Another summer has come and gone. It's been over a year since my visit to Mexico to see my brother, and a painfully and criminally brief visit with Sage. Another year come and gone, and Sage is still not here. Instead, he continues to remain under the oppressive hand of his mother and her web of lies, in the most polluted city in Mexico.
Things have happened since my last post in June, but as had been the case for several of the more recent posts up to this one, they haven't amounted to any real changes worthy of a new post until now. The case had continued to drag out in Salamanca, where it had been for 18 months, with the new judge (who replaced the judge that had recused himself from the case) until about two weeks ago when she finally made a decision. It's worth reminding that this decision, and in fact, this entire trial in Salamanca, happened as the result of a desperate (and yet apparently successful) appeal by Ana and her lawyer to overturn the decision made by the Mexican Supreme Court to return Sage to the U.S. You see, if you didn't already know, Sage's case has already gone through every single level of the Mexican court system once before--from Salamanca, to the State of Guanajuato, to the Supreme Court--resulting in two of them, including the Supreme Court, ordering Sage's return to the U.S. under the Hague Convention. The only reason it ended up back in the mockery of a court that is Salamanca's is because they appealed that "Sage's voice" was not heard in the initial trial. Keep in mind that Sage's voice was two years old at the time, and that except for objectively (as in, if there were concrete evidence that he would be in danger for returning) a young child's voice is irrelevant in a Hague case, because a child cannot choose something he doesn't know over the only thing he does. Nonetheless, the whole thing caused a delay of what is now going on two years...
I won't go into all the details of this last trial in Salamanca, as many of them are already detailed in earlier posts, but from the last post on, here are a few highlights:
1.) The judge who replaced the one who recused himself (because my brother and his lawyer were "bugging him" too much to get things done), was really just as biased as they come too. She ignored all kinds of relevant evidence, attempted repeatedly to avoid having to fine/jail Ana for perjuring herself, or failure to attend court-ordered visits, and towards the end of the trial, allowed Ana's lawyers to drag Sage into the courthouse. Without notifying my brother or his lawyer, they performed a "psychological evaluation" of Sage, during which they asked him various questions about his knowledge of "Carlos Bermudez." This interrogation did not include the presence of any neutral psychological experts, and ignored the fact that Sage provided answers known to be false (for example, when asked how old he was, he stated that he was 7 when in fact he is 5). When he came out of the room, Sage stated plainly for everyone in the lobby to hear, "I told them what you told me to say, mommy." This was stricken from the official record because it was stated outside of the "evaluation" room. These are the same psychological evaluators who in the first trial in Salamanca, used archaic Rorschach tests to decide whether my brother was a fit parent.
2.) Two weeks ago, the new judge published her decision, based in large part on the information detailed above, and in exclusion of mountains of evidence against Ana, that Sage should not be returned to the U.S. I had been talking to Carlos in the weeks prior to the decision about how he would feel if he lost in this court. He said that even though it is always better to win, either way it would be appealed by one party or another and have to move up the courts again, and so ANY decision is better than none at all. In this fact lies the silver lining....the decision has been appealed, and will soon begin litigating in the second level courts (who decided in his favor the first time). One step closer to a final decision...
3.) There have been many other little (and big) frustrations for my brother, leading to where we are now, that are of little use to delineate. Suffice it to say that he is weary, and tired, but stronger than you might imagine (unless you know him :) ), and as stoic as anybody I've ever known. I pray for the day that this long chapter of his life will find its happy conclusion, and he can move onto the next, knowing that no matter what he might face he is strong enough to handle it all. I'll be seeing him soon, for the first time since my trip to Mexico, and can't wait! We tried to get his (now previous) lawyer to petition for a U.S. visit for Sage to join us, but were unsuccessful. I'll be sure to post pictures here for Sage to someday see, as he will be with us in spirit, heart, and mind, as he always is.
Thanks for reading!
Sonia
