A Portuguese woman who had been fighting for over a year to regain custody of her five and two-year-old children, allegedly taken by their father to Peru without her consent, has successfully reunited with them.
Despite a ruling from the Peruvian judiciary ordering the return of the children to Ana Gaivão Cordovil, the father refused to comply for several months.
At the end of July, the Portuguese mother finally retrieved her children, as she announced on social media. “With a heart full of emotion, I share that Rafael and Felipe are with me once again. An infinite thank you to those who supported and accompanied us through the process,” she wrote on Facebook.
Over a Year of Struggle for Her Children
In March, Ana Gaivão, who serves as a deputy director at one of Europe’s largest employment platforms, shared with SIC Notícias her ordeal. She lived in Madrid, Spain, with her husband and children until July of the previous year, when he took the children to Lima without her consent.
Her husband, Fernando Menéndez Zeppilli, who is influential and financially well-off in his native Peru, managed to secure temporary custody by convincing the court that Ana had psychological issues.
However, Ana’s mental health was never subjected to any medical evaluation.
Desperate, Ana moved to Peru to search for her children, who have dual citizenship. Throughout the year, her opportunities to see them were rare, yet she is convinced they are victims of psychological abuse.
She initiated an international process via the Hague Convention to recover her children.
Subsequently, as reported by Notícias ao Minuto, Ana announced on social media that after “months of struggle,” the Superior Court of Justice of Lima annulled the father’s temporary custody due to a lack of justification. “There is no evidence against me, no risk of abduction, just an injustice that must end now,” she remarked, addressing her ex-husband.
“Fernando, you have no more excuses. Each day my children spend away from me is an irreparable harm,” she emphasized at the time.
Throughout the year, Ana gave interviews to various Peruvian media outlets, created online pages to seek assistance, and even reached out to the Portuguese government for support, but to no avail.
This month marks the end of her maternity leave, and if the situation persists, she may face unemployment, as she plans to remain in Peru to fight for her children.
Husband Also Took the Family Savings
According to an interview with Willax, Ana revealed that her savings are nearly depleted because her husband “took almost all the money” when he fled Spain with the children.
“He is taking revenge on me because he thought I wanted a divorce. He not only took my children but also nearly all the money in our family savings. I am practically without resources to defend myself,” she disclosed in a January interview with the Peruvian site.
Willax also reported that Fernando José Menéndez Zepilli is the son of a deputy economy minister in Peru. The Peruvian and the Portuguese woman fell in love during their master’s studies in the U.S.
At one point, they lived in Peru but moved to Spain, where they had the two children who became the focus of this dispute.
