>Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2000 19:17:26 -0500 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Cuba-Summary of Colombini Child Custody Case-Granma >Cuba-Summary of Colombini Child Custody Case-Granma > >Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Granma Internacional Digital, English Edition > >November 23, 2000 > >CUBAN AUTHORITIES WILL PROVIDE ALL FACILITIES REQUIRED IN CHILD CUSTODY CASE > >OVER the last few days, U.S. press agencies and the media have reported a >complaint filed by Jon Kenneth Colombini, U.S. citizen resident in >Homestead, Florida, regarding the fact that his five-year-old son, Jonathon >L. Colombini, who was in the custody of his mother, the complainant's >ex-wife, had disappeared from his usual place of residence. He feared that >the child, his mother and her current husband had left the country in a >speedboat heading towards Cuban territory. > >According to information released by the U.S. media, the child's father has >complained to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), which in turn >contacted the U.S. State Department in order to try to open diplomatic >channels for the child's return. > >In relation to this case, we have received the following information from >the relevant Cuban authorities, which we consider opportune to make known to >both the Cuban and the U.S. public: > >On the night of November 12, 2000, two men, one woman and two children >presented themselves at the National Revolutionary Police station in BahÌa >Honda, Pinar del RÌo province. They announced that they had traveled in a >speedboat from the United States and had arrived illegally in Cuban >territory with the aim of remaining in our country. > >These persons identified themselves as: > >. AgustÌn Lemus Arzola, a 37-year-old native of Pinar del RÌo, born on >. August 28, 1963. Caucasian, married, with secondary-level education and >. employed as a truck driver. Lived at 408 Geiger Cr., Key Largo, Florida. > >. Arletis Blanco PÈrez, a 29-year-old native of G¸ira de Melena, born on >. November 21, 1971. Caucasian and married to AgustÌn Lemus Arzola, listed >. above. Employed and lived at the same address as Lemus Arzola. > >. Yuriel LeÛn Lemus, a 21-year-old native of BahÌa Honda, born on November >. 24, 1979. Caucasian, single, high school education. Employed in the >. construction industry and lived at 3200 NW 79th St., Miami, Florida. > >. Jessica Lemus, one year of age. The daughter of Arletis Blanco and AgustÌn >. Lemus. > >. Jonathon Loren Colombini, five years old. The son of Arletis Blanco. > >The speedboat used was white, of the Mako make and named My Nanna. It was 21 >feet long, had the registration number 5853-AN and had an open deck. It was >powered by an Evinrude 175-horsepower outboard motor. > >Arletis Blanco PÈrez reported that she had been taken to the United States >in 1980, when she was eight years old, via the port of Mariel. She confirmed >that the father of her son Jonathon had lost custody of the child because he >was an alcoholic. She presented two English-language documents, one >concerning the final resolution of the dissolution of her marriage to Jon K. >Colombini dated April 16, 1998, and another with the same date concerning >alimony payments that Mr. Colombini is obliged to pay her, presumably for >the maintenance of their son, Jonathon L. Colombini. > >They reported that they had asked to borrow the speedboat from Arletis >Blanco's brother and had initially taken it to Key West, from where they >began their journey to Cuba at 9:00 a.m. on November 12. According to their >statements, the voyage was delayed because of poor weather conditions. In >order to carry out the plan, AgustÌn Lemus made contact with his cousin >Yuriel LeÛn Lemus and asked him to pilot the speedboat, since he knew that >the latter had wanted to return to Cuba practically from the time of his >arrival in the United States in 1999, due to the poor economic situation he >encountered. > >AgustÌn Lemus Arzola told the Cuban authorities that the decision to travel >to Cuba in order to live in our country was taken in conjunction with >Arletis Blanco. It was determined by the fact that his wife, who worked for >the JS company, was caught by the company's owner, Juan Emilio Su·rez, while >secretly recording--on the recommendation of Lemus Arzola, a meeting in >which the subject under discussion was a problem related to an alleged sale >of fuel for a boat named Democracia, belonging to the counterrevolutionary >organization calling itself Democracy Movement. The money from the sale was >to be invested in the purchase of armaments which would be sent, by way of >Nicaragua, to internal counterrevolutionaries in Cuba. According to the >statement, Juan Emilio Su·rez took the recording from Arletis Blanco and >threatened that if the meeting's subject matter became publicized, he would >kill both her and her children. > >For her part, Arletis Blanco PÈrez said that the aforementioned JS company >had sold fuel to the counterrevolutionary Democracy Movement organization >since December 1998, but that the money resulting from the sales was not >banked by Juan Emilio Su·rez, but had instead been used to finance the >activities of another counterrevolutionary organization, Alpha 66, of which >Su·rez is a member. She added that last August, after talking with her >husband about the money missing from the company, her certainty that this >would be discovered and the impossibility of proving what she knew in this >regard, she decided to record the meeting where one of these sales was >discussed. It was on that occasion that Su·rez discovered her. Later, at the >start of November, the company was audited and it was discovered that >$150,000 USD was missing, which implied that the company would be >investigated. She said that coinciding with this situation, on November 7, >she received an anonymous call at her office making threats against her >children; further calls were made in the following days. She therefore >decided to return to Cuba to protect her children's lives. > >In its Wednesday, November 22 edition, the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald said >that the child's father, Jon Colombini, is a kitchen administrator at >Gusto's Grill & Bar in Florida City. According to the daily, Colombini said, >"I want my son returned as soon as possible and I will do everything in my >power to achieve that." He added that he considered Arletis Blanco to be a >good mother and that they were on cordial terms. > >The same newspaper reports that the previous day, Arletis Blanco had been >accused of stealing $150,000 USD from the McKenzie Petroleum Company in Key >Largo, were she had worked. A spokesperson for the Monroe County Police >Chief's office, Becky Herrin, told El Nuevo Herald that Arletis Blanco's >family members had handed over a number of cassette tapes in which she >[Arletis Blanco] admits that she had stolen a large sum of money and that >she had left Florida to avoid the shame. The spokesperson added that the >theft from the company was currently under police investigation. > >The Cuban authorities announce that Lemus Arzola and LeÛn Lemus remain under >detention in Pinar del RÌo, awaiting the results of investigations into this >matter. Meanwhile, Arletis Blanco PÈrez and her two children are staying >with AgustÌn Lemus Arzola's family members in Pinar del RÌo province. > >Cases of this type do not usually occur in our country. The Cuban >authorities are willing to provide all the facilities necessary to process >any claim that may be presented and the corresponding litigation in relation >to this case, so that the problem can be resolved as quickly as possible in >accordance with the pertinent legal proceedings with absolute impartiality >and a spirit of justice. > >(c) 2000 Granma International Digital, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. > > >================================================================= > NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems > Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us > 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 > http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >================================================================= > >nytcari-11.26.00-19:16:50-9357 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
