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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Guatemala Pushes For DNA Tests Of Kids
Adopted in U.S.
By Sarah Grainger
GUATEMALA (Reuters) - For three years
Olga Lopez desperately searched for her baby
daughter who was snatched from her home in
Guatemala, until her face appeared in
government paperwork for an international
adoption.
Lopez, along with two other mothers who also
believe their children were stolen and put
up for U.S. adoption, pushed Guatemala to
ask the U.S. Department of Justice to track
down the babies and give them DNA tests so
they can be returned.
"I recognized my daughter from her photo in
the adoption files but there's always the
possibility that it's not her. I don't want
to live in doubt. I want a DNA test," Lopez
said.
So far there has been no response from U.S.
authorities, Lopez says. U.S. officials
would not confirm they had received a formal
request from Guatemala.
Guatemala, a small Central American country
of 13 million people, used to have the
world's highest per capita adoption rate,
with 5,000 children sent abroad each year.
Private lawyers charged up to $50,000 to
handle an adoption and sometimes forged
papers or paid mothers to sell their
children.
In December 2007, Guatemalan authorities
introduced tough new rules to crack down on
baby traffickers. A newly created adoption
authority has not allowed a single
international adoption since.
Some 3,000 cases that started under the
previous adoption system are still in
progress, with prosecutors promising to
meticulously examine the files for fraud. So
far, about half have been completed
successfully, and the rest will likely be
resolved by the end of January, said a
spokesman for the new adoption authority.
But Loyda Rodriguez suspects the new system
has cracks. Her 2-year-old daughter, Anyeli,
was playing on the porch in the outskirts of
Guatemala City when a woman grabbed her and
sped off in a waiting taxi. Like other
mothers whose babies were taken, she began
scouring government adoption records to look
for her daughter. She believes the baby was
adopted by a couple in Missouri in December
2008.
Guatemala's Attorney General's office asked
the United States in April of this year to
test the three children, all adopted under
the old system, after activist Norma Cruz
went on a hunger strike to draw attention to
the mothers' plight.
Cruz wants Guatemalan courts to nullify the
adoptions.
STOLEN CHILD FOUND
The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala requires
couples to have records of two matching DNA
tests to issue a visa for an adopted child,
but DNA results are sometimes faked by
laboratories colluding with child
traffickers, said Cruz's organization of
mothers, called the Survivors Foundation.
The new government adoption agency
prioritizes local adoptions over
international ones. But Guatemala said last
month it would start sending babies abroad
again on a limited basis, since some
children have not found local homes.
Cruz says that problems persist despite the
new controls.
"The networks behind illegal adoptions
haven't been disbanded and they're still
operating because they've been making
exorbitant amounts of money. This is a
million dollar business," said Cruz.
Cruz began her campaign after Ana Escobar
found her 8-month-old daughter, who had been
kidnapped at gunpoint, in a government
office in charge of handling adoptions about
to be sent off to the United States.
Escobar recognized her daughter Esther by
the crooked little fingers on both her hands
and confirmed her identity with a DNA test
in 2008 and got her baby back. |
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