US tells Guatemala it will not return adopted girl

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

US tells Guatemala it will not return adopted girl

Anyeli Hernandez Rodriguez was reportedly abducted from her
biological mother and later adopted by a US couple

Agencies in Guatemala City
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 May 2012 08.55 BST

The US government has told Guatemala it will not return a girl who was allegedly kidnapped and later adopted by an American couple, because the two countries had not signed the Hague Abduction Convention at the time.

Celeste Alvarado, a spokeswoman for Guatemala's foreign relations ministry, quoted a diplomatic cable from the US state department as saying the two countries formally ratified the convention on 1 January 2008 – 14 months after toddler Anyeli Hernandez Rodríguez was reportedly abducted from her biological mother.

Anyeli disappeared in November 2006, as her mother Loyda Rodríguez Morales was distracted while opening the door to their house in San Miguel Petapa, a working-class suburb of Guatemala City. She turned to see a woman whisk the girl, then two years old, away in a taxi.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/15/us-tells-guatemala-not-return-adopted-girl

[Judi Lynn]

1. What a shame. We've heard of these "quickie" Guatemalan adoptions for years.

Had no idea they are taking children without the full consent of their parents, or legal guardians. It really figures.

Guatemala has had a lot of children without parents for decades due to the country's war on the poor, and indigenous citizens.

If only the mother can get enough publicity some more powerful humane organization might assist her, I hope. Otherwise, her child will never see her own mother again, and grow up in a suburb of Kansas City.