Word: cesario
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...raids were well coordinated. One evening in June, 50 Brazilian federal agents in the southern state of Santa Catarina simultaneously swept down on the home of Lawyer Carlos Cesario Pereira, 40, a maternity hospital and a number of clandestine nurseries. Police recovered 20 children ranging in age from newborns to 3-year-olds, arrested seven suspects and detained 22 Israeli couples who were seeking to adopt children. The Israelis were later released because they apparently did not realize that the adoption proceedings might be illegal. Police claimed that Cesario was involved in the illegal adoption of Brazilian children by foreign...
...Cesario and two of his associates are suspected of trafficking in minors to obtain a profit. Although lawyers like Cesario routinely help foreigners expedite adoption proceedings, arranging adoptions for profit has been illegal in Brazil since November 1984. Cesario has admitted that he handled 150 adoptions at an average price of $5,000 a child, ten times what an attorney would normally charge for the paperwork involved in the process. He claims, though, that his fee included medical costs and that he was simply providing a humanitarian service. A federal prosecutor is reviewing evidence to determine what charges...
Brazil has an abundance of abandoned children, including an estimated 300,000 who live in the streets. Most, however, are dark-skinned, and foreign couples generally prefer fairer babies. As a result, light-skinned infants are at a premium for would-be adoptive parents and unscrupulous operators alike. Cesario's special rapport with Israelis began in 1982 when he helped one couple with an adoption. Others later learned of him by word of mouth. According to police, Cesario ran a highly sophisticated operation out of a town near the port of Itajai. The region has a large population of German...
Members of Cesario's group met prospective parents at the Itajai airport and escorted them to his luxurious farmhouse, where they were permitted to spend time with several babies available for adoption. Once a couple had selected a child, adoption papers, possibly obtained under illegal circumstances, were provided. "Cesario took advantage of very poor Brazilian people and the sentimental needs of foreigners who would pay anything for a baby," said Alcioni de Santana, the federal police superintendent in Itajai. "There is trafficking in babies everywhere in Brazil, but I've never seen anything like this...