Translation: O Estado de São Paulo

[Bob D'Amico]

 

O Estado de São Paulo
February 26, 2009
Washington
By Patricia Campos Mello

 [FONT="]President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s meeting with American President Barck Obama on March 17^th will take place amidst a protest against the Brazilian government in front of the White House. The protest is being organized by the group Bring Sean Home, which is fighting for the repatriation of the boy Sean Goldman, son of David Goldman and Brazilian Bruna Bianchi Ribeiro.

[/SIZE][/FONT]   [FONT="]The father has been trying for more than four years to get his eight year-old son back. David, who is American, married Bruna in 1999. Sean was born in 2000. Four years later, the Brazilian woman returned to Brazil with her son, asked for a divorce and went to [Brazilian] court to request custody of her son.

[/SIZE][/FONT]   [FONT="]The Brazilian woman remarried in 2007 to lawyer Joao Paulo Lins e Silva. Last August, due to complications giving birth to her daughter, Bruna died. Sean continues to live with his stepfather, who has refused to give him back.
[/SIZE][/FONT]   [FONT="]
“I hope that the Brazilian authorities make the only correct decision, to reunite me with my son,” said Goldman. “There is no excuse and no explanation for what’s going on.”
[/SIZE][/FONT]   [FONT="]Yesterday, the American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, discussed the Goldman case in her meeting with [Brazilian] Foreign Minister Celson Amorim. “She said the case is important and sensitive, said Amorim. He emphasized again the Brazilian stance that the case “is a matter of the courts.” The White House doesn’t accept this position and considers the case to be a matter of international agreements, specifically the Hague Convention.
[/SIZE][/FONT]   [FONT="]
The Sean Goldman case is being mobilized by American congressmen and threatens to harm bilateral relations. There are resolutions moving through the Senate and the House of Representatives asking for Sean’s return. Senators recently proposed a resolution demanding that Brazil fulfill the requirements of the Hague Convention and let Sean return to his father.

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT="]Members of the group Bring Sean Home say that more than fifty American children in Brazil are in the same situation. “We encourage everyone to contact the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama before President Lula’s visit so that Sean’s kidnapping is on the agenda,” says an email sent by the organization. “Rio de Janeiro is one of the finalist cities to host the 2016 Olympics and we want Sean’s kidnapping to be taken into consideration when the winning city is chosen,” says the letter.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[roger]

Bob,

It seems minor when all things are considered, but please give credit to O Estado de São Paulo instead of Folha de São Paulo. O Estado deserves it as the first one to break the story by his Rio correspondent Marcelo Auler.

Folha is affected by the gag order issued by the 13th. Civil Court of the State of Rio de Janeiro and did not run any story about the case on its own.

Patricia Campos Mello has been the Estado de São Paulo correspondent in Washington for years now after a stint in China. It's her story and she deserves fullest credit.

[roger]

Bob,

It seems minor when all things are considered, but please give credit to O Estado de São Paulo instead of Folha de São Paulo. O Estado deserves it as the first one to break the story by his Rio correspondent Marcelo Auler.

Folha is affected by the gag order issued by the 13th. Civil Court of the State of Rio de Janeiro and did not run any story about the case on its own.

Patricia Campos Mello has been the Estado de São Paulo correspondent in Washington for years now after a stint in China. It's her story and she deserves fullest credit.

Hi, just to set the record straight: it was the Brazilian legal news site Consultor Juridico's piece which in 2008 named Folha as one of the news outlets embargoed by the 13th. Rio de Janeiro State Court judge. Probably Folha would have loved to break the hometown competition with its rival.

[Claudia.Hope]

A Folha copied the article from O ESTADO DE SAO PAULO or am I wrong?

[roger]

I assume Bob got it wrong this time. Folha did not publish Patricia's piece. But I remembered they had published Marcelo Auler's story which Folha picked up from Agencia Estado newswire.