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Cuba returns child sex fugitive to U.S.

Cuba on Friday sent an American fugitive back to the United States where he is wanted on charges of child sex tourism and possessing child pornography.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry said Leonard Auerbach entered Cuba via Mexico on April 8 and was detained on May 7 based on information provided by U.S. authorities.

In an April press release, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Auerbach, a 61-year-old California resident and mortgage finance expert, had been placed on its “most wanted list” for having sexual relations with and possessing pornographic photos of a girl in Costa Rica.

The Cuban government said it took action because “the crimes of which he is accused in the United States are of grave character and strongly fought by our authorities.”

It said it found no evidence he committed a crime in Cuba.

The U.S. Interests Section in Havana had no immediate comment.

Cuba and the United States, 90 miles part, do not have diplomatic relations, but Cuba has repatriated U.S. fugitives in the past.

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U.S. Southern Command builds health clinic in Costa Rica

U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) announced it is constructing a health clinic in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica, near the Panama border.

A 345-square-meter clinic in Limón province will be built in the community of El Bambú, according to a U.S. Embassy press release. Construction is scheduled to start this month.

In recent months, Southcom has become increasingly active in Costa Rica. In February, the agency announced plans to double counter-narcotics funding to Costa Rica to $2 million.

In April, they announced a $250,000 contribution to the construction a new Coast Guard base in Puntarenas. Also that month, the U.S. Navy reactivated its Fourth Fleet, dormant since the 1950s, and placed it under Southcom’s command to patrol waters off of Central and South America.

Southcom is a military office that coordinates the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard under the leadership of a four-star general. It is responsible for “contingency planning, operations, and security cooperation for Central and South America, the Caribbean, Cuba, the Bahamas and their territorial waters,” according to its Web site.

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