Years after Elian, Cuban custody fight simmers

Top Miami lawyer on the case
Izquierdo, a farmer from the central Cuban village of Cabaiguan, said he wants to bring his daughter back to his family home, where he lives with his parents, wife and their 7-year-old daughter.

"Her room is ready with and her bed and her little toys," he said Thursday.

When the reporters demanded to know whether the girl would not be better off growing up in the U.S., Izquierdo did not waiver. "I want my daughter to be with her father. I believe all children should be with their parents," he said.

Izquierdo, who is represented by immigration law expert Ira Kurzban, has complained that he has been allowed only 20 visits with his daughter and that often she is brought to him exhausted after a day of other activities. Still "their is love between us," he said.

Perez seconded Izquierdo's request.

"Now that she's not going to her mother, she should go to her father," Perez said of her daughter. "Those are the two best people in the world to be at the side of a child."

Cubas became a controversial character in the late 1990s for his role in allegedly assisting top Cuba ball players leave the island. In 2005, his sports agent certification was suspended following accusations by one defector that Cubas took his immigration documents and refused to return them. He has denied the allegations.

On Cubas' side is top Miami lawyer Alan Mishael. Several volunteer attorneys from the Washington D.C.-based law firm Hogan & Hartson represent an independent guardian who favors leaving the girl with Cubas. Several more top attorneys for the Florida Department of Children & Families also appear to favor Cubas.

'Rights of parents should be above all'
Cubas said the girl, who calls him "Papi," shouldn't be separated from her brother and doesn't want to go back to Cuba.

"I don't believe this is a matter of where their better life could be provided," he said. "It is our belief, as is the wishes of the children, that they remain together and that's why we're here."

But even popular Miami Spanish-language radio and television personality Ninoska Perez Castellon, who regularly rails against Fidel Castro and "leftists" on her morning show and who championed Elian's stay in Miami, said ultimately Izquierdo will likely regain custody.

"If the mother is saying she should be with the father, and the father is saying he wants his daughter, it would be very difficult for her not to go with him," she said. "Cubans understand that the right of parents should be above all."

Both Perez and Saladrigas said the community's fear was that in both the Elian case and this one the fathers were pressured to bring the children back by the Castro government.

"The concern is whether they are speaking from their heart or being coerced, and there is no clear answer to that. You will never know," Saladrigas said, adding, "If it wouldn't be for that it would be a no-brainer."

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