The Miami Herald
Thu, Sep. 06, 2007

Cuban girl's mother is pressed: Why the lies?

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

Testimony in the international custody trial involving a 4-year-old Cuban girl shifted Wednesday from a discussion over when the girl's mother lied in court to an examination of why.

On the witness stand for the fourth day, Elena Perez again acknowledged that she lied numerous times in her testimony over the fitness of her one-time lover, Rafael Izquierdo, to raise the little girl at the center of the dispute. State child-welfare lawyers claim Izquierdo is an unfit parent and should lose his right to raise his daughter.

The state Department of Children & Families wants the girl to remain with Joe and Maria Cubas, a Cuban-American family in Coral Gables that has been raising the girl the past 18 months.

Attorneys for Izquierdo attempted to show that Perez has a motive for saying Izquierdo and his legal team fabricated evidence and falsified testimony -- claims Perez made last week that rocked an already tense trial. Perez's accusations have been leveled mostly at attorney Magda Montiel Davis.

''You were jealous of Magda because, unlike you, she had a husband, children, grandchildren and a house to live in, correct?'' lawyer Steve Weinger asked during cross-examination, referring to a visit Perez made to the home Davis shares with her husband, Ira Kurzban, another attorney for Izquierdo.

''Never. No, never,'' Perez replied.

''You resented Magda Davis because you felt she could have helped you before?'' asked Weinger, noting that Davis had given Perez help with rent and food.

''She could have done it last year. I fought tirelessly, struggled tirelessly to keep not only my daughter, but both of them,'' Perez answered, referring to both the 4-year-old and the girl's older half-brother, who has since been adopted by the Coral Gables foster family seeking to raise both siblings.

''You blame Magda Montiel for losing your children, correct?'' Weinger asked.

''I blame everybody,'' Perez replied.

''You lie to be spiteful sometimes, correct?'' Weinger asked.

''I lie out of necessity,'' Perez said, a moment later. ``I don't lie out of spite. I lie out of necessity. Just to help the father of my daughter. There is no spite. There is hurt.''

An attorney for the Guardian ad Litem Program then quizzed Perez on the provenance of a series of photos that Perez said she sent to Izquierdo -- and then said she didn't send. Wednesday, once again, Perez said she did send some of the photos to Izquierdo in Cuba.

Following a brief recess, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen announced that social workers had found an apartment at Lotus House, a sanctuary for homeless women, for Perez. During her lengthy testimony Tuesday, Perez mentioned that she was living with one of Davis' secretaries.

Perez's living arrangement prompted concern from attorneys for both the DCF and the Guardian ad Litem Program. They said they were unaware Perez was staying with an employee of the opposing counsel.

Perez had been staying with Davis' secretary since Friday, the same day Cohen said she was concerned about Perez's apparently shaky mental state. The judge was not aware that Perez, who had been living in a rented efficiency, was staying with Davis' secretary.

Late in Wednesday's session, Perez told the judge she wanted to say something. What followed was a half-hour monologue that began with: ``It has to do with my life, since I was born.''

Perez recounted many years of struggle, beginning with the physical abuse she said she endured at the hands of her father in childhood, and ending with her decision to leave Cuba with her two children in search of a better life. Much of the narrative was not new; Perez had described the miseries of her life last week.

Some of the story included fresh details, however, including descriptions of beatings she received from a brother -- ''he beat me to a pulp'' one night, she said -- and the story of how Perez had moved to a neighboring town to escape such abuse, only to end up a prostitute.

''I left,'' she said. ``I went out of town for two months to a place where I sold my body.''

When Perez was through, Cohen leaned closer to her.

''Elena,'' the judge said, ``I'm very sorry. Nobody should have to live the life you have lived. Nobody. There is nothing you did to deserve it. I know you are suffering and in a lot of pain.

''You got dealt a very difficult hand in life,'' Cohen continued. ``There is no rhyme or reason for it. I'm so sorry . . . I don't believe your spirit is completely destroyed.''

Miami Herald staff writer Tere Figueras Negrete contributed to this report.