Donald Nixon Jr.--President’s Nephew, O.C. Businessman--Held in Cuba

Cuban officials are detaining Donald Nixon Jr., an Orange County businessman and nephew of the late president, and his wife is pleading with Secretary of State Warren Christopher to help win his release, a lawyer for the Nixons said Friday night.

The reasons for Nixon’s three-week detention were unclear, but Administration officials said Nixon was with Robert L. Vesco when the fugitive financier was arrested by Cuban authorities on suspicion of being a foreign agent.

Nixon’s wife, Helaine, has told authorities that her husband was in Cuba trying to arrange a pharmaceutical test, according to congressional officials.

“She’s unclear why he’s being detained,” said Ernie Ching, an Irvine lawyer representing the Nixons.

Ching said Helaine Nixon has had “intermittent communications” with her husband, who is being held under “house arrest” somewhere in Cuba.

“She is extremely concerned as to his well-being,” Ching said. “For any individual to be detained in Cuba for three weeks, you would have every reason to be concerned.”

Earlier this month, Cuba informed the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana that the long-hunted Vesco was in custody.

Speculation ran high that Cuba would surrender Vesco to the United States, where he has been wanted for 22 years on fraud charges.

But President Fidel Castro told CNN last Sunday that it would be immoral to extradite Vesco, saying such a move would make Vesco a pawn in U.S.-Cuban relations.

The State Department promptly expressed regret, saying Vesco was charged with “very serious violations” of U.S. law.

Vesco, 59, fled to the Bahamas to avoid investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged in a 1972 civil suit that he swindled investors in a Swiss-based mutual fund of $224 million.

He is also under indictment for illegally contributing $200,000 to Richard Nixon’s 1972 presidential reelection campaign.

His residences have included Costa Rica, Antigua, Nicaragua and, most recently, Cuba.

In 1989, seven years after settling in Havana, Vesco also was indicted on drug conspiracy charges in Jacksonville, Fla.

The State Department, contacted by the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, arranged for an American diplomat to see Nixon, said a U.S. diplomatic official who asked to remain anonymous.

No other details were available about his condition.

Besides Christopher, Helaine Nixon has written Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), and Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas.

“We’ve received every assurance, the Department of State has given us every assurance that they are doing everything possible to secure his release,” Ching said.

Ching added that the situation is very volatile, and he expects developments could come quickly.

“I can tell you a lot of things are happening,” he said.