- Archived photo via United States Border Patrol -
































Published on Tuesday, September 28, 2021
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


The San José Criminal Court approved a trial where the Deputy Prosecutor's Office against Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling filed the accusation against a man surnamed Brenes-Villalobos on suspicion of abandoning his nephew, a 6-year-old boy, in the Arizona desert in 2018.

In this case, the plaintiff is the National Children's Trust, a public institution in charge of the protection of orphaned or abandoned children.

The trial schedule is expected to be announced in the next few days. And according to the Prosecutor's Office, it is expected that in the coming weeks the case can be settled.

In 2019, an order set by the judge stated as pre-trial measures against the suspect, that he must do in-person checks at the court once a month, surrender his passport and remain in the country. He was prohibited from any communication with the victim. 

That year, agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization, detained Brenes in Sardinal District, Guanacaste Province, as was requested by the Prosecutor. 

After the arrest, judicial agents revealed that the man worked as a priest at the Catholic Church in the same district. That same year, the Catholic Church announced that Brenes was suspended from his position there.

According to the Catholic Church headquarter in Tilarán, Guanacaste, due to "this investigation process. To ensure the clarification of the truth, it was decided to remove Father Brenes from his occupations as a pastor so he can have all the possible availability to cope with the process,” the bishop of Tilarán-Liberia Manuel Eugenio Salazar Mora, said in a statement addressed to the parishioners of the church in 2019.







The plight of the Costa Rican boy made headlines in the United States, but the uncle was not identified as a Roman Catholic priest at the time.

The case has been under investigation since 2018, allegedly Brenes traveled with his nephew to Mexico, by air. Then, he entered the United States with the boy, by land, where Brenes abandoned the child in the Arizona desert. The victim, who, at the time of the events, was six years old, was found by U.S. border police in June 2018.

According to the investigation, Brenes returned to Costa Rica a day after officers' picked up the boy at the border, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

The child was trying to join his mother, who also is an undocumented immigrant in the United States.

The boy initially went to a government facility in Tucson, Arizona. Judicial agents said that Costa Rican consular workers in the United State managed to deliver the boy to the mother.

It is unclear whether or not Brenes will face a trial in the U.S. because Costa Rica does not extradite its citizens to other countries.

--------------------
Should Costa Rican authorities allow the extradition of its citizens to other countries in the case of an indictment process?
We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com







Professional's services and business
ProfessionalsTopAd010819.jpg




Costa Rica Residency Services














U.S. Income Tax & Accounting










Nonprofit organizations







Shipping Services








Real Estate Agents

























Car Rental Service









Laboratory and Medical Services
 











Business Consulting Services


















Academy Sports







Matchmaking Services







Facebook110217.jpg twitter110217.jpg
Subscribe110217.jpg