Madrid/Last Monday news spread like wildfire. A jet of the United States Government, operated by the Department of Justice and the FBI, was flying to Havana amid rumors of military talks and interventions. Some communicators called for calm and recalled that the bureau is investigating in coordination with the regime what happened last February, when a boat from the United States was intercepted by the Border Guard Troops in Cuban waters, presumably with the intention of carrying out an armed action, and several of its occupants were killed. Nothing of the sort.
This Tuesday, the Department of Justice revealed that the plane was part of an atypical FBI mission to solve a child kidnapping case on the Island. Cuban authorities cooperated in the operation to arrest two women accused of taking a 10-year-old boy, one of them the child’s mother, although she was his father at the time of birth and was then called Eri Ethington, before changing her name to Rose.
According to a press release released by the organization Rose Inessa-Ethington, 42, and Blue Inessa-Ethington, 32, both from Utah, were deported from Cuba to Virginia, where the charges of which they are accused were read to them before their transfer to Salt Lake City. The documentation states that on March 28, 2026, the girl was going to travel by car to Calgary (Alberta, Canada) to camp with Rose, Blue – her partner – and her three-year-old son.
According to a press release released by the organization, Rose Inessa-Ethington, 42, and Blue Inessa-Ethington, 32, both from Utah, were deported from Cuba to Virginia.
On April 3, the minor was supposed to return to his mother – who shares custody with Rose after their divorce – but this did not happen. The family took a flight in Vancouver, Canada, to Mexico City on March 29 and another from Mérida to Havana on April 1. The Utah state court ordered the girl to return to the United States on April 13, which gave Cuba the opportunity to actively cooperate with Washington at a key moment.
“We thank law enforcement for their quick action to return the child to her biological mother,” said First Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Utah, Melissa Holyoak. “Our priority in every parental kidnapping case is the safety and well-being of the child,” added Robert Bohls, FBI special agent in Salt Lake City. “This case reflects the importance of collaboration to locate victims, facilitate family reunification, and ensure accountability.”
The official note from the Department of Justice dedicates specific thanks to the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department of State and the Office of Detention and Deportation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) in Havana, which “played a fundamental role in the safe recovery of the minor, together with the Office of the FBI Law Enforcement Attaché in Mexico City.”
Despite the seriousness of the case – kidnapping of a minor – it is unusual for the FBI to carry out an operation of this level to recover the victim. The Department of Justice states that “Project Safe Childhood mobilizes federal, state, and local resources to better locate, arrest, and prosecute people who exploit children over the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims,” but consulted lawyers for him New York Times They maintain that the case is unparalleled.
“This is unusual, extremely unusual,” Jay Groob, president of American Investigative Services, a firm that advises clients in child custody and recovery cases, told the newspaper. “I had never heard of anything like this.”
The New York media considers that behind the mobilization is a cause that President Donald Trump has championed: the minor’s family had claimed to be concerned that the reason for the trip was to perform a surgical sex reassignment on the girl, who was born a boy.
Rose had made a gender transition after the birth of the baby and, according to the family of her ex-partner – identified only as LB – influenced her to identify as a girl. The FBI assured that the relatives of the minor, who appeared in the documents as a “10-year-old biological boy who identifies as a woman” – expressed concern that he would go to Cuba to undergo gender reassignment surgery “before puberty”, although it would be surprising if he went to the Island for an operation of this type.
Family members expressed concern that she would go to Cuba to undergo gender reassignment surgery “before puberty,” although it would be surprising if she went to the island for an operation of this type.
Special Agent Waterfield explained that in a search of the detainees’ home, $10,000 in cash and a task list were found that revealed plans to empty their bank accounts, learn Spanish and obtain tourist visas, among other things, which reflects conscious premeditation and a manifest desire not to return to the United States, which represents a crime of parental kidnapping.
Rose’s brother, Steven Ethington, told Times that she would have supported her niece’s decision to change gender, but that everything seemed to arise from pressure from her sister, who insisted on it since the youngest was about 5 years old.
Last Thursday the 16th, the Cuban authorities located the group and the repatriation was quick. Even more so considering that the Spanish pedophile detained on the Island, Martiño Ramos Soto, has not been deported to Spain for months. At least, let it be known.
