Child's visit rights to see his father who living in another country

Authentic report of child removes from it's father - based on real facts

Ms Laura Medina and I met in Venezuela, and she arrived at Frankfurt airport on 1.4.1996 with three suitcases and her daughter V. E. Medina  who was then eight years old. This happened without the knowledge or permission of the biological father, a Bolivian national Roger E., of the daughter (there had been a history of substantial legal battles between the two parties). In the following weeks the father initiated a series of legal measures at the immigration authorities and the youth welfare office in Caracas for child abduction and child custody violation. As a result of contact established by myself, and agreements made over the telephone, a consensus was possible, and contact , and a notarized agreement on visitation rights was later concluded in September in Venezuela. This however only ever worked out to a very limited extent. Including the few exceptional support payments made. I signed the personal statement of commitment and the directly enforceable guarantee in accordance with article 771 of the German Civil Code for permanent residency in Germany for the mother and her daughter.

Documents published on Internet since 2005.

In July 1996 we married in Germany. The father of Ms Laura Medina Francia entered on the international marriage certificate of the Consulado General Republica de Venezuela 38/1996 is Dr. Ernesto Medina from IVIC in Caracas.

It emerged in 2001 that Dr. Ali Rodriguez-Araque, a high ranking Venezuelan politician and two year presidency of OPEC in Vienna, is her actual biological father (more on this subject below). So in this respect I have been deceived since 1996 by both parents, whereas I developed a good personal relationship with Dr. Ernesto Medina, who speaks German.

This is attestable, and partially published on the Internet since 2005.

Our son S. Grosse was born in November 1998, a great source of delight to all. After a few pleasant years, and also many differences, we separated in 2003, and there were then horrendous support payments, in spite of sinking sales figures, and a significant drop in my own net income from freelance work. A series of disputes resulted in divorce in 2004, file reference 14F267/03 at the family court in Luedinghausen, which also entailed secession of custody. The father/son relationship is very affectionate and intimate, S. is able to visit his father on all possible weekends. I was able to arrange this once a month, as I was busy in Thailand and China.

From 2003 to 2005 a total of three visits to my place of residence in Thailand were possible, as well as two one-week father/son holidays in Mallorca. These however were only possible after overcoming very frequent attempts to block the visits, and the weekend visits and visits outside Germany were determined by court decisions (ref. 14F256-03, 2003). This was also linked to the mother’s aim of claiming exclusive physical custody, which at the time was rejected by the courts. Furthermore in December 2003 the mother made an application for legal aid, which was not granted due to my additional financial contributions and her air travel.

This is attestable, and partially published on the Internet since 2005.

Dr. Ali Rodriguez Araque, the biological father of Ms Laura Medina Francia, visited us for the first time in 2001 in Muenster and our home in Luedinghausen, and we visited him during his two-year presidency of OPEC in Vienna.

It is hardly comprehensible that an international political figure (see links to online information below), later working chancellor and Foreign Minister of Venezuela, now Venezuela’s ambassador to Havana, non finance minister in Caracas, has not admitted to the false information on the international marriage certificate and even less comprehensible why, after 25 years of underground and politically active or engaged activity – information below attached  – has not taken steps to take care of his daughter, this together with her daughter in Venezuela, where real fatherly support was critically necessary, and no external financial support was made available to her for her new life in Germany.

In this respect I was ideally suited to be the paymaster for everything, including for a good education for the daughter, which also kept going a series of visitation arrangements with my son. Also concerning my kind adoption of the guarantee obligations for the mother’s own car, which her father, Dr. Ali Rodriguez Araque, was unwilling to adopt or to finance.

The publication of the true information about Dr. Ali Rodriguez-Araque triggered an avalanche of hacker attacks on my business private emails and website visits in 2005/2006. The perpetrators, after much research, which can be documented, proved to be from an organization loyal to Venezuela based near Chicago.

With the mother, Mrs Laura Medina Francia change of address, and temporary employment as Ministra Verdaderos Consejero en la República Federal de Alemania de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Encargada de Negocios en el interín en la Embajada de Alemania at the Bolivian Embassy in Berlin, the visitation situation became much more difficult, especially as I was no longer able to always travel to Germany at short notice. Even with support from a lawyer and after sending a series of email requests, I was not able to negotiate any visit with my son for a period of months in 2006 – nor was it possible to find out the mother’s Berlin address for the same period. This was in spite of suggesting many different possible times for weekend visits and for a summer/fall visit to myself in Thailand.

This effectively cut off any father son contact, which was ultimately remedied by an Interpol inquiry that I submitted via the German Embassy in Caracas in October 2006, as I had not known for months where my son actually was. All this was due to the mother’s actions, and could have been avoided by her, if she had fulfilled her obligation to provide information to the party making support payments and sharing custody.

On 17.10.2006 I wrote to the youth welfare office in Berlin, which led to me being allowed to see my son for a few hours on 28.1.2007. A second and last visit, greatly enjoyed by both, was also possible on the weekend of 3/4.3.2007 in Berlin. The next feasible date after this, on the 21/22.4.2007, was not granted me, despite my urgent application dated 21.3.2007, ref. 124F17645/06 to the family court in Berlin, which had meanwhile become involved. I received their answer, asserting that they were not responsible for visitation rights in the case within Germany, on 6.8.2007.

This although it was clearly recognized that the mother together with her son and new partner finally left Germany for Venezuela on 13.5.2007, and that the daughter was studying Design in Berlin, thanks to the good education she had been given.

With the decision of 29.12.2006, the mother was granted sole physical custody of the son S. Grosse in Venezuela, to avoid further entry problems (after creating problems herself and triggering an Interpol search).

A personal visit to the youth welfare office in Berlin and their report to the family court of 22.2.2007 made a clear statement of the good father/son relationship and the necessity of continued direct contact. After a personal hearing, resolution procedure 124F17645/06 of 20.3.2007 at the Berlin family court determined to transfer exclusive custody to the mother Ms Laura Medina. This meant that custody arrangements, after the mother’s move from Germany to Venezuela, were no longer a matter for the German authorities and had to be arranged privately between the parents, which previously had entailed considerable conflict and hindrances.

And thus for whatever pretended reasons I was prevented from seeing my son a last time, for the suggested date of the weekend of  21/22.4.2007 in Berlin, before he left for Venezuela. As the custody decision had already been made, visitation rights for the son vis-a-vis his father were no longer of significance. Of course, the new address and telephone number in Venezuela were not made known to me at this juncture.

It now also became abundantly clear that even over the period of months in 2006 in which there was intensive contact between our lawyers, the mother had already decided to leave Germany and thus had not the slightest interest in letting her son spend time with his father. The two short visits that were allowed in January and March 2007 served only to force me to appear in person at the family court.

With the last judicial opportunity to keep open options for father/son visitation and contact with international family law proceedings, I sent a 60-page set of previously relevant documents on 2.5.2007 (i.e. before the mother left Berlin) to the central office of the German Federal Ministry of Justice, where it was processed under the file reference SR1c-E-XXX-XX HCCH BGBI II 1990 S. 206. This was then sent to the central agency of the Bolivian Foreign Ministry in Caracas, and entered there on 22.6.2007. 

Together with the Spanish translations of my consignment of 15.5.2007, the HCCH family law proceedings were submitted at the Direccion General de Relaciones Consulares of the Bolivian Justice Ministry, under file reference DGRC.1.DAE/XXXXX, with the objective of forcing a first visit meeting between the son S. Grosse and his father. The Foreign Ministry responsible for me in Thailand, the International Affairs Department, Office of the Attorney General has a reference for the case of 00XX/XXXX, and is in contact with Caracas.

On 13.7.2007 I received from the Direccion General de Relaciones Consulares in Caracas the cellphone number of Ms Laura Medina, and the resulting telephone call the same day resulted in the immediate rejection of my basic request to speak to my son S. Grosse for the first time in more than two months.

Tragically, as expected, this was yet another instance where, as has happened very often since 2002, contact/visits between myself and my son S. Grosse was prevented (as is now also comprehensively documented in Caracas ). This is now continued on the Island of Margarita, and with the Bolivian justice authorities.

What, you must be asking, what all this stuff has to do with tourism industry and others in Venezuela?

It appears that after leaving Germany for Isla Margarita and Carcas in Venezuela, Ms Laura Medina she in a managerial role of a Hotel at Playa el Agua on Isla Margarita (which ownership has changed in June 2007), has her own creative business in Caracas and speaks Spanish, German and English fluently.

With regard to the general tourism business, special contractual partnerships with the hotel, tour operators, or contact on the Island of Margarita we would recommend the comprehensive  information from 2005 and 2006, as specified above, is looked at objectively, so that you can come to your own opinion, as many of these internet links lead to the tourism.

In view of the on-going HCCH proceedings with the Bolivian justice authorities aimed at realized the basic right of the child to contact and visit his father outside the country, we would ask you to maintain absolute confidentiality on the last point.

Furthermore it should go without saying that the daughter of a high ranking Venezuelan politician should be able to estimate for herself what constitutes fair behavior in such a case relating to international law, a mutual child  and the child’s rights to a father.

You are welcome to have your legal department verify the content of this letter and the facts it details.

Yours sincerely,

             Werner Grosse