Why, for instance, was this post deleted?
I woke up this morning to a phone call from Martha Pacheco, Abduction Unit Chief of the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues. Ms. Pacheco told me they had tried to call my lawyer this morning as well, which would have been around 7:00AM Mexico time, but that they got a message that his Telcel cell phone couldn’t be reached. I told her they should try again because I also get those messages from time to time but when I call back 15 minutes later I get through. In the Kafkaesque 15 minute conversation that ensued Ms Pacheco told me that records were not always kept during land crossings between Mexico and the US. I repeated to her that that was fine; I only wanted the records that did exist and had already given Saul Leyva the date, airline and number of a flight she had taken from Mexico into the US. She informed me that this was not the role that the OCI typically played and that they aren’t allowed to give legal advice and don’t have the information I’m asking for. Furthermore, she said, the information I’m looking for would be of no use to me in my legal case since Mexico and the US share a land border that allows the fluid entry and exit of person’s between the two countries so proving she entered a country would not prove the date of the illegal abduction/retention. I informed her again that my wife claims to have not entered the US since October of 2007 and any evidence of entry proves she is lying, but couldn’t help but wonder if, moments after she said they couldn’t give me legal advice, she was giving me legal advice, so I asked her if she was a Mexican attorney, to which she replied that she was not, but then, why was she telling me that the information I was requesting was of no use to me in my appeal when my Mexican attorney is the one telling me to obtain this information? Furthermore, Ms Pacheco said that the OCI didn’t have that information and asking them for it was like asking a plumber to fix my electrical system (guessing she’s a big fan of Joe the plumber). I told her that I felt it was more like asking a general contractor to work with the plumber and that I know the OCI has a working relationship with every other relevant US agency and that if I went to those agencies directly they would only tell me to work with the OCI. At various points she said to me something to the effect, a decision was made in your case, sometimes including that the appeal is up to you and your attorney. I felt the subtext of those statements were, we consider your case closed, we agree with the family courts decision, and aren’t going to get involved.
It sure is nice to know that, in my struggle to have my kidnapped son returned to his home and family in the USA, I have the full support of the US government behind me.
