Cuba: Father’s Ordeals to Get Daughter Back Unveiled

Ordeals faced by a Cuban father who was taken to trial in US Florida when claiming custody of his daughter have been unveiled by Cuba’s Juventud Rebelde journal. In two reportages entitled ‘Rescue of a princess’ and ‘From New York to Cabaiguán: a ticket to justice’, Cuban journalist Alina Perera Robbio reveals the tricks and provocations faced by Rafael Izquierdo (Sancti Spiritus) to rescue his minor daughter Elizabeth Izquierdo Pérez.

During the whole legal process (the trial took place out in August, 2007), it was evident that court behaved in accordance with the deep hateful feelings always expressed by the US government towards the Cuban Revolution.

This story was first begun when the girl legally left for US in March, 2005, with her mother. Once in US, the mother tried to kill herself, reason why she was deprived legal custody of her two children in February, 2006.

According to Alina Perera’s report, once the court’s verdict was issued, both Elizabeth and her elder half-brother had to live temporarily with some relatives of their stepfather, who have also left with them for US.

Finally, Florida’s Department of Children and Families granted the custody of both minors to Joe Cubas, a Cuban for-sport-business headhunter who currently lives in Coral Gables, in Miami-Dade County.

This decision catalyzed the legal process that took Rafael Izquierdo to the United States, from where he returned with his daughter this month.