Rafael Izquierdo, an agricultural worker from Cabaiguan in central Cuba, is fighting for custody of his five-year-old daughter so he and his daughter can return to Cuba
Elena Perez, the girl’s mother, legally came to the United States in December 2005 to live with her new husband, who shortly afterward abandoned them. The child entered foster care after Perez became depressed and suicidal due to subsequent economic difficulties as a single mother in this country.
The girl remains in the so-called foster care of a wealthy Coral Gables anti-Cuba couple—the couple refuses to release her and is pushing for full guardianship. Both of the girl’s parents are seeking her return to the father. In the words of Izquierdo’s lawyer, Ira Kurzban, a well known attorney who works on many progressive immigration cases, the foster family and Florida’s Department of Children and Families “are basically holding her hostage.”
“It was clear from the beginning the DCF had no case. This was just politically motivated,” said Kurzban. The case has been referred to by the media as “Elián González II.”
On Sept. 27, a judge ruled that Rafael Izquierdo did not abandon or neglect the girl. The DCF had previously claimed that Izquierdo was unfit to raise the child due to previous neglect and abandonment.
The girl was placed by DCF for the last 19 months with Joe and Maria Cubas who have, since the 1990s, smuggled Cuban athletes into the United States with the promise of million dollar sports contracts. Cubas himself has become a multi-millionaire, under the guise of being a sports agent, by his illegal trafficking of athletes.
Cubas has enjoyed the support of Miami Cuban extremist groups and ties to many right-wing government officials in Florida. The Cubases want permanent guardianship of the girl. Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, has threatened to appeal the decision if the Cubases are not made the legal guardians.
Cubas’s sports agent license has subsequently been revoked as a result of his smuggling activity, but he continues to try to bribe athletes.
Cuba has earned international recognition in many sports like boxing and baseball.
The corporate-owned media in the United States portray the defection of Cuban athletes as a failure of the country’s socialist system. Cubas is part of this vilification campaign and surely has volunteered as a foster parent only to further a negative portrayal of the Cuban government.
But this case goes beyond the Miami Cuban right wing—the state itself has been central to preventing the reunification of Izquierdo with his daughter by not immediately deciding on custody.
Legal hurdles
The Miami Herald headlines promoted the ruling that reverses the visitation schedule that has been in place for months: this next period the father has five visitation days and the foster family has two. The ruling ignores the arrogance of the U.S. courts, which have no jurisdiction to determine the rights of a parent or child in Cuba.
There has never been a case in Florida when the court deemed a parent fit for custody and not reunited that child with that parent. Furthermore, the Department of Family and Children has presented the ludicrous position that the girl’s separation from her foster family could endanger her due to “psychological and emotional repercussions” resulting from this separation.
The decision to have a hearing on this is unprecedented, but when such a case is heard in Miami the rules can easily change.
In addition, the Cubases and their lawyer concocted a story that Kurzban’s wife and another attorney orchestrated a filming of the girl where she was coerced to say that she wants to go back to Cuba. Kurzban asked the judge strike from the record the “false and scurrilous” accusations made by the Cubases.
Kurzban told PSLweb.org that this second legal proceeding is expected to last four weeks beginning on Oct. 16.
