Vol. 71/No. 36      October 1, 2007

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) took the girl and her 10-year-old half brother into custody in December 2005 when their mother, Elena Perez, was unable to care for them. Perez and the children immigrated from Cuba to the United States in 2005 after winning a visa lottery. Eighteen months ago, DCF placed the children in foster care with Joe and Maria Cubas, a wealthy Cuban-American family in Coral Gables, Florida. The DCF is arguing for the court to grant permanent custody to the Cubas family.

‘‘The United States is reluctant to repatriate a child to a communist country,’’ said Judge Jeri B. Cohen.

Joe Cubas gained notoriety as a sports agent who aggressively recruited Cuban baseball players to defect. According to the Miami Herald, he did this by “stalking the star-studded Cuban team around the world from Tokyo to Millington, Tennessee.” He profited from commissions on his clients’ multimillion-dollar professional contracts.

On September 12, Cohen threw out key pieces of the state’s case. Earlier, Cohen dismissed the state’s charge that awarding custody to Izquierdo would amount to “child abuse” because it would damage the five-year-old to remove her from a wealthy foster home and return her to Cuba.

DCF is trying to get the court to rule that Izquierdo abandoned his child after allowing his wife to immigrate with her. Perez wants the girl returned to him.

“Believe me, if it was up to me, it would be a lot easier,” said Cohen, referring to the burden of proof required under Florida law to rule that a parent abandoned their child.
 
 
Related articles:
Campus meeting on Cuban 5 draws students, others in D.C.
Cuban academics attend Latin American Studies conference in Montreal
U.S. denies visas to wives of Cuban 5  
 
 
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