Havana’s View of the ‘Elian Gonzalez II’ Custody Case
Background: The “Elian Gonzalez II” case in Miami is a battle over a 4-year-old Cuban immigrant girl which pits her Cuban father, Rafael Izquierdo, against wealthy Cuban-American foster parents Joe Cubas, a well-known sports agent, and his wife Maria. Just as Elian’s father Juan Gonzalez faced numerous unfair hurdles to get his son back, Izquierdo has been manhandled by the child welfare system, in part because of the system’s anti-father bias.
In 2005, the girl’s mother brought the girl to Miami from Cuba. The Florida Department of Children & Families removed the girl from her mother’s custody in 2006, after an investigation found that the woman’s mental illness rendered her an unfit parent. She was placed with a foster family, and Izquierdo came to the US to bring his daughter home.
Izquierdo has spent months in the US and has been denied custody of his daughter–an outrageous violation of fathers’ rights. Izquierdo should not have to fight to raise his own child. He is a fit father–how and where to raise his daughter is his decision.
Last week Judge Jeri B. Cohen faced down the angry Cuban-American community and did the right thing, ruling that Rafael Izquierdo is a fit parent who did not abandon his daughter, and should be permitted to take the girl back home to Cuba. Outrageously, the Florida Department of Children & Families has done everything it could do to malign Izquierdo and wrest custody away from him, spending over a quarter million dollars to do so. To learn more, click here.
Havana journalist/professor Manuel E. Yepe Menendez’s article Twisted Justice in Miami (The Cuban Nation, 9/27/07) gives the Cuban government’s view of the “Elian Gonzalez II.” I’m not familiar with the Atlanta case Menendez discusses near the end of the article, but I believe his view of the Elian II is more or less accurate, though somewhat exagerrated.
Twisted Justice in Miami
The Cuban Nation, 9/27/07
By Manuel E. Yepe Menendez
Havana’s Higher Institute of International Relations.
Similar to the kidnapping of the Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, seven years ago, a five year-old Cuban girl is today the center of an international dispute over her custody in the only place in the world where something like this could happen: the U.S. city of Miami, in south Florida.
Like the Elian case that won world notoriety, the plaintiff is the father of the child and the arguments of the kidnappers are mostly based on the irrational policy of the United States against Cuba.
In this case, the alleged kidnapper is a wealthy entrepreneur involved in human trafficking called Joe Cubas who, under the façade of a sports agent, has made a fortune in the illegal dealing of Cuban athletes using intelligence logistics and US subversion against the island and the support of Cuban-American extremist groups which have transmuted hatred of the Cuban socialist project into a money-making business which includes political wheeling and dealing directly involving top-ranking government officials of the state of Florida in the United States.
Bob Butterworth, secretary of the Department of Children and Families in the State of Florida (DCF in its English acronym) whose lawyers are battling to prevent the Cuban father from obtaining custody of his daughter, told the Miami press that this “unusual” case is the costliest he has ever seen.
The little girl is daughter of the Cuban campesino from Cabaiguan in the central region of the island and Elena Perez a 35-year-old woman who left Cuba legally and arrived in the United States in December 2005 with the daughter in question and her son. Shortly after her arrival in the Miami, her new husband, Jesus Melendres, abandoned them.
According to reports in the Miami press, Elena, evidently disturbed because of the economic situation she faced for several months, tried to commit suicide. This was the reason her children were taken from her. The DCF took her children from her in March of 2006 and placed them in the care of Joe Cubas.
When Rafael Izquierdo found out, he decided to assume his duty and his right as a father, and was able to travel to the United States to bring his daughter back. (more…)
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