parents of the swapped baby at
birth, gets over £1m compensation.
birth, gets over £1m compensation.
Mercedes Casanellas, pictured with the wrong
baby, is calling for people to come forward with
information
"We just want them to give us our son back."
The parents fear their light-skinned baby was switched
deliberately by staff at the exclusive Ginecologico private
hospital in the country's capital San Salvador to sell to
child traffickers.
The family have reportedly already investigated all the
other babies born at the hospital on the same day and
found that all are with their correct parents.
Mr Cushworth, who met Ms Casanellas when he worked
as a missionary in El Salvador, said: "It's a horrible
situation. I have a child and I don't know where he is.
"Someone took my child and I have no idea where he is,
who is taking care of him, what has happened to him. Is
he in the country? It's awful.
"I sometimes try not to think about this because it is so
frightening."
Dr Alejandra
Guidos,
was arrested on Thursday, according to their family's
lawyer Francisco Meneses.
Ms Casanellas said that, from the fifth month of her
pregnancy, she remembered how Dr Guidos would
repeatedly tell her that her child would be dark-skinned,
even though the father is white.
She said: "I always thought that was strange. How would
he know that from the ultra-sound scans, and why would
he keep saying it?"
Remembering her baby's birth, she said: "I was very
stressed at first because the baby took a while to start
breathing, but then I held him and remember thinking that
he looked like my husband.
"He was very white and had similar features. I remember
seeing his genitals and thinking that they were rosy.
"But then the anesthetist came and told me that I was
very nervous and that they were going to give me
something to put me to sleep. After that I don't remember
anything, until I woke up the next morning.
baby, is calling for people to come forward with
information
"We just want them to give us our son back."
The parents fear their light-skinned baby was switched
deliberately by staff at the exclusive Ginecologico private
hospital in the country's capital San Salvador to sell to
child traffickers.
The family have reportedly already investigated all the
other babies born at the hospital on the same day and
found that all are with their correct parents.
Mr Cushworth, who met Ms Casanellas when he worked
as a missionary in El Salvador, said: "It's a horrible
situation. I have a child and I don't know where he is.
"Someone took my child and I have no idea where he is,
who is taking care of him, what has happened to him. Is
he in the country? It's awful.
"I sometimes try not to think about this because it is so
frightening."
Dr Alejandra
Guidos,
was arrested on Thursday, according to their family's
lawyer Francisco Meneses.
Ms Casanellas said that, from the fifth month of her
pregnancy, she remembered how Dr Guidos would
repeatedly tell her that her child would be dark-skinned,
even though the father is white.
She said: "I always thought that was strange. How would
he know that from the ultra-sound scans, and why would
he keep saying it?"
Remembering her baby's birth, she said: "I was very
stressed at first because the baby took a while to start
breathing, but then I held him and remember thinking that
he looked like my husband.
"He was very white and had similar features. I remember
seeing his genitals and thinking that they were rosy.
"But then the anesthetist came and told me that I was
very nervous and that they were going to give me
something to put me to sleep. After that I don't remember
anything, until I woke up the next morning.
"Around 8am, they started to bring the babies to their
mothers, and I waited for mine. But when I took him I saw
that he was very different to the one I had held in the
delivery room. When I changed his clothes I noticed that
his genitals were very dark and not rosy like how I'd
remembered.
she told me, 'no, that's normal, that's normal'".
Ms Casanellas said photos she took of her baby son soon
after the birth prove that the baby was white-skinned.
Despite the doubts, the couple took the baby back home
to Dallas Texas, but over the coming months, family and
friends also noticed the child's darker colour and lack of
resemblance with his parents.
Ms Casanellas said: "I would take photos of him
them next to my husband, trying to find something of us in
him. I kept trying to convince myself that he was really
ours, that over time we would begin to see a
resemblance.
"But my motherly instincts kept telling me that he wasn't
mine."
when the baby was three months old, the couple finally
found the courage to take a DNA test, which showed he has
0.00 per cent probability of being their son.
The parents were stunned when DNA tests
showed neither of them was related to the child.
At first San Salvador's Ginecologio hospital, considered
the best private hospital in the country, denied that the
baby could have been swapped, saying it was
"impossible" due to their "high standards of control.
But after Dr Guidos's arrest , following the family's high-
profile TV interview, the hospital ordered an internal
investigation and promised that the situation will be
"rectified".
The country's Attorney General has ordered a
criminal investigation of the baby's disappearance,
amid claims a trafficking gang, led by Dr Guido, has been
operating inside the hospital.
Ms Casanellas said: "I just want him to give me my baby
back. I want to know that my child hasn't been trafficked
or any other crime committed against him. I need my
baby, I'm just asking for my baby."
The couple added that, if the true parents of the baby they
were given are not found, they will raise him as their own.
She said: "If they can't find his mother, he already has
parents, us. We are taking care of him and, even though
we know he isn't our biological son, we still love him".
mothers, and I waited for mine. But when I took him I saw
that he was very different to the one I had held in the
delivery room. When I changed his clothes I noticed that
his genitals were very dark and not rosy like how I'd
remembered.
she told me, 'no, that's normal, that's normal'".
Ms Casanellas said photos she took of her baby son soon
after the birth prove that the baby was white-skinned.
Despite the doubts, the couple took the baby back home
to Dallas Texas, but over the coming months, family and
friends also noticed the child's darker colour and lack of
resemblance with his parents.
Ms Casanellas said: "I would take photos of him
them next to my husband, trying to find something of us in
him. I kept trying to convince myself that he was really
ours, that over time we would begin to see a
resemblance.
"But my motherly instincts kept telling me that he wasn't
mine."
when the baby was three months old, the couple finally
found the courage to take a DNA test, which showed he has
0.00 per cent probability of being their son.
The parents were stunned when DNA tests
showed neither of them was related to the child.
At first San Salvador's Ginecologio hospital, considered
the best private hospital in the country, denied that the
baby could have been swapped, saying it was
"impossible" due to their "high standards of control.
But after Dr Guidos's arrest , following the family's high-
profile TV interview, the hospital ordered an internal
investigation and promised that the situation will be
"rectified".
The country's Attorney General has ordered a
criminal investigation of the baby's disappearance,
amid claims a trafficking gang, led by Dr Guido, has been
operating inside the hospital.
Ms Casanellas said: "I just want him to give me my baby
back. I want to know that my child hasn't been trafficked
or any other crime committed against him. I need my
baby, I'm just asking for my baby."
The couple added that, if the true parents of the baby they
were given are not found, they will raise him as their own.
She said: "If they can't find his mother, he already has
parents, us. We are taking care of him and, even though
we know he isn't our biological son, we still love him".
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