[NYTr] Custody "Deal" on Cuban Girl Gets Final Approval

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[But, the father has agreed to stay in the US for 30 MONTHS and
the athlete-smuggler and "foster father" Joe Cubas gets to visit with
her. As far as staying in the US, the father said there are some things
you just have to suffer through...]

See 9 previous articles on this case in NY Transfer's archives here:
http://tinyurl.com/ywsrwt


AP via via Charlotte Observer - Dec 5, 2007
http://www.charlotte.com/nation/story/390806.html

Deal in US-Cuba custody dispute approved

By RASHA MADKOUR

A judge approved a settlement in an international custody dispute that
gives a Cuban farmer custody of his 5-year-old daughter, who came to
the U.S. with her mother two years ago.

State officials had supported efforts by the girl's wealthy U.S. foster
family to adopt the girl, accusing her father, Rafael Izquierdo, of
abandoning and neglecting her. But in the settlement, reached last
week, all sides agreed that Izquierdo should get sole custody, provided
that he and his daughter stay in the U.S. until 2010, and the foster
parents get regular visits.

"I think it's the right thing to do. I know it wasn't easy," Miami-Dade
County Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen said Tuesday during the hearing.
"What you've agreed to is in the best interest of (the child).

"I hope things can settle down and you can raise your daughter," Cohen
told Izquierdo.

The girl, her half brother and their mother emigrated from Cuba to the
United States in 2005.

The foster parents, former sports agent Joe Cubas and his wife, Maria,
cared for the children after their mother became suicidal. The Cubases,
who live in Coral Gables, have since adopted the girl's brother and
wanted to do the same with her.

The agreement satisfied the main goals of the parties involved, lawyers
for both sides said. Izquierdo got custody of his daughter, while the
Cubases were assured that the girl would not suffer from an abrupt
transition.

After the hearing, Joe Cubas walked over to Izquierdo and the two men
hugged.

Cubas said his family felt blessed to help the girl and her brother,
who were "in desperate need," through difficult times.

"How can I have lost out if we've helped two children?" Cubas said.

Izquierdo said he was "very content" with the agreement, if not the
protracted court proceedings that preceded it.

"I thought it was going to be something very quick ... There was no
need for such a delay," once his paternity was proven, Izquierdo said
in Spanish.

As for the 30-month wait until he can return to Cuba with his daughter,
Izquierdo said: "There's many things that you have to suffer through in
order to achieve what you want, but life is that way."

State attorneys previously argued Izquierdo abandoned the girl by going
months without communicating with her after she moved to the U.S., and
that giving him custody could hurt the girl because she had bonded with
the Cubases.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen ruled in September that
Izquierdo is a fit parent and did not abandon his daughter. She had
delayed hearings on whether the girl would be placed in danger if
removed from her foster family and returned to Cuba.

Izquierdo, a pig and potato farmer from the central Cuban town of
Cabaiguan, has filed paperwork to allow himself to hold a job in the
United States, his lawyers said.

The girl's mother, Elena Perez, attended most of the custody
proceedings but was not in court Tuesday. Izquierdo, when asked by the
judge, said he didn't feel comfortable allowing Perez to visit their
daughter at this time.

The case initially drew comparisons to the Elian Gonzalez custody
battle, which ended in 2000 when the Clinton administration decided
that the young boy should be returned to his father in Cuba against the
wishes of relatives in Miami.

The boy was found lashed to an inner tube off Fort Lauderdale after his
mother and others perished when their boat sank as they attempted to
reach the U.S.