MARI LUZ CORTES - Aged 5 years - Huelva (Spain)

vonb
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:26 pm

Typically Spanish

Monday January 14th 2008

Alleged accomplice arrested for Canaries kidnap attempt, as another child goes missing in Huelva

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_14589.shtml

vonb
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:28 pm

Daily Mail

Monday 14th January 2008

Madeleine detectives fly to Spain on trail of paedophile gang

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=508067&in_page_id=1811&ct=5

merlynsam
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:28 pm

On this page, there is a video featuring the parents of Mari Luz, the 5-year-old girl that reportedly went missing yesterday afternoon, in Huelva.



Mari Luz's father said that the little girl left her house at about 16.30 to go to a nearby kiosk with a Euro to spend, she arrived at the kiosk accompanied by two other girls, according to the kiosk's owner, and from that moment "we lost track of her, not knowing whether she was with these two girls or alone when she disappeared".

Mari Luz's father has described how the girl was dressed when she disappeared: pink sweater and tights, a checked cowgirl skirt and white boots. Juan José added that the girl did not leave home alone because "she is very shy" and that "she does not walk much because she tires very easily".

According to Angel, a friend of the family, the little girl is blonde, had medium length curly hair and, in spite of belonging to the gypsy ethnic group, is fair skinned.

Translated by ines

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Desaparece/Huelva/nina/anos/elpepuesp/20080114elpepunac_5/Tes

pam supportfromireland
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:31 am

According to article Merly posted:

* Mari Luz is 5 years old. She is from a gypsy family in el Torrejon in Huelva. She has white skin and curly hair, blonde according to article, but typo I'm thinking. She was last seen at 4.30pm as she went to a local kiosk. It is not certain if she went with 2 little girls or on her own. She normally goes nowhere on her own, is shy and gets tired walking. She was wearing a jumper with pink motifs, jean skirt and white boots.

The kiosk is located in a park of 72 hectares! Nobody in the family circle has seen her it is claimed. Family are hardworking and have no enemies. Dad is involved and sister in local football club and they have come out in support to help find her.

In video, parents have appealed to call them if have any information, saw a car or want money.

*very sad story. Hoping for a positive end.

merlynsam
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:15 pm

El Mundo

14th January 2008



The girl's father, Juan José cortés, has requested that "whoever has her, please give her back, nothing will happen", neither would he have any revenge, whilst assuring that he "has no conflicts with anyone"

Cortés assured that he "suspects nobody and everybody because this is a sitation that the family does not know how to live with" and said that this is "a humble family dedicated to their work".

Translated by Ines

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/01/14/espana/1200296584.html

pam supportfromireland
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:39 pm

Ok seems some discrepancy in translation of clothes Mariluz was wearing. This is an important issue so better go with Ines translation.

Truly find it amazing"C" that it is Huelva we are talking about here, but am hopeful this will be solved. Just a feeling, hope will be right.

merlynsam
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:40 pm

Pam, that is why I was waiting for a "proper" translation. Apparently the Daily Mail (or Express ?) article got so much of their translation wrong yesterday. It was discussed out in cyber world so I knew that there are problems with some of the words used (similar meanings).

Ines will help us out with news on this case - and I am hoping that catwoman and realistic supporter will also post.

pam supportfromireland
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:48 pm

Hi Merly, there is confusion alright as catwoman has posted similar to what I described as clothes, according to paper "el Pais" in only Madeleine thread, a short time ago. Think it is open to multi descriptions. She is hardly listed on missing Spain yet?

merlynsam
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:08 pm

Thanks to catwoman for this translation

EL PAIS - TUESDAY 15 JANUARY 2008

The girl is called Mari Luz Cortez, she is five years old and she went missing on Sunday afternoon in Huelva. The National body of Police, the Local Police, the Civil Guard and the firemen have looked for her since then. She has blond hair, clear skin and green eyes, Mari Luz was dressed in a fuchsia sweater, a denim pleated skirt and boots when she left the house at 4.30 p.m. in the neighbourhood of Huelva de Torrejon.

As reported yesterday her mother, Irene Suarez, said the girl went out with a euro in her hand to buy a packet of crisps at a nearby newsstand. After buying her crisps -as confirmed by the newsagent-, nobody saw her again. There were two older girls, and neighbours speculated as to whether she was with them or not, but the police have not been able to confirm this.

The mother, who is heartbroken, said yesterday "Many times she went to the news kiosk, it is next to the house and nothing has happened before. At times she went with one of her two older brothers, other times alone." Irene affirms that her daughter is a girl "very friendly", but also "very timid" and that she had never gone with someone she did not know.

Juan José Cortez, the father of the girl, sunk in a chair in the parlor of his house with his wife next to him, asked yesterday, that his daughter be returned to him. "We have quarrels with nobody. Maybe there has been a misunderstanding. We have no quarrels with anybody. Perhaps it has been a misunderstanding. It can happen to anyone if they see a girl alone and thinks she has nobody. But, please, return her to us, and nothing will happen to them. The parents are of an ethnic gypsy group and have been employed in travelling sales. Not long ago Sr Cortez, who is a socialistic militant and has also been a coach of the Huelva Recreational Division for Children, started a construction business. "I have lived very difficult moments in my life, but this is the worst one", he said, in a low voice, set against a pack of journalists in the parlor of their house.

The father of Mari Luz held yesterday a photo of their daughter. The previous day, he, like the remainder of her family, thought that the delay of the little girl in returning home was due to one of her habitual visits to the house of her grandmother or one of her aunts who live very close by. But upon calling to the residences of these relatives and finding she was not there, they started to worry.

The family informed the National Police, and then dozens of neighbors and relatives began to look for the little girl on Sunday evening. The weather was not good in Huelva andthere was heavy rain and wind. Yesterday the search continued with the further assistance of a helicopter, a fire service dog unit and diver. The search was centred in nearby streets, the neighbouring park of Moret – the largest one of the city, building works, wells and water collectors. (reservoirs?)

The family spent an anxious day yesterday surrounded and supported by neighbours, who distributed and hung photographs of the young girl with two contact phone numbers on them. And the fact is that everyone is known to one another in the Torrejón. Therefore nobody was afraid that the girl, known to all, would run in to danger in the hundred meters from the house to the kiosk, a journey which did not even take her off the pavement. "My son attended to her on Sunday,” recalled the owner of the kiosk where the little girl was last seen. "The girl came, like other times, and bought a packet of crisps and then went” he related.

Catwoman

Edited to say that I didn´t read in the article about the father being an evangelical priest, and found it strange that it says they are of gypsy family, when yesterday they were talking about maybe gypsies had seen her.......... Maybe Realistic Supporter will find out more when she reads the papers, this was taken from El Pais online.

merlynsam
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:12 pm

From Huelva Información 15-1-2008

Mari Luz Cortés's trail is lost in an Emtusa bus

A "reliable" family witness insists on having seen the child at 20.00 hours on Sunday in a bus of Line 1 and in the company of a gypsy woman who repeatedly shouted at her to stop crying.

http://www.huelvainformacion.es/article/huelva/30219/la/pista/mari/luz/cortes/se/pierde/autobus/emtusa.html

pam supportfromireland
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:14 pm

Have looked at Interpol site and she is not listed on it.

Have found another picture of her.



http://www.huelvainformacion.es/article/huelva/29717/padre/la/nina/desaparecida/pide/la/devuelvan.html

hope4maddy
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:23 pm

OMG...I am feeling really sad at the moment. I pray that they act fast...people will be on the lookout and remember her being with the gypsy...and more information of where they ended up will circulate soon. Oh...this has to be a positive result and fast. We need it. Oh Please Dear Lord, Please!

catwoman
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:02 pm

Just taken this from Daily Mail timed at 13.31 p.m. 15 Jan 2008

Story pasted below, link to see photos

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=508301&in_page_id=1811&ct=5

Police in Spain were today continuing to hunt for a five-year-old girl who went missing 120 miles from the Algarve resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared.

The family of Mari Luz Cortes fear she has been abducted.

Her father Juan Jose Cortes broke down and said: "Whoever has her, bring her back and everything will be okay."

More than 100 officers and 500 locals have been searching the area in Huelva, a province which borders with Portugal.

The distraught mother of Mari Luz Cortes holds a picture of her five-year-old daughter

Madeleine detectives fly to Spain on trail of paedophile gang
Madeleine eight months on: FBI expert shows how missing 4-year-old may look now
Madeleine: McCanns to wait another three months to see secret police files

Portuguese police also have search teams out on their side of the border.

Mari Luz has not been seen since Sunday afternoon when she went out to buy a packet of crisps from a local shop.

She was last seen by the shopkeeper wandering home at 5pm.

Her family raised the alarm at 7.30pm after scouring the area themselves.

Police with sniffer dogs have been searching nearby parkland and wells in the area.

They continued working all through Monday night.

A second girl has now gone missing, not far form where Madeleine (above) disappeared

Mr Cortes, a former professional football coach who now runs a small construction company, said:

"We have no quarrels with anyone. We suspect nobody and everybody because the family doesn't know how to deal with this situation.

"If anyone has taken Mari Luz by mistake or if they thought she was lost, please bring her back.

"She's never left home because she's very shy, and she never gets lost." The five-year-old was wearing a jumper and pink leggings and white boots when she went missing.

Mari Luz's brother plays for local top division football side Recreativo de Huelva.

Huelva is a two hour drive from Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where Madeleine McCann went missing on May 3 last year.

Gerry and Kate McCann visited the city on August 3 as part of their campaign to find their daughter.

Portuguese police believe the Madeleine died in the family's rented holiday flat in Praia da Luz on May 3 and that her parents moved the body weeks later.

They were said to be suspicious of two "missing hours" when the McCanns were not seen during their trip to Huelva.

The McCanns insist they can fully account for their time in Spain. And Spanish police denied Portuguese reports that they were investigating the McCanns' trip.

Gerry and Kate McCann, both 39-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, believe their daughter was abducted. They insist they had nothing to do with her disappearance.

Private detectives hired by the couple are investigating paedophile gangs based in Spain, it emerged this week.

They are concentrating their investigation in Valencia and Alicante on the south east coast.

realisticsupporter
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:18 pm

Right then. Just looked at EL Pais and El Mundo

El Mundo says that the witness was a women who contacted the family, not that she was known to them, so I guess she only realised after.
Also that the family have criticised the Guardia Civil for not establishing traffic controls on routes leaving the city or the border with Portugal. The Guardia Civil are reported as saying that details and description of Mari Luz have been circulated nationally. The people of the barrio (suberb) are reported to believe that the child has been abducted and taken across the border into Portugal.
The article says that the girl left to go to the kiosk at around 5.20pm but was not reported missing to the police until 10.30pm

All of the above is reported in El Mundo. El Pais says much the same.

Why oh why do authorities not block borders and get road blocks up immediately-yes it will cause chaos and delay but what price is an innocent childs life? Makes my blood boil.

I will keep an eye on this story and bring you anything noteworthy.

Sorry I first posted this in the MM debate section so do erase that Tezza or Merly if you want.

El Mundo reports the clothes as a denim skirt,fuscia coloured jumper with stars,fuscia coloured leggings and white boots.

There seems to be some differences in times as well but that is probably the time difference causing confusion. Lots of people do not realise that Spain changes their clocks at the same time twice a year as U.K. I think she went out at 5.20pm,not 4.30 as reported in the u.K papers.
Also El Mundo says the formal report was made to the police at 10.30pm but that the whole area was already aware,so local police may have known earlier.
One more thing is that the locals searched biuldings and general hideyholes,the weather was apparently dreadful at the time.

ewe2
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:55 pm

THE SCOTSMAN

15 January 2008

Girl goes missing across the border from Madeleine resort

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world?articleid=3673778

crys
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:15 pm

I hope she is found and soon, I can't bear to hear of another child going missing.

sarahk
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:53 pm

Madeleine police in hunt for Spanish girl, 5, snatched 120 miles from McCanns' apartment
Last updated at 14:07pm on 16.01.08



Portuguese police involved in the Madeleine McCann case have joined the hunt for another girl, it was revealed today.

Mari Luz Cortes, five, went missing in similar circumstances on Sunday in the Spanish town of Huelva, some 120 miles from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.

The involvement of the Portuguese officers has fuelled fears that detectives think they may be linked and that a paedophile gang could be operating in the region.

And it emerged today that Guilhermino Encarnacao, head of the Policia Judiciaria in the Algarve, is working on the case.

He led the hunt for Madeleine but his team was accused of a series of errors such as failing to preserve the crime scene, and they made her parents official suspects.


http://tinyurl.com/29v83u

sarahk
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:54 pm

Larger Photo from News of the World

sarahk
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:56 pm

Gimon a regular member on ForMadeleine has reported that Spanish TV has said there could be some more info in a few hours and that a member of her family left the same day Mair Luz disappeared and they believe he might be in Portugal.

If I hear any more I'll post and let you know.

tizzy
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:05 pm

SarahK wrote:Gimon a regular member on ForMadeleine has reported that Spanish TV has said there could be some more info in a few hours and that a member of her family left the same day Mair Luz disappeared and they beleive he might be in Portugal.

If I hear any more I'll post and let you know.

Thanks for the update Sarah.

hippy
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:31 pm

From SOS Madeleine

16.01.2008

Huelva: Father of Mari Luz to a suspect in mind

Juan José Cortés, the father of Mari Luz, the little girl disappeared past Sunday in the district of El Torrejón, Huelva, admitted that "a suspect" in the lead, and remains convinced "that there will soon be news about the place "or is his daughter stressing that" the police is working on a runway. "

Today, searches were completed without the slightest evidence, despite the participation of over one hundred people, among them, but also various popular police, fire and emergency services in the region.

Already this morning, more than a thousand people paraded through the streets of Huelva to ask the authorities not to abandon the search, causing the emotion of parents Mari Luz, including a crisis of nerves from his mother, who had to be assisted by the Red Cross.

Mari Luz Cortes has given more signs of life since Sunday past more than 200 kilometers of Praia da Luz but detectives Metodo 3 rushed to hover the shadow of the case on the disappearance McCann, provoking d 'immediate terror among the relatives of the little Spanish.

The father of Mari Luz, a former coach of Recreativo de Huelva, parents said yesterday that "nobody is bothered if the police asking the questions, because nobody is immune from suspicion until we know the culprit. " In an impromptu press conference, he réaffirmais that "everyone of our closest friends may be suspected in the disappearance, including me."

The case made its appearance in the British media after speculation of Metodo 3 proclaiming the vicinity of the place of Madeleine McCann disappeared (200 kilometers).

ewe2
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:40 pm

Girl missing in Spain (Why are they saying Portugal? )
Jan. 16 - Spanish police are hunting for a five-year-old Spanish girl snatched 120 miles from the Portuguese resort where Madeleine McCann vanished.

http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?rpc=401&videoId=74551&feedType=VideoRSS&feedName=TopNews&rpc=401

hopy4maddy
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:24 am

hippy wrote:From SOS Madeleine

16.01.2008

Huelva: Father of Mari Luz to a suspect in mind

Juan José Cortés, the father of Mari Luz, the little girl disappeared past Sunday in the district of El Torrejón, Huelva, admitted that "a suspect" in the lead, and remains convinced "that there will soon be news about the place "or is his daughter stressing that" the police is working on a runway. "

Today, searches were completed without the slightest evidence, despite the participation of over one hundred people, among them, but also various popular police, fire and emergency services in the region.

Already this morning, more than a thousand people paraded through the streets of Huelva to ask the authorities not to abandon the search, causing the emotion of parents Mari Luz, including a crisis of nerves from his mother, who had to be assisted by the Red Cross.

Mari Luz Cortes has given more signs of life since Sunday past more than 200 kilometers of Praia da Luz but detectives Metodo 3 rushed to hover the shadow of the case on the disappearance McCann, provoking d 'immediate terror among the relatives of the little Spanish.

The father of Mari Luz, a former coach of Recreativo de Huelva, parents said yesterday that "nobody is bothered if the police asking the questions, because nobody is immune from suspicion until we know the culprit. " In an impromptu press conference, he réaffirmais that "everyone of our closest friends may be suspected in the disappearance, including me."

The case made its appearance in the British media after speculation of Metodo 3 proclaiming the vicinity of the place of Madeleine McCann disappeared (200 kilometers).

I'm very confused by the first paragraph. I don't know what is being said.

Keep us updated Sarahk. Thanks a lot for this. I appreciate it.

realisticsupporter
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:28 am

Hi H4M
I think what is being said here is that the police have one good lead and the father has a suspicion, but these are not the same.
This would be good as two leads gives a better chance than one.
Sadly I have very little time to come on here but I am watching the story in the Spanish papers. I do not have the time to do full translations which I know are wanted here but I can tell you all the basics of what I read.
I hope this is helpful and am so sorry I cannot do the translations.

Be careful of the British press translations as they seem to be pretty poor.

I will certainly be on the street today at 12 noon as requested by Mari Luzs father. Such things do not find missing children but I am sure that they bring some kind of support to the family.

Wishing with all my heart that today she is found safe.

pam supportfromireland
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:31 am

She is so beautiful. Hoping for some major progress here.Just let them both be found!