Teen brother testifies in Cuban girl custody case

[pnwmom]

http://www.theolympian.com/national/story/202412.html

"The boy, now 13, was the first witness to testify Tuesday at a rancorous custody trial over the fate of his 4-year-old half-sister. The case pits the girl's father, Rafael Izquierdo, a Cuban farmer, against the girl's foster parents, Coral Gables couple Joe and Maria Cubas.

"State child-welfare lawyers say Izquierdo, who lives in Cuba, is unfit to raise the girl because, among other things, he did nothing to protect her when their mother, Elena Perez, beat her.

SNIP

"The boy testified that while he and his sister were living in Cuba, he told Izquierdo -- who did not live with them -- that both he and his little sister were frequent victims of their mother's violent moods. . . . Speaking in English, his second language -- though occasionally reverting to Spanish -- the boy said Perez beat him daily for virtually no reason, and beat his sister ``twice a day.''

"The teen catalogued the myriad ways in which he said his mother mistreated him and his sister: She hit him. She kicked him while he was on the ground. She pulled the girl's hair. She hit him with a stick. She choked him. What did the girl do to prompt such abuse, O'Sullivan asked him. ''She would cry. She would talk to her back,'' the boy replied."

[ngant17]

1. clearly irrelevant evidence here

There are cultural differences in the way parents raise children in other countries. It's not for the US to judge and dictate how foreign people go about raising families in a foreign country.

What might instantly qualify as abusive behaviour against a child in American might be normal behavior in another cultural environment.

The only fair way to resolve this case is thru the Cuban courts, in Cuba. Not in USA. Even if you could move it outside the bias of Miami, which would be practically impossible.

[pnwmom]

2. I read somewhere that all the parties involved have agreed to let this

family court decide the case.