Adopted in Guatemala, she learns at the age of 31 that she comes from child trafficking

Born in 1986, in Guatemala during the civil war, Mariela SR / Coline Fanon was quickly adopted by a Belgian family. Except that many years later, the 30-something learns that she was actually kidnapped at birth.

What worse secret than the one of his birth. Adopted at the age of 11 months in Guatemala by a Belgian couple via the Hacer Puente association, approved by the national children’s service, Mariela SR / Coline Fanon, born in 1986, discovered a sad truth at age 31 years old. “I always knew that I was adopted. Officially, my biological mother had abandoned me because she was too poor”, we can read in West France, March 21, 2021. It is in 2017, when her daughter asks her about her origins, that Mariela decides to dig into her past. “It’s awful, as parents, to find yourself confronted with your child and not have an answer”, she launches to the regional media. While searching the Internet, she finds articles on child theft in Guatemala. Which questions him about his own history. “At first, I didn’t feel concerned. But I came across names, the same as the ones in my adoption file.”, adds the mother who discovers a file written in Spanish, riddled with inconsistencies and chronological problems. The hardest part was telling my adoptive parents: it seems crazy this story. They were devastated, yet they had done everything according to the rules. “

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A deceased baby

With the little updated information in the file, she tries to find this lost mother via Facebook, with the help of the Franco-Honduran investigative journalist, Sébastien Escalon. And there … “I see her profile and there, I’m sure. 200% sure. I see her, it stings my stomach, it burns, I know it’s her”, announces Mariela before receiving this message from Lorena: “Hello, honey, hello, my love, I believe that I am your mom, they told me that you were dead.” The milf learns like this was never abandoned at birth. It was during his pediatric hospitalization that the theft took place. “She asked for me, but was told that I had been transferred to another hospital, two hours away”, testifies to Ouest France Mariela. But when she arrives at the scene, her mother cannot find her. When she returns to the first hospital, she is told that her baby is dead and that he was buried under X, in a mass grave. “She did not suspect anything and could not do anything. At the time, the country was in the midst of armed conflict, people were being killed for less than that, for one question too many”, retorts Mariela / Coline.

These illegally adopted Guatemalan children are not unique. In armed conflicts in military dictatorships, many babies were stolen as in Spain during the Franco dictatorship. “International reports say 8,000 children disappeared during the armed conflict, not counting those claimed to have died, like me”, says Mariela. The foundation Raíces Perdidas (Racines Perdues, in French), that Mariela SR / Coline Fanon founded, declares that the orphanage has won “at least $ 5,000 at the time” through these illegal adoptions. And these facts still echo the 21st century. Relayed by The world in 2007, the Guatemalan authorities estimated “that trafficking in children for adoption brings in around $ 200 million a year to mafia networks. Guatemala is, after China, the main country of origin of children adopted in rich countries.”

On April 20, 2021, RTL-TVI will broadcast an issue of its “Exclusif” program, one of the themes of which is child trafficking in which Mariela SR / Coline Fanon participated.

Celine Peschard

Journalist who loves the versatility that his profession can offer. Specialized in the historical field, societal subjects and auteur films, against a background of electronic music. University course based on …