January 2008 - Posts
by Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC correspondent
Eric Volz is a nervous man. Understandably so, too, given the nightmare he has been living through. Has been - is still - living through.
So on the morning we meet for the second time, he is driven the short city block from New York's Today Show studio to Dateline's interview facility. He's accompanied by his mother, step-father, and a young woman who has been acting as a publicist for the family (together, these three generated and kept alive the international pressure that helped Eric win his freedom). All of them greet us warmly, and all, especially Eric, wear the look that says this isn't over.
I'll back up a minute. The first time I met Eric he was the best-known inmate of the Modelo Prison, a huge maximum security institution not far from Managua, Nicaragua.
He'd been sentenced to 30 years, convicted by a Nicaraguan court of murdering his one-time girlfriend, a striking beauty named Doris. The killing was particularly shocking for its extraordinary brutality, and Doris's mother, as well as many people in her town, and one of
Nicaragua's most popular newspapers, appeared determined to ensure Eric was held responsible.
In fact, after one of his court hearings, a local mob chased him through the streets of town, intent on - well, we don't know what. After Eric's parents hired security guards to protect him, rumors circulated in Nicaragua that Eric's people were trying to bribe their way to an acquittal. And, in spite of clear and convincing evidence that Eric was hours away when the crime occurred, he was convicted.
So, to say that Eric was living through a nightmare was, if anything, something of an understatement.
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A special Dateline investigation on adoption in Guatemala airs on NBC Sunday, Jan. 20 at 7pm ET.
By Leonor Ayala, Dateline Field Producer
Jalapa, Guatemala- Five-year-old Candida Galicia tugged patiently and gently at my arm. I finally looked down only to see her little, round face smiling back up at me.
Now that she had my attention, she grabbed my arm and marched me right to the back of the shanty house.
Candida explained she needed to use the bathroom and asked if I could help her. I was the slightest bit confused by this request. As we approached this small hut in the back, I quickly realized I was there to help her lift a huge piece of aluminum used to cover the hole in the ground. As I lifted it off, the putrid smell hit my nose and I recoiled a bit.
Candida (pictured below) was totally unaffected and she continued to smile brightly and thanked me for my help. She was obviously happy to be home.
For a minute I was caught up in the moment unfolding before me: a desperate mother and father were in shock. Two of their kidnapped children somehow returned to them.
Candida's parents Rodolfo and Clara Galicia realized how blessed they were, knowing full well that many other Guatemalan families lose their children never to see them again.
But their story is bittersweet; more than a year after three of their daughters were kidnapped, one is still missing. Every day that passes with no news on Enma’s whereabouts is devastating for the Galicias.
I speak fluent Spanish, so when I left Guatemala after the reunion in early March 2007, it was my job to call the district attorney’s office and police, both in Jalapa and Guatemala City, on a weekly basis. I was supposed to find out what, if any, progress had been made on the case so we could update our story if there was a break in the case.
Every week it was the same answer: no progress. I became frustrated. It seemed to me there were basic things they could do like post her picture, set up a tip line, or use the local media to get out the word. But that just isn't the case in Guatemala.
Authorities admit they are slow to investigate because of a lack of resources. They say they don't have the personnel or equipment to properly investigate virtually any case let alone this one. And Enma's case is a low priority given the crime wave of gang violence, brutal muggings and murder. This is a country still in recovery from 36 years of civil strife, in which more than 200,000 people were killed.
Police say they are concerned about Enma Galicia, but after all she is just one child on a very long list of missing children in Guatemala. (Enma is pictured below in an artist's progression from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.)
We went back to Guatemala several times after that reunion. We wanted to document the plight of Guatemalan children as explained to us by locals and experts, the child labor, the children who are living in the streets in abject poverty or who have been relegated to a life of crime.
My crew and I first went to La Linea -- or "The Line" -- a seedy area of Guatemala City where a train track runs through the center. We saw women we were told are prostitutes standing at their doors waiting for customers, looking at us with disdain.
We went to a part of town called La Limonada -- or "The Lemonade" -- where we were warned not to step out of the car because of the stealth nature of crimes committed there, especially against foreigners. (I am told its nickname is an analogy for the way people are "squeezed dry.")
We also went to the main market for many poor locals called La Terminal -- or "The Terminal" -- which is also notorious for its crime. We went to the city dump, which has been documented in other news programs because poor children would often sift through the garbage looking for food.
In the city, we saw five-year-olds walking through highly trafficked streets, begging for money, trying to clean the windshields of passersby -- anything to earn a couple of quetzales.
Casa Alianza, a non-profit, invited me to go along as they visited with homeless street kids to administer care. Their living situation -- if you could call it that -- was appalling.
The poverty and seeming desperation was apparent in all corners. But for every child I saw on the streets of Guatemala - I thought back to that day with Candida and realized that for all the poverty, she was obviously happy to be back with her parents, no matter how simple their living conditions.
Yet I still wonder what will happen to Candida in the next couple of years; will she go to school? Will she cross the borders of her dusty Jalapa again? Will she attend university? Will she ever again see her sister Enma? Will she ever forget what happened to her during those harrowing five months in Guatemala City?
Leonor Ayala with the Galicia family and producer Benita Noel
Read Benita Noel's blog entry on the Galicia family reunion here.
Read correspondent Victoria Corderi's blog on the two sides of Guatemalan adoption here.
You can see photos of users' adopted children here, and read their adoption stories here.
For more on the positive side of international adoption, see Dateline's story about a Philadelphia family that adopted three sets of twins from Russia.
A Dateline special on adoption in Guatemala airs on NBC Sunday, Jan. 20 at 7pm ET.
By Benita Noel, Dateline Producer
I felt like I was on a roller coaster. The car, which seemed to have no shock absorbency whatsoever, hit the bumps with a resounding thump - over and over again. I had my hand flat up against the roof to brace myself, but it wasn't much help. More than once I went sliding across the seat, as did everyone else in the car.
It was March 22, 2007 and our driver was making his way - much too fast it seemed - along a mostly unpaved, almost comically windy road from Guatemala City to Jalapa, 110 miles away. We'd been warned to avoid drinking too much water or coffee before the trip, and now I knew why.
At least we were all laughing about it. I was with my field producer, Leonor Ayala, and our crew, cameraman Bob Abrahamsen and soundman Randy Foster. We also had our Guatemalan "fixer" in the car (hired to help us with everything from translating, to directions, to letting us know which areas of the city we shouldn't take our cameras into without security) - and a private investigator. We were going to Jalapa to videotape the reunion of two young sisters with their family - nearly 5 months after they'd been kidnapped from their home, abused and almost adopted by unsuspecting families in the U.S.
In many ways, the shoot was a producer's nightmare. We'd all gotten up at the crack of dawn, only to wait an hour for everyone to arrive and get organized, and then we'd driven to a fast-food restaurant where we waited another hour for the police we'd be following. Nobody in Guatemala seems to be in much of a rush to do anything. And there wasn't much of a plan. Nobody seemed sure where the reunion would happen, or even if we'd make it to Jalapa on time. We were winging it.
About 15 minutes outside of Jalapa, there was a series of frenzied phone calls between the private investigator, the police and various people at the Jalapa District Attorney's office. There was chaotic confusion; the reunion had already happened, no, it was happening in two minutes. It was happening on the street, no, it was happening in an office inside the building. Someone had changed their mind - they didn't want us there after all. No, that was a mistake. Go to this corner, no, go that corner.
Bob, our cameraman, got anxious, frantically trying to pull his camera out of the pile of cases we'd jammed into the back of the car. I told him not to worry, the only thing that really mattered that morning was those poor little girls were finally going to see their mother again. Still, we all wanted to witness the moment.
Somehow, our driver managed to pull over in the right place just in time for Bob to point his camera out the window of the car and focus on a darling little 5-year-old girl running full speed down the sidewalk towards a nervous looking woman waiting around the corner. In an instant, all the stressed commotion subsided. We just watched in silence.
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| Galicia family reunited |
Because we'd stayed a good block away, we couldn't hear anything, but I didn't need to, the tears were already spilling down my face. I could see the girls' mother wiping her eyes, her body shaking as she clung to her daughters and stroked their hair. I could see that the 5-year-old, who was clinging to a doll, had buried her head into her mother's leg, the same way my own daughter sometimes does.
Afterwards, we were invited inside the District Attorney's office to meet the family. The two kidnapped girls, 5-year-old Candida, and 9-year-old Claudia, were seated on a bench alongside their mother Clara, and an older brother, Ceasar. I was immediately struck by these children's smiles - they all have the most infectious grins, and they were beaming. They waved at us playfully and giggled uncontrollably when Bob (pictured left) made silly faces at them.
Clara, who is shy and soft spoken, was subdued, but obviously relieved, and immensely grateful. She repeatedly thanked the private investigator, who had been instrumental in getting her daughters returned, as well as us. She was hoping we'd be able to help find her third kidnapped daughter. I wished I could promise her we could.
Pictured: Clara Galicia
When I pulled out my digital camera to take some photos, the children were delighted. I don't speak Spanish but it didn't matter. I showed them how to use it by pointing at the buttons they needed to push, and then let them take turns taking photos. It only took a moment for me to realize how little Candida had survived her traumatic ordeal. She was monopolizing the camera defiantly, bossing her brother and sister around as she took one photo after another. I knew right then that this tough little cookie will be just fine.
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| Photo of Benita Noel and Leonor Ayala taken by Candida |
Late that night, after we'd spent the day with Candida and her family, and we were bouncing our way back along that nightmarish road to Guatemala City, tears fell down my face again. Candida and her siblings are enchanting, joyful children full of curiosity, eagerness and beautiful spirit. Their parents are lovely, gentle people who despite their modest life and financial limitations, provide their children with an abundance of genuine, nurturing love. I cried because I was incensed at the kidnappers who'd so brazenly abused this family. I cried because it made me ache inside to see a mother in such agonizing pain, wondering when, or even if, she'll ever see her third kidnapped daughter again. I cried because I so wished I could help, and yet, had no idea how.
Pictured: Candida, Claudia and Ceasar
UPDATE - Producer Benita Noel responds to comments:
Sadly, I can assure you that these children were indeed kidnapped -- and that they were offered for adoption. When you watch our story on Sunday, you will understand how it happened. By telling the Galicia family's story, we are by no means implying that all adoptions are corrupt. During the course of putting this story together, I was repeatedly touched by the great joy and love that adoptive parents have brought to so many lucky Guatemalan children. I also believe that for the most part, the safeguards that are designed to circumvent crime do work. But, the reality is that unfortunately there are some corrupt operators who have tried to take advantage of the system. I realize that any discussion about corruption in Guatemalan adoptions is extremely difficult for the thousands of parents in this country who have, or are about to, adopt from Guatemala. I am a mother myself, and I completely understand the inclination to protect those adopted children. Nobody wants to be stigmatized - nobody wants other people to point fingers at their children, or worse, say something to their face, suggesting that because there is some corruption, all adoptions must be tainted. While I was researching this story, many people told me that they wanted to speak up about bad experiences with questionable operators in Guatemala, or unscrupulous agencies here in the U.S., but they were too scared. Some were afraid they would never get their children home if they didn't keep quiet, some were afraid of repercussions from their agencies, and many were afraid of being crucified by other adoptive parents for daring to say anything negative about Guatemalan adoptions. Recently, one family who has been through one traumatic ordeal after another in the course of trying to adopt was actually threatened by someone in Guatemala who promised their baby would never come home if our story aired. There is no excuse for that type of manipulative bullying, particularly when you are dealing with innocent children and emotionally vulnerable adoptive parents. That is the reason I believe that whatever the scope may be, corruption needs to be addressed. To this day, the parents of the kidnapped Galicia girls are devastated. The last time I saw Rodolfo Galicia, the father, he was so distraught he had actually been hospitalized because he can barely eat. Clara Galicia actually contemplated suicide before the two girls pictured above were safely returned home.
You can see photos of users' adopted children here, and read their adoption stories here.
Read correspondent Victoria Corderi's blog on the two sides of Guatemalan adoption here.
For more on the positive side of international adoption, see Dateline's story about a Philadelphia family that adopted three sets of twins from Russia.
A special Dateline on adoption in Guatemala airs on NBC Sunday, Jan. 20 at 7pm ET.
By Victoria Corderi, Dateline NBC Correspondent
I witnessed the joy of a successful foreign adoption when my sister came home with a baby boy from Guatemala more than five years ago. Today, my nephew is thriving and my sister is as thrilled as she was when she first held her son in her arms. There are many people who've had similar life-changing experiences. But there is also a dark side to Guatemalan adoption: corruption, lies, forgery, kidnapping, broken hearts. The market is driven by the demand for adoptions from prospective parents in the U.S. And, as so often happens when there is high demand and the potential for a profit, swindlers appear to exploit the system.
Guatemala has been an adoption magnet because the wait for a child is months rather than years. When we traveled to Guatemala City, we saw hotel lobbies brimming with Americans meeting with lawyers and foster mothers and cradling the babies they were in the process of adopting. The sheer numbers of babies and strollers and anxious adoptive parents milling about the hotels and streets made for a surreal sight. At first blush, it seems like a win-win situation: unwanted children escape the dire poverty that plagues much of this country while Americans longing for children are able to fulfill their dreams.
But what if the children up for adoption were taken under false pretenses? Or, if poor, pregnant women are pressured by brokers offering money? And what if the children have been kidnapped outright? These are not rhetorical questions. We learned what happens during our investigation. While we were in Guatemala, we found out about three young girls who'd been kidnapped by a ring that gave them new identities and tried to sell them for adoption. We also tried to go inside the system by posing as a new adoption agency from the United States looking for contacts. We set up meetings with a controversial adoption facilitator whose name kept coming up when we were looking into complaints about unethical operators in Guatemala. What happened in both situations was eye-opening and dramatic.
You can see photos users' adopted children here, and read their adoption stories here.
Read producer Benita Noel's blog on two kidnapped Guatemalan kids who were reunited with their family.
For more on the positive side of international adoption, see Dateline's story about a Philadelphia family that adopted three sets of twins from Russia.
