The Trump administration sent a Department of Justice Boeing 757 to Cuba this week to rescue a 10-year-old Utah boy who was allegedly kidnapped by his biological father and taken out of the country in defiance of a court order — with federal authorities expressing serious concern the child was being transported for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.
Rose Inessa-Ethington, 42, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman and formerly went by the name Eri Ethington, and partner Blue Inessa-Ethington, 32, allegedly told the boy’s biological mother the child was going on a camping trip to Calgary, Canada, over spring break. Instead, the pair switched off their phones, crossed into Canada, flew to Mexico City, and then boarded a flight to Havana, Cuba — carrying $10,000 in cash, according to federal court documents.
The boy’s mother filed a missing-person report with Logan City, Utah police on April 3 when the child was not returned as scheduled. A Utah state court granted the mother exclusive custody on April 13 and ordered the child’s immediate return. Cuban law enforcement located the group on April 16. The FBI flew to Havana and recovered the boy, who has since been reunited with his mother. Both suspects were deported to the United States, appeared in federal court in Richmond, Virginia, and face charges of international parental kidnapping. They will be transferred to Utah for trial.
Court documents note that family members expressed significant concern that the child — a boy born male who family members believed had been manipulated into identifying as female — was being taken to Cuba specifically for pre-pubescent gender surgery. While Cuban law bans gender surgery for minors, federal investigators included those concerns in the criminal complaint.
A 10-year-old boy was lied to, smuggled across three countries, and taken to a communist nation — allegedly to have irreversible surgery performed on him without his mother’s knowledge or consent. The Trump administration sent a government plane to bring him home. That is what it looks like when an administration actually prioritizes the safety of children over ideology.
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