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TITLE: U.S. Charges Woman with Kidnapping Son to Cuba |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: Reuters |
DATE: Februrary 23, 2001 |
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MIAMI (Reuters) - A Cuban-born woman who smuggled her American-born 5-year-old son into Cuba without his father's permission was indicted in Miami on Friday on a federal charge of international parental kidnapping. An arrest warrant was issued for Arletis Blanco, 29, formerly of Key Largo, Florida. She was in Cuba with the boy, however, and it was unclear whether Cuba would extradite her to the United States to stand trial. The two nations have no formal diplomatic relations and no extradition treaty. Blanco and her former husband, American Jonathan Kenneth Colombini, had joint custody of the boy, also named Jonathan. Without consulting the father, Blanco took her son by speedboat to her homeland on Nov. 12 to start a new life. The boy's father is fighting to get him back and went to Cuba in December in an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate for the boy's return. The case has been dubbed "Elian-in-reverse" because of some similarities to the custody dispute over Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez, whose Miami relatives battled U.S. authorities in a highly publicized and unsuccessful attempt to keep the boy from being returned to his father in Cuba after his mother died trying to smuggle him to Miami by boat. But there were differences other than the geographic route that could affect the chances of returning Colombini to the United States -- namely his mother survived the sea voyage and wants to raise him in Cuba. "I just want to spend my life in a quieter place, where my children can run around, fly kites and ride horses," Blanco told Reuters in November at a relative's house, where she is staying in the tiny locality of Blanca Arena, near the coast in western Pinar del Rio province. U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis said Blanco was charged with kidnapping the boy "with the malicious intent of depriving the father the right of shared custody and visitation." If convicted, she could face up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine. "When a defendant, in clear violation of a court's order, flees to another country, thereby depriving a parent of lawful custody, we must act. The law and the best interest of the child require no less," Lewis said. The arrest affidavit said Blanca left a taped message to relatives in Florida, indicating she was leaving because she had stolen $150,000 from her employer. Once in Cuba, however, she indicated to Cuban police she fled her Key Largo home after becoming entangled in a murky plot involving death threats and anti-Castro exiles. END |