7 News Belize

USA Wants Cuban Fugitive Who’s In Belize Jail, But Red Tape A Factor
posted (May 2, 2014)
In February, we told you how Cuban fugitive Raonel Valdez Valhuerdi had been caught in Benque Viejo. Valhuerdi is listed as a wanted man by US Marshals for masterminding the 2012 robbery of 110 pounds in gold flakes valued at 2.8 million US dollars. He was caught in Belize in mid February, where he pleaded guilty to illegal entry and paid a two thousand dollar fine. But, local authorities tell us he is still in jail, and an article in the newspaper USA Today says that's because US Immigration has blocked attempts to return him to the United States to be put on trial. The USA today reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has told investigators it will not allow Valdez, a Cuban national, to go back to the states. That's because the US has no way of sending Valdez back to Cuba once they get him back to America. The situation is under review by homeland security, but those working closely to the case in the States are concerned that Belizean authorities will release him before he can be sent to the US for trail.

The newspaper reports that Investigators from the U.S. Marshals Service chased Valdez from Florida to the Bahamas and Mexico. That's where the trail went dead until he turned up in Belize carrying a Cuban passport without an entry stamp. It would have gone without notice, but Immigration officers at the Benque border, sensed something unusual and searched his name on the Internet and found that he was wanted in Florida.

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