donnay
04-09-2013, 08:37 PM
U.S. plane heads to Cuba — and to Hakkens
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/cnn-spots-hakken-family-in-havana-marina/2114034
TAMPA — Cuba said Tuesday it will turn the Hakken family over to U.S. authorities.
Although the Cuban government didn't say when the transfer would happen, a plane left Tampa for Havana on Tuesday night, local officials said.
Cuban Foreign Ministry official Johana Tablada said her country had informed the United States of the decision to turn over Joshua Hakken, his wife, Sharyn and the two young boys — Chase and Cole — Mr. Hakken is accused of kidnapping last week.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday evening that reporters saw Sharyn Hakken leaving the dock of Havana's Hemingway Marina in the back seat of a Cuban government vehicle, and workers later said that all four Hakkens had been taken away.
Conrad Tribble, the No. 2 U.S. diplomat on the island, said via a Twitter message late Tuesday: "My team and I working very hard to ensure safety for two Amcit kids," using a shorthand for "American citizens."
The decision to return them falls in line with what many experts were predicting would happen.
Though the Hakkens may have planned a new life in Cuba with the children, safe from the U.S. government's reach, that option offered little political benefit to Cuba, experts said.
In fact, with the world watching, cooperation with U.S. authorities could provide positive publicity for a country attempting to foster tourism, some said.
The Hakkens were spotted Tuesday docked at a Havana marina, according to the AP and CNN. Joshua Hakken yelled out, "Stop! Stay back!" as an AP reporter approached.
Hillsborough County deputies say he kidnapped his children from his mother-in-law's house north of Tampa on April 3 before sailing with them and his wife from Madeira Beach to Cuba.
Joshua and Sharyn Hakken had lost custody of their sons, ages 4 and 2, after a series of bizarre incidents documented by Louisiana police.
He faces kidnapping charges, among others, but deputies have not issued arrest warrants for Sharyn Hakken. It's unclear what would happen to her when she returns.
On Tuesday, Cuban security surrounded the Hakkens, who were on their 25-foot sailboat Salty, according to the AP. That was a good sign for the United States, said St. Petersburg immigration lawyer and Stetson Law professor Arturo Rios Jr.
If Cuba was going to make a big production of providing asylum to the family, officials likely would have put the family up in a hotel, Rios said. The security was an indication that Cuba was working with the U.S. Interests Section, a group of U.S. diplomats in Havana.
Historically, Cuban has sheltered Americans seeking political asylum, including people in the Black Panther Party. Recently, the country has refused to turn over people wanted for crimes in the United States.
There is less precedent for cross-border custody cases involving Cuba, though many called the Hakken case a situation of "Elián González in reverse."
In a highly publicized 2000 case, Miami relatives sought to keep the boy in Miami against his father's demands that Elián be returned to him to Cuba. Eventually, Elián was reunited with his father in Cuba.
A case more similar to the Hakkens happened in 2006, when a U.S. man traveled from Texas to the Florida Keys with his youngest son — whom he did not have custody of — and allegedly stole an airplane in Marathon, landing in Cuba.
The boy was soon sent to his mother, who lived in Mexico. The father, David Franklin, was extradited within the month.
"The only thing that sets (the Hakkens' case) apart from other international abductions is that both parents took the children," Rios said.
Cuba could not simply send the children to the other biological parent, Rios said. And whether the Cuban government will acknowledge the state of Louisiana's decision to sever Joshua and Sharyn Hakkens' parental rights was yet to be seen.
If they indeed hand all four over to the United States, as Tablada said Cuba would, the country could leave that for U.S. authorities to sort out.
Another difficulty U.S. authorities faced Tuesday: Cuba is not a signatory of the Hague Convention, which establishes procedures to reunite abducted children with their guardians, said Florida International University law professor Cyra Choudhury, who specializes in transnational family law.
Therefore, any decisions regarding the Hakkens lay completely with the Cuban government, she said.
And though Cuba had little reason to help the Hakkens, recent U.S. relations with Cuba have been tense and overall cooperation spotty, said Jorge Duany, the director of the Cuban Research Institute and Professor of Anthropology at Florida International University.
The Castro regime has refused to return Alan Gross, a U.S. citizen who in 2011 was sentenced in Cuba to 15 years of prison after he delivered satellite telephones to members of Cuba's Jewish community.
The country said it wants to swap Gross for five Cuban spies arrested in Florida in 1998.
"It is a sore issue," Duany said. "Neither government really respects the other in terms of returning or deporting people."
However, Cuba has been on a mission to draw U.S. tourists to its tropical island, and cooperation in the case of the Hakkens could be used to further those aims, said Jose Azel, a research associate at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.
Hillsborough authorities say that early April 3, Joshua Hakken barged into his mother-in-law's home north of Tampa, bound her with zip ties and kidnapped his boys, who were in their pajamas.
Hours later, their sailboat launched from a dock in Madeira Beach, apparently headed to Cuba.
The Hakkens lost custody of their sons sometime after July when authorities in Louisiana found them acting bizarrely in a hotel room. Joshua Hakken had marijuana, a gun, a knife and his sons with him.
Police arrested him and put the children in foster care.
About two weeks later, authorities say, Hakken showed up at the foster home, waving a gun and demanding his boys back. He left after the foster mother called 911.
Louisiana authorities notified the Hakkens on April 2 that their parents rights were severed.
Terri Durdaller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Children and Families, said it was not clear where the children will ultimately be placed when they return.
"Louisiana is the ultimate decision maker on where these children will reside," she said. "It's likely they will be placed back in Florida with the grandmother."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Times news researcher John Martin contributed. Jessica Vander Velde can be reached at jvandervelde@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3433.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/cnn-spots-hakken-family-in-havana-marina/2114034
TAMPA — Cuba said Tuesday it will turn the Hakken family over to U.S. authorities.
Although the Cuban government didn't say when the transfer would happen, a plane left Tampa for Havana on Tuesday night, local officials said.
Cuban Foreign Ministry official Johana Tablada said her country had informed the United States of the decision to turn over Joshua Hakken, his wife, Sharyn and the two young boys — Chase and Cole — Mr. Hakken is accused of kidnapping last week.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday evening that reporters saw Sharyn Hakken leaving the dock of Havana's Hemingway Marina in the back seat of a Cuban government vehicle, and workers later said that all four Hakkens had been taken away.
Conrad Tribble, the No. 2 U.S. diplomat on the island, said via a Twitter message late Tuesday: "My team and I working very hard to ensure safety for two Amcit kids," using a shorthand for "American citizens."
The decision to return them falls in line with what many experts were predicting would happen.
Though the Hakkens may have planned a new life in Cuba with the children, safe from the U.S. government's reach, that option offered little political benefit to Cuba, experts said.
In fact, with the world watching, cooperation with U.S. authorities could provide positive publicity for a country attempting to foster tourism, some said.
The Hakkens were spotted Tuesday docked at a Havana marina, according to the AP and CNN. Joshua Hakken yelled out, "Stop! Stay back!" as an AP reporter approached.
Hillsborough County deputies say he kidnapped his children from his mother-in-law's house north of Tampa on April 3 before sailing with them and his wife from Madeira Beach to Cuba.
Joshua and Sharyn Hakken had lost custody of their sons, ages 4 and 2, after a series of bizarre incidents documented by Louisiana police.
He faces kidnapping charges, among others, but deputies have not issued arrest warrants for Sharyn Hakken. It's unclear what would happen to her when she returns.
On Tuesday, Cuban security surrounded the Hakkens, who were on their 25-foot sailboat Salty, according to the AP. That was a good sign for the United States, said St. Petersburg immigration lawyer and Stetson Law professor Arturo Rios Jr.
If Cuba was going to make a big production of providing asylum to the family, officials likely would have put the family up in a hotel, Rios said. The security was an indication that Cuba was working with the U.S. Interests Section, a group of U.S. diplomats in Havana.
Historically, Cuban has sheltered Americans seeking political asylum, including people in the Black Panther Party. Recently, the country has refused to turn over people wanted for crimes in the United States.
There is less precedent for cross-border custody cases involving Cuba, though many called the Hakken case a situation of "Elián González in reverse."
In a highly publicized 2000 case, Miami relatives sought to keep the boy in Miami against his father's demands that Elián be returned to him to Cuba. Eventually, Elián was reunited with his father in Cuba.
A case more similar to the Hakkens happened in 2006, when a U.S. man traveled from Texas to the Florida Keys with his youngest son — whom he did not have custody of — and allegedly stole an airplane in Marathon, landing in Cuba.
The boy was soon sent to his mother, who lived in Mexico. The father, David Franklin, was extradited within the month.
"The only thing that sets (the Hakkens' case) apart from other international abductions is that both parents took the children," Rios said.
Cuba could not simply send the children to the other biological parent, Rios said. And whether the Cuban government will acknowledge the state of Louisiana's decision to sever Joshua and Sharyn Hakkens' parental rights was yet to be seen.
If they indeed hand all four over to the United States, as Tablada said Cuba would, the country could leave that for U.S. authorities to sort out.
Another difficulty U.S. authorities faced Tuesday: Cuba is not a signatory of the Hague Convention, which establishes procedures to reunite abducted children with their guardians, said Florida International University law professor Cyra Choudhury, who specializes in transnational family law.
Therefore, any decisions regarding the Hakkens lay completely with the Cuban government, she said.
And though Cuba had little reason to help the Hakkens, recent U.S. relations with Cuba have been tense and overall cooperation spotty, said Jorge Duany, the director of the Cuban Research Institute and Professor of Anthropology at Florida International University.
The Castro regime has refused to return Alan Gross, a U.S. citizen who in 2011 was sentenced in Cuba to 15 years of prison after he delivered satellite telephones to members of Cuba's Jewish community.
The country said it wants to swap Gross for five Cuban spies arrested in Florida in 1998.
"It is a sore issue," Duany said. "Neither government really respects the other in terms of returning or deporting people."
However, Cuba has been on a mission to draw U.S. tourists to its tropical island, and cooperation in the case of the Hakkens could be used to further those aims, said Jose Azel, a research associate at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.
Hillsborough authorities say that early April 3, Joshua Hakken barged into his mother-in-law's home north of Tampa, bound her with zip ties and kidnapped his boys, who were in their pajamas.
Hours later, their sailboat launched from a dock in Madeira Beach, apparently headed to Cuba.
The Hakkens lost custody of their sons sometime after July when authorities in Louisiana found them acting bizarrely in a hotel room. Joshua Hakken had marijuana, a gun, a knife and his sons with him.
Police arrested him and put the children in foster care.
About two weeks later, authorities say, Hakken showed up at the foster home, waving a gun and demanding his boys back. He left after the foster mother called 911.
Louisiana authorities notified the Hakkens on April 2 that their parents rights were severed.
Terri Durdaller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Children and Families, said it was not clear where the children will ultimately be placed when they return.
"Louisiana is the ultimate decision maker on where these children will reside," she said. "It's likely they will be placed back in Florida with the grandmother."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Times news researcher John Martin contributed. Jessica Vander Velde can be reached at jvandervelde@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3433.