Since the case broke late last week, state law enforcement has rounded up seven women and two men, all Mexican nationals from the Guadalajara metro area, for their possible involvement in an international adoption racket that appears to have gone amok after smooth sailing for close to a decade. While so far none of these individuals has been brought up on formal charges, all have been detained as witnesses in the matter.
According to the latest press release from Jalisco’s Procuraduria General de Justicia (Attorney General, — PGJ), the authorities have located nine infants between two and nine months of age plus a two-year-old toddler who were presumably in the process of being adopted by the Irish couples. They have all been placed in protective custody by the state. It appears that seven of the babies were already under the care of their prospective adoptive parents when the investigation was launched.
The Guadalajara daily Milenio reported that 15 Irish nationals voluntarily appeared before state prosecutors this week to give statements regarding their knowledge of the adoptions now under suspicion. The PGJ has indicated that the foreign couples were probably unwitting players, duped by an unscrupulous lawyer who played on their desperate desires to enter parenthood.
Investigation unfolds
State investigators were first put on alert after Zapopan municipal police arrested Laura Faiola (sic) Carranza Talamantes, 21, whose sister-in-law accused her of trying to “rent” out or sell her two young children.
Digging further into the matter, the authorities were led to the other persons who are being held under suspicion of acting in some capacity as mediators between biological mothers and foreign adoption candidates or as temporary caregivers for the babies. They also discovered telling documents, such as a rental contract Carranza signed granting permission for one of her youngsters to be photographed for a publicity campaign in exchange for a 500 peso-per-day fee. Authorities now suspect the contract, bearing the letterhead of the law firm Lopez y Lopez Asociados, was utilized by some women as a cover to explain the sudden absence of their offspring, while in fact they had been given up for adoption.
Sources close to the case have revealed that a Guadalajara lawyer named Carlos Lopez has been arranging adoptions for Irish couples for at least the last seven years. It appears that the adoption procedures he handled were riddled with irregularities. For starters, authorities have discovered that the cases were being handled in the neighboring state of Colima, where legal oversight in such matters seems to be more lax than in Jalisco. In the normal scheme of things, adoptions are carried in the state of residence of the birth mother and her child.
It is believed that Lopez has gone into hiding as authorities attempt to locate his whereabouts and that of two Colima lawyers also named in the investigation.
According to the scenario spelled out by the PGJ, the Irish couples were sent to a Guadalajara hotel to pick up their babies and then guided to temporary housing at lakeside where they could easily blend in with the large expat community while awaiting finalization of the adoption process. The usual time frame ranged from three to 12 months.
Many lakesiders can attest to the fact that foreign couples going about with snazzy strollers or kangaroo packs with dark-skinned babies inside have become increasingly common sights in the area over recent years.
With the exception of Carranza, there are no signs that other biological mothers have been identified or located to date. It is not yet known to what degree they may have been willing partners or innocent parties in a baby-for-sale racket.
The PGJ has revealed other details of the adoption arrangements. For example, the adoptive parents were charged 1,200 pesos per week during the course of the birth mother’s pregnancy, plus the cost of medical attention, vitamins and medicines required for her prenatal care. The amount the couples paid for court costs or professional fees to lawyers has not been mentioned.
One odd twist in the case is the PGJ’s speculation that several of the infants may have suffered sexual abuse. There has been no implication that the adoptive parents were suspect.
In researching this story, the Reporter has been unable to make direct contact with any of the Irish couples who have sought or achieved adoptions in Jalisco for comment on the subject. One lakeside resident who was friendly with several of them has not yet responded to our queries.
Ajijic hotelier Steve Cross, an Irishman by birth, did talk with the British press about recent glitches in adoption procedures he learned about from Irish couples he had met in the village. He was quoted in the Daily Mail, saying, “This ran very smoothly until about eight months ago,” referring to a Guadalajara social worker who encouraged the birth mothers to agree to adoption “because the Irish couple would pay all their medical bills but then you could change your mind at the end.”
This newspaper did speak with one of Carlos Lopez’s former clients under conditions on anonymity. The person we’ll call “Q” became progressively disenchanted with the lawyer after prolonged dealings with him during an adoption deal that fell through at the last minute.
“He was a control freak who easily turned angry and verbally abusive whenever questioned on an aspect of the procedure,” Q stated. The lawyer’s insistence that Q and spouse avoid any contact with any government agency roused suspicions and they found it disconcerting that their business meetings with him were invariably held at a popular Guadalajara restaurant, never in his office.
Fortuitously, the couple eventually adopted a newborn through other Mexican channels and the family of three is now living happily ever after.