Cuban Mother sent son on vacation to the U.S., now the father refuses to send him back

Cuban mother Kisbelis Quintana reported that her 4-year-old son traveled to Florida to spend Christmas with his father, and is now refusing to send him back to Cuba, reported Noticias 23 on Tuesday.

"My child's name is Yoandry Calderón Quintana. He has American citizenship through his father. He traveled to the United States on November 7. Then, on December 30, I told him that Christmas is coming to an end, and asked when he is going to buy the return ticket. And he tells me that the child is not coming to Cuba," said Kisbelis.

The mother sent Noticias 23 a document dated November 4, 2021, and signed by a Cuban notary, in which she authorizes her son Yoandry Calderón Quintana to travel to the United States on a temporary basis.

"It feels like a huge void. It feels like they are taking away a part of yourself, it is something inexplicable. There is no way to describe how a person can feel," Yoandry's mother added.

Noticias 23 spoke by telephone with Yoandry Calderon, the boy's father, who stated that he is reluctant to send his son "to a country where a dictatorship rules," but is awaiting authorization from his lawyer for an interview.

Kisbelis Quintana declared that she does not want the issue to become political, and that she made her case public only because she wants to have her son back. "I never gave authorization for the father to keep the child," she declared.

Angel Leal, a lawyer with expertise in migration, explained that Cuba has not signed the international agreement of the Hague, which would serve as a legal instrument to resolve this case.

"[The mother] is going to have to find a way to come to the United States, file a lawsuit in a U.S. court, either at the state level or at the federal level, and have some kind of parenting plan established where custody rights are respected for both parents," Leal said.

Meanwhile, Yoandry Calderón Quintana has been in the U.S. for more than five months, attends school in Tampa, Florida, and has started speaking English.

After the couple separated a few months ago, the child's father canceled the arrangements he had made for the mother to travel to the United States.