Feisty Aphrodite Archives
Cuban Government Deports US Citizen Wanted for Child Sex Abuse
The following is from the article written by Patricia Grogg, published by Inter Press Service:
The Cuban government deported a U.S. citizen accused of sexually abusing a young girl in Costa Rica, less than two weeks after Washington included the Caribbean island on a list of countries that it says are not doing enough to combat child trafficking.
Leonard B. Auerbach was sent to the United States at the request of U.S. authorities who issued an arrest warrant for him "for the crimes of sexual exploitation of a minor, and transportation and possession of child pornography," a Cuban Foreign Ministry press release said Friday.
According to the communiqué, Auerbach was arrested in Cuba on May 7 "based on information provided by U.S. authorities." On investigation he was found to have entered Cuba from Mexico on Apr. 8 in order to evade the U.S. justice system.
Since there was no evidence that he had broken any laws in Cuba, and "the crimes of which he is accused in the United States are of a serious nature and are vigorously combated by our authorities, including cooperating with other countries in the fight against them, it was decided to return this citizen to his country of origin," the Foreign Ministry said.
On Jun. 8, the Cuban government harshly criticised a report issued by Washington on Jun. 4, which includes Cuba on a Watch List of countries it accuses of not making significant efforts to combat internal trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
"The Foreign Ministry categorically rejects the content of this new report from the State Department, which ignores and distorts Cuban reality in an attempt to justify the criminal U.S. policy of blockade, aggression and hostility against Cuba," the statement said.
According to Havana, the State Department report was intended to "denigrate the social and moral achievements of the Cuban Revolution, in particular the priority it accords to the care of women and children, which is widely recognised at the international level, and also attempted to discredit the healthy growth and development of the tourist industry."
Read the entire story here.
