Cuba allows U.S. father to visit son taken there by his mother

MIAMI (AP) _ The Cuban government has allowed the father of a 5-year-old boy taken to Cuba by his mother to fly to the island in the hopes of bringing back his son. <br><br>The State Department is working

Saturday, December 9th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MIAMI (AP) _ The Cuban government has allowed the father of a 5-year-old boy taken to Cuba by his mother to fly to the island in the hopes of bringing back his son.

The State Department is working on special preparations to obtain travel documents for Jon Colombini and his lawyer. Colombini, 31, said Friday he and attorney Michael Berry were told they can visit the boy, Jonathon, and meet with ex-wife Arletis Blanco.

``I want to discuss with her what we're going to do about Jonathon and try to work something out,'' Colombini said. ``I don't know exactly when we'll fly to Cuba; it could be next week, probably before Christmas.''

Blanco embarked on a 21-foot fishing boat from the Florida Keys to Cuba on Nov. 12 with her son Jonathon, her boyfriend, Agustin Lemus, 37, and their infant daughter.

Blanco, 29, is living in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, with the boy and says she wants them to begin a new life on the island. Colombini and his wife share custody, and Colombini said he wants to raise the boy in the United States.

Officials with the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., confirmed they authorized the trip.

``We have said from the start of this case we'd assist in this case, and we are making it possible for the parents to meet face to face and talk,'' said interests section spokesman Luis Fernandez. ``Now, the United States government has to give them permission.''

The U.S. embargo against Cuba bars those born in the United States from visiting or spending money there.

Thus, Berry needs a ``special license given by the Department of Treasury to be allowed to do business in Cuba, and the father must also get permission, probably under a humanitarian provision,'' a spokeswoman with the Office of Consular Affairs said.

Both Berry and the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is handling the custody matter, didn't immediately comment, The Miami Herald reported in its Saturday editions.

The case has drawn parallels to that of Elian Gonzalez, whose mother drowned in a shipwreck trying to leave Cuba last year. Miami relatives lost a custody fight to raise him in the United States, and his father took Elian home to Cuba in June.

Instances in which one parent abducts a child and takes the child out of the country are not uncommon in the United States. The State Department said this year it had more than 1,100 active cases of such international flight.