We got a bit twisted around here with “Blog Ops” with the result that a new post ended up as a comment. Nevertheless here’s some more recent information:
US Senator Frank Lautenberg and Congressman Rush Holt spoke with US Ambassador to Brazil, Clifford Sobel recently, however we do not know the context or result of the discussions other than to say some progress has been made. We are hopeful that David’s elected officials take more of an interest in this case so please keep the pressure on them.
We have been shocked at the lack of Brazilian media coverage of this story due to the apparent influence of the Lins e Silva family. This family’s ties in political, media, and judicial circles must run much deeper than any of us ever imagined. The Globo Network and the Brazilian AP desk said they would not touch the story. The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper ran the story but changed the names of the parties involved. The Record Network was set to air a segment on David’s story on its popular “Domingo Espectacular” program but pulled the segment at the last minute after the Lins e Silva’s obtained a court injuction on a Saturday to block the story from airing.
Several major US television networks have expressed interest in covering David & Sean’s story. We will provide more specific information as it becomes available.
A story was published on 9/26 by the newspaper Braziliniense which “named names.” We were specifically told NOT to translate it into English but you can find it here and translate it yourself through an online translation program: https://bringseanhome.org/correio.html
This is a Copy/Paste of an important comment by KK in the Welcome and Thank You post.
Meredith V, (Vieira) is looking for feedback to her interview with David on MSNBC; here is the link:
http://meredithtoday.ivillage.com/entertainment/archives/2008/09/running.htmlI’ve heard some rumours that some news organizations in Brazil have been precluded from airing David’s story by the Lins e Silva family. I don’t have enough information on that to lodge a complaint, but if someone does have details on that here is a good group to go to, the Inter-American Press Association, a non-profit group that spans the America’s and is dedicated to Freedom of Speech. Here is the link:
http://www.sipiapa.com/v4/index.php?page=sip_que&idioma=usDaddy Lins e Silva (Paulo, Joao Paulo’s father) is scheduled to attend and speak at the International Bar Association Conference in Buenos Aires next week on gues what: Children’s rights…
http://www.ibanet.org/conferences/BA2008/prog_detail.cfm?uid=3b495082-b6b4-465a-8393-61246c3a8ca4He is representing the International Union of Attorneys of which he is the immediate past president. You can follow links and see that some of his colleagues will be presenting material on relocation jurisdiction of child abductions that fall under the Hauge Convention
see:
http://www.ibanet.org/conferences/BA2008/prog_detail.cfm?uid=cc4c4743-e5c4-4937-ba6d-3b1599671122You can follow links and find lists of attendees, other members of the Family Law Committee, etc.
We want to clarify a point here which really needs to be driven home to anyone you contact. David Goldman has never been permitted to see Sean, not once in over four years! To us that is simply mind boggling and beyond cruel.
This is not hearsay and also mind boggling: To date, US Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has been non-responsive to requests for help. The Senator is a member of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Democracy and Human Rights, and claims to be an advocate for children’s rights, now how is that for irony?!
We’ve added additional contact information to both the English and Portuguese “How to Help” pages as well as a boilerplate form letter you can mail to our elected officials. Not just the ones on the page, if that letter is sent to all 100 US Senators we’re bound to get more action by the US government.