Evelyn Vargas Rodríguez, a Cuban citizen residing on the island, has been trying for two and a half years to obtain custody of her grandchildren, who are in a foster care center in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, without receiving a definitive response from the authorities. Desperate, she reached out to CiberCuba to seek public assistance.
Spanish social services removed custody from the children's parents due to addiction issues, according to the testimony of their grandmother. The children's mother lives in Switzerland and their father in Mallorca. Social services have taken charge of the minors given this situation of neglect. Evelyn Vargas, from Cuba, came forward as the only relative willing to take care of them.
"The mother lives in Switzerland and suffers from alcoholism. The father does as well. They have not been able to recover yet, and I requested temporary custody of the children as their grandmother, because there was no one else to do it," the woman explained.
Evelyn Vargas began a guardianship process through the International Red Cross. Investigations conducted in Cuba concluded that she was in a position to receive her grandchildren in the country. However, this favorable ruling has not resulted in any resolution: the process has been stalled for over two and a half years.
"They told me yes, that I was in a position to have them in my country, but it's been two and a half years that they have been waiting for the father to recover or the mother, and they still haven't been able to do it, and they also won't give me custody," she reported.
The grandmother also tried to obtain a humanitarian visa at the Embassy of Spain in Cuba to travel to Mallorca and manage the process from there, but it was denied. The consular authorities informed her that she needs an invitation letter from someone residing in Spain, and she does not have any contacts in that country.
"I have been told that for that I need to have someone abroad who can provide me with an invitation letter to be able to go where they are, and it is impossible for me. I have no one, I have no one to help me," she noted.
This requirement creates a vicious circle: without contacts in Spain, one cannot process the visa, and without traveling, one cannot manage the custody process in person. The Spanish Ombudsman has intervened in similar cases of humanitarian visas before the General Consulate of Spain in Havana.
The situation worsens due to a second crisis: approximately nine months ago, Evelyn lost all contact with her daughter, the children's mother. Nobody in the young woman's circle in Switzerland knows where she is.
"It has been nine months since I last heard from her; I don't know where she is or what she's doing. I have asked her colleagues there in Switzerland to let me know if they have seen her. No one has seen her, and I have no one to turn to for information about my daughter," she recounted with distress.
Evelyn Vargas has approached embassies, international organizations, and consulates without success. Her plea is straightforward: she asks that institutions, media outlets, or anyone who can intervene do so, so that her grandchildren can leave the shelter and be with her.
"It is not right for children to spend all that time in a care center when they have family, when their grandmother is present, a grandmother who loves them, who has always been there, who adores them," she stated. In cases of children separated from their families like this, the geographical distance and the migratory barriers faced by Cubans exacerbate the suffering of families who cannot find institutional solutions.
"I am a grandmother who has always been attentive to her grandchildren and a mother who cares for her daughter, but I don't know anything about her. Please help me, I beg you," concluded Evelyn Vargas.
Filed under: