MEXICO

As I was getting ready to put my kids to bed tonight, my phone rang.  I looked at the caller ID and saw only a number, but immediately knew that it was my brother calling.  When I picked up the phone, I could tell right away that he was calling from his cell phone...the Magic Jack phone actually sounds clear, whereas the cell phone has so much interference that it sounds like you're talking to somebody at a loud party 1000 miles away.  As you know, half of that equation does hold true.  We had about a 40-minute conversation, and I struggled the entire time to hear what was being said and to ask questions with the delay, but this is what I have to report:

Having heard little from my brother recently about progress on the case, I assumed not much was happening.  It's not unusual for there to be periods of inactivity, particularly in this court, where one can only deduce based on the level of coincidental incompetence that has been displayed, that there is a concerted effort going on to be inactive, and to delay the case as long as possible.  Well, I assumed incorrectly that things weren't happening...it's just that it was all happening on my brother's end rather than coming from the court directly.  Apparently,  over the last week or so, my brother and his lawyers filed several motions to the court.  In the past when they filed a motion, they usually were requesting some sort of action or decision regarding several issues at once (ie. Ana skipping visits, disregarding the judge's "order" to turn in a schedule of Sage's activities, his "order" that Sage attend the bilingual school in Salamanca, etc.).  The problem with this, however, was that the judge, JOSE FRANCISCO LARA RODRIGUEZ, would conveniently "address" the motion by making some vague comment about filing it in the case file, and ignore the 5 other things they had requested in it.  To make matters worse (and suspicion grow), when Ana would disregard one of the judge's orders, say for example to turn in Sage's schedule, he would simply give her the benefit of the doubt, stating (only after being prodded) that if she hadn't turned anything in, there must be no info to turn in.  In order to try and get the judge to do his job, and to get these issues resolved, my brother decided he would need to file a separate motion for each request, which is what he did over the last couple weeks.

Keep in mind that Ana has not shown up for a single visit, outside of the random one where my brother's lawyer was set up to be arrested IN FRONT OF SAGE, for over three months; she has not brought him even one day to the bilingual school that my brother paid well over $1000.00 up front for him to attend.

Fast forward back to this week, and about three days ago, my brother sent a vague email to his lawyer, which was cc'd to me, that he was checking into a hotel in Salamanca.  I asked him at the time what it was for, but never received an immediate reply...until today.  Apparently, today (Friday, September 23rd) was supposed to be the closing of this trial in the Salamancan court.  The judge would have had to address not only his decision on the Hague proceedings, but also resolve all the issues pending with visitation, Sage's school, etc., that would still be issues until the higher courts began their trial.  Whatever he might have decided, the good news would have been that at that point, the case could have moved out of the courts in Salamanca and onto the next level courts, which they inevitably have to do before any action to return Sage can take place.  My brother spent two days and nights paying for the hotel, having his suit dry-cleaned, and frantically preparing for the hearing to come.  Yesterday, however, the day before the hearing was to happen, and almost a year after this trial was opened, the judge published a motion that he is backing out of the case, and turning it over to another judge.  After months of effort, expense, hearings, evidence, THIS JUDGE'S observance of my brother's interactions with Sage, and witness to Ana's flagrant lying, the trial is going to have to be heard all over again by another judge, or, a rapid decision made by somebody who has no more to go on than paperwork, and whatever this pathetic excuse for a judge decides to tell him or her--neither of these scenarios seems hopeful.  All because this judge can't "handle" the case now, and because my brother and his lawyers assertions that he wasn't doing his job hurt his feelings.

In my mind, this is devastating to say the least.  Although this judge was about as far from competent, principled, or effective as one can be, I am both heartbroken, and at the same time, internally RAGING over the injustice that has taken place in this court of justice.  My brother, however, remains a warrior, whom no matter how crestfallen he must feel, looks ahead to what he must do next.  For however concerted this sadistic effort to separate father and son, however far removed Sage has been pulled away from his family and TRUE home, Carlos is his father, and he will never stop fighting...

                                                             ...AND NEITHER WILL WE.