask you: What's freedom? Well, freedom is, for example, in Cuba where education and health care is free,'' he said. ''Or is it the way it is here? Which of the two is freedom? For example, here when parents send their children to school they have to worry about violence. A child could be shot at school. In Cuba, things like that don't happen. . . . Which of the two is freedom?''

 Rather didn't answer the rhetorical question.

 The father's parting message to his boy: don't fret.

 ''Give him a big kiss and tell him not to worry -- he'll be with me soon,'' Gonzalez said. ''I love him very much. He will be with me soon, and he shouldn't worry.''
 

 Herald staff writer Marika Lynch contributed to this report.