Source:
Associated PressPublished Sep. 4, 2007 8:25 pm
Mom: Dad in custody dispute was kept in dark about hard times
BY JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI
The mother of a Cuban girl at the center of an international custody dispute testified Tuesday that she sent happy pictures of the girl to her father in Cuba without mentioning that their life was difficult.
The girl's mother, Elena Perez, identified a handful of photos she sent back to Cuba including ones of her in a swimming pool and celebrating a birthday. She said she didn't tell the girl's father about being evicted, a burglary attempt on her house, losing her job or losing government aid. She said she told others but not the girl's father.
Perez's testimony began the second week of the hearings in the case before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri B. Cohen. Her testimony about letters and photos of the girl are important because state officials claim the girl's father, Rafael Izquierdo, abandoned her after she emigrated to the U.S. in 2005.
Steven Weinger, an attorney for the girl's father, said outside of court that the girl's father was mislead about the situation of his daughter and her mother.
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