Alondra Luna Nunez, A 14-year-old Mexican girl grabbed by police at school and sent to the United States in a case of mistaken identity has been reunited with her parents, providing a happy ending to a saga that had captivated the country.
A video of the April 16 operation showed Alondra Luna Nunez screaming as officers shoved her inside a police vehicle in the central state of Guanajuato before flying her to a woman in Texas who thought she was her daughter.
The images spread on social media and gripped Mexico.The teenager was finally reunited with her real parents after a DNA test proved that she was not the daughter of the woman in Texas.
"Ask me all the questions you want tomorrow. Right now, I want to be with my parents," Luna said at the Guanajuato airport, where a crowd of journalists awaited her arrival.
Her parents did not rule out taking legal action against the officials and judge who ordered police to take Luna and fly her to Texas."I want to enjoy being with my daughter. Thank you all for supporting us," her father Gustavo Luna told reporters.
"Right now, what I want is to speak with my daughter. I think that all the authorities involved in this were wrong."
Luna seemed to hold no grudge, saying she hoped the Texas woman, Dorotea Garcia, ended up finding her daughter. They spoke by phone.
"She told me to forgive her for everything she had done to us," Luna said.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that the case dates back to 2007, when Mexican authorities received a request for the return of a minor whose father brought her to the country from the United States.
In March this year, US authorities told Mexican counterparts that the mother of the child had travelled to Guanajuato and had identified the girl as her daughter after an eight-year search.
A Mexican judge subsequently asked the international police organisation, Interpol, for assistance to get the girl, even though her real family insisted it was a case of mistaken identity, the ministry said.
The DNA test showed that the woman who asked for the girl's return was not her mother.
The woman, who has not seen her daughter for eight years, had thought that Luna had the same scar as her daughter between her eyebrows.
Guanajuato's Governor Miguel Marquez, who was at the airport, praised the girl's courage during her ordeal.
"This has a happy ending. Fortunately, thank God, the family is reunited," he said. "They didn't lose their heads. They stayed calm."
The images spread on social media and gripped Mexico.The teenager was finally reunited with her real parents after a DNA test proved that she was not the daughter of the woman in Texas.
"Ask me all the questions you want tomorrow. Right now, I want to be with my parents," Luna said at the Guanajuato airport, where a crowd of journalists awaited her arrival.
Her parents did not rule out taking legal action against the officials and judge who ordered police to take Luna and fly her to Texas."I want to enjoy being with my daughter. Thank you all for supporting us," her father Gustavo Luna told reporters.
"Right now, what I want is to speak with my daughter. I think that all the authorities involved in this were wrong."
Luna seemed to hold no grudge, saying she hoped the Texas woman, Dorotea Garcia, ended up finding her daughter. They spoke by phone.
"She told me to forgive her for everything she had done to us," Luna said.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that the case dates back to 2007, when Mexican authorities received a request for the return of a minor whose father brought her to the country from the United States.
In March this year, US authorities told Mexican counterparts that the mother of the child had travelled to Guanajuato and had identified the girl as her daughter after an eight-year search.
A Mexican judge subsequently asked the international police organisation, Interpol, for assistance to get the girl, even though her real family insisted it was a case of mistaken identity, the ministry said.
The DNA test showed that the woman who asked for the girl's return was not her mother.
The woman, who has not seen her daughter for eight years, had thought that Luna had the same scar as her daughter between her eyebrows.
Guanajuato's Governor Miguel Marquez, who was at the airport, praised the girl's courage during her ordeal.
"This has a happy ending. Fortunately, thank God, the family is reunited," he said. "They didn't lose their heads. They stayed calm."
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