Armed U.S. marshals normally surprise fugitives by breaking down
doors and hauling people off in handcuffs. This time, federal agents
took a different tack: They called the wanted man and politely asked him
to return.
"He confirmed, absolutely, I know I'm wanted in the
U.S., and I'm not coming back to the U.S. because I know I'm going to
prison," Barry Golden, U.S. Marshals Service spokesman, said of the
April 2014 call to accused alien smuggler Junior Arce de la Cruz.
Why the unusual treatment? Because Arce de la Cruz was in Cuba. The incident underscores the difficulty of retrieving fugitives from the Communist-led nation.
President Obama's recent move to
restore official diplomatic ties with Cuba has renewed calls for the
return of fugitives, but Cuba has asserted its right to offer political
asylum to certain individuals and has yet to return a single fugitive. The two countries do not regularly cooperate on police matters or honor an extradition treaty signed more than 100 years ago.
"That
has to be a critical part of the discussion with the Cubans,'' Sen.
Marco Rubio said Friday at a news conference in West Palm Beach.
Rubio,
a Florida Republican and Cuban-American, said he's stressed the need to
demand the return of fugitives with the State Department and the U.S.
diplomat leading the talks with Cuban officials.
"No one seems to
have a good answer about why it isn't a higher priority,'' he said. "I
think it's outrageous that there are people living in Cuba, with tens of
millions of dollars they stole from the American taxpayers, with no
consequences.''
Even
flashy credit-card fugitive Gilberto Martinez, a music video artist who
flaunted his extravagant lifestyle on Facebook and YouTube, hasn't been
returned — despite being busted by Cuban police last month. Authorities
can be seen in online videos raiding his sprawling, custom-built home
outside Havana, yet U.S. officials still don't know where he is or whether he'll be handed over.
Nationwide,
the Marshals Service is seeking more than 500 Cuban-born individuals
whose whereabouts are unknown, the agency said in response to a public
records request.
Federal officials publicly have put the number of
fugitives in Cuba at between 100 and 130. The Sun Sentinel, in an
investigation published earlier this year of Cuban crime rings in the
U.S., found references in court files to another 50 who have found safe
harbor on the island.
No exact number, exists, however, because no single state or federal agency tracks it.
The Marshals Service in South Florida released to the Sun Sentinel the names of seven Cuban-born fugitives the agency has confirmed returned to Cuba.
They
include an accused check forger, cocaine trafficker, and illegal bird
importer: low-profile cases that don't receive the level of attention of
the cop killers and airplane hijackers given refuge by the Castro
government.
"We believe there probably is a larger number of
fugitives who are wanted here in the U.S. and have fled back to their
native country of Cuba," Golden said. "It's just very hard right now to
confirm that they're actually residing in Cuba.
"A lot of times
fugitives will take the long route," Golden said. "They'll go through
Mexico or another country and end up in Cuba. We don't have a U.S.
embassy in Cuba, so there's no one we can just pick up the phone and
call and run a database search for those fugitives who may have entered
the country."
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