MIAMI (AFP) — A Cuban pig farmer sobbed Tuesday as he asked a Miami court to let him return home with his five-year-old daughter, who is at the center of a custody drama involving a mentally unstable mother and a wealthy foster father known for helping smuggle athletes out of Cuba.
"We are a very humble family. A family of working people. I love my daughter. I love her very much," said Rafael Izquierdo, who flew from the communist-run island hoping to regain custody of his daughter.
Tuesday's drama unfolded as Florida Judge Jerri Cohen told the man she found his testimony "evasive and dishonest," adding, however: "It doesn't mean you don't love your daughter."
The court had earlier heard testimony that loving letters Izquierdo purportedly wrote to his daughter had been faked.
Holding back his tears, Izquierdo told the judge he would not have flown from Cuba if he were not "a competent father.
The court heard earlier that Izquierdo had allowed his daughter to travel to Miami with her mother, Elena Perez, in 2005. A few month later, Perez attempted suicide and authorities removed the girl and a 13-year-old son from her custody.
The girl and her half-brother ended in the care of Joe Cubas, a wealthy businessman and a former sports agent known for having helped smuggle baseball players out of Cuba.
The son of Cuban refugees, Cubas is well-known among the Cuban exile community in Miami.
Miami authorities argue that Izquierdo waived his parental rights when he let the child leave Cuba knowing the girl's mother was in an unstable mental state.
The case has drawn comparisons with the saga of Elian Gonzalez, even though it does not have the political overtones of the 1999 custody battle.
A five-year-old rescued at sea in 1999 after his mother died as the two fled Cuba, Gonzalez was placed in the custody of relatives in Miami, and soon found himself in the center of a political firestorm involving Havana, Washington and Cuban exiles firmly opposed to Cuba's communist regime.
US authorities eventually ordered the boy returned to Cuba, and stirred further outrage among the Cuban-American community by sending armed agents to retrieve him from his uncle's house in Miami.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
