MIAMI-
A 14-year-old Florida boy who was having trouble in school used his father’s credit card to fly to Havana, where he is now living with his mother, his father says.
The father, Cuban immigrant Alfredo Diaz, is urging U.S. officials to help him get his son back.
The boy, also named Alfredo, flew to Cuba last week after buying a plane ticket over the Internet, his father said Tuesday. The father said he did not know of his trip until his ex-wife called.
The elder Diaz said his son may have been upset over his aborted candidacy for class president, which ended after he was accused of casting ballots for himself in the name of his friends. Diaz punished his son by canceling his computer privileges and confiscating his iPod.
“I’m hoping he will spend a couple of months there without his computer, plasma TV, iPod, and he’ll want to come back,” Diaz told The Miami Herald. “My son likes the good things in life. He won’t find that in Cuba.”
The teen has lived with his father in the United States for six years. The elder Diaz said his ex-wife agreed to let their son come to this country.
Diaz said U.S. authorities told him they cannot help because his son traveled to the island voluntarily to live with his mother, and because the father has no written proof of custody.
The younger Diaz was allowed to board the American Airlines flight Sept. 21 using his immigration documents. He used his Cuban passport to re-enter the island.
“I can’t believe my son was able to go through all that security and no one stopped him or asked him about being so young and traveling alone,” Diaz said.
American Airlines prohibits children under 15 from traveling unaccompanied. Airline spokeswoman Martha Pantin said Wednesday the ticket agent checked Diaz’s year of birth but not his birthdate, which is in December, and thought he was 15.
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