Costa Confidential: Huelva

Showing posts with label Huelva. Show all posts

National Court Judge Baltasar Garzon came under more fire from the press last week when it was revealed that two dangerous Turkish drug traffickers had been released from jail through an oversight on his part. The men walked free in July when their two-year provisional imprisonment ended and the judge failed to extend it. Erden Vardar and Sahin Eren were detained on July 12th, 2006, in Huelva as they tried to smuggle 12 kilos of heroin into the country. Their arrest led to the dismantling of one of the biggest heroin smuggling rings in which another Turk, one Croatian ten Spaniards were detained and 30 kilos of heroin were seized. Judge Garzon had just arrived back from a visit to Colombia where he had opened a seminar, just days before the two-year provisional sentence was due to end, and a few days later left Madrid again. He finally ordered the extension of the men;s provisional imprisonment a few days after it should have been done. As a result, their lawyer was able to get them out of jail. The judge said their release made no difference because they were still in the country and were due to appear in court again later this month

100 people in the El Torrejón district of Huelva have tried to lynch the brother of Santiago del Valle, the man accused of killing the five year old local girl Mari Luz Cortés. The group tried to get into the brother’s home and threw stones at the building, shouting that he had helped to cover up the crime.Francisco del Valle has however told the press that he is prepared to testify against his brother Santiago, while his wife has said they can no longer live in the area and have to move as both she and their 17 year old daughter had come under threat. National and anti-riot Police had to intervene late on Monday night to stop the aggression from progressing. The Government Sub Delegate for Huelva, Manuel Bago, commented that the brother did not deserve what was happening.Mari Luz’s father was among the protestors and commented that it was Francisco who brought his brother to the district and that initially he defended him.It’s not the first time that the locals have attacked the brother of the suspect. An earlier attack at the end of last month was caught on television.Meanwhile the parents of Mari Luz Cortés have launched a campaign and petition calling for life imprisonment for those paedophiles who are committed of murder.

In 2007, the provincial court of Seville sentenced a man identified only as M. to 14 years in prison for repeatedly abusing his own daughter. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal on 8 November, but M. never set foot inside the penitentiary because he vanished from the village where he lived, although a few neighbours claim to have seen him. Santiago del Valle, who allegedly murdered a five-year-old girl named Mari Luz Cortés in Huelva last month, was not the only convicted paedophile who is walking around free. Ignacio Fernández de la Mata, a lawyer who represented the victim, is still waiting to be notified about M.'s imprisonment for sexually abusing his daughter for six years - from the time she turned eight. "Four days ago he was still a free man. I don't understand why, but that's the way it is," he said. "I wasn't at all surprised by the Mari Luz case. The system does not work, there is a shortage of courthouses and resources."Deputy prime minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega on Friday admitted that the justice system failed Mari Luz.
But M.'s situation, as well as that of another convicted paedophile in Lleida who went missing over a year ago, proves that the system is failing too often for comfort. Last Friday, Seville's courts stated that delays in implementing prison sentences are no exception, blaming the situation on insufficient resources.
There is something truly astonishing about Santiago del Valle's record. Each courthouse that he walked into worked like an isolated island, as if it had no connection with the rest of the legal system; a place where the repeat offender kept appearing as if it were the first time.
Is it really possible for a judge in Gijón to not know immediately whether a colleague in Tarragona has taken any measures against a paedophilia suspect? Can he not simply press a button and access a suspect's record? The answer is no.
"In 2008 we cannot allow a judge from Almería who is going to rule over the fate of a suspect to do so without knowing what another judge has ruled," says Antonio García Martínez, a judge at the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country and spokesman for the Professional Judges' Association. "We need a system that enables us to instantly know what is going on with specific people and cases."
Communications have developed faster than the courts. The only records that a judge can access immediately are those cases where there is a final verdict. That is why, when a second Seville judge convicted Del Valle in 2004 for sexual abuse, he did not treat him as a repeat offender. The 2002 sentence for abusing his own daughter was not included in the records because it had been appealed before the provincial court, which took three years to hand down its verdict.
A centralised database containing all legal sentences relating to a case would prevent offenders such as Santiago del Valle from staying out of prison. The matter raises other issues as well, such as the right to privacy. But it is one thing to create a database for judges, attorneys and law enforcement agencies, and another to create a public record of paedophilia offenders, as some people are demanding. The legal profession, in general, defends only the first possibility. "It would have to be a database with restricted access for people with a legitimate interest," says Jaime Tapia, a spokesman for the progressive judge association Jueces para la Democracia.

In a reconstruction of the day which five year old Marí Luz Cortés disappeared from Huelva, allegedly at the hands of Santiago del Valle, the main suspect, has concluded that he killed the child and, with the help of his sister Isabel García, got rid of the body within forty-five minutes to an hour. He hid the body in a supermarket trolley and took it to the marshes before the family started to search for the child. When the child’s father and others accused him and visited his home, just 100 m away, the deed was done and Santiago del Valle was cool and collected.
The El Mundo newspaper reports today that back in 1992 Santiago del Valle managed to be paid 20 million pesetas compensation after his first daughter, Nuria Noelia del Valle Garcia, was run over in strange circumstances when she was just two years old. The family had been living in a car at the time, and used the money to buy a flat in the Tres Mil Viviendas area of Sevilla where they had two other daughters.
The Mari Luz case has highlighted deficiencies in the Spanish judiciary system, with Santiago del Valle on the streets despite two firm prison sentences handed down against him, and the El Mundo newspaper today gives another example of its shortcomings.

second judge is to be investigated regarding the errors made which resulted in the death of the five year old from Huelva, Marí Luz Cortés. The magistrate, Javier González, took nearly three years to confirm the sentence which condemned Santiago del Valle to prison for abusing his own five year old daughter.
Meanwhile the General Council for Judicial Power, the body which oversees the judiciary in Spain has admitted that mistakes were made, and they have opened a full investigation. Spokesman, Enrique López, said also that the permanent commission of the CGJP had not detected any serious irregularities in the court which finally sentenced the main suspect in the Mari Luz case, and that therefore the system had to be improved and they would be putting forward a series of ideas.
The first judge named to be under investigation following the revelation that Santiago del Valle remained at large despite to firm prison sentences against him on earlier child abuse charges, was Judge Rafael Torres from Penal Court One in Sevilla. His court sentenced del Valle to prison for two years and nine months, but failed to enforce the prison order. He has been accused in the press of lying when he blamed civil servants for the errors. Both the judges now face some sort of disciplinary action, which could be announced as early as this Friday.
Meanwhile the acting Minister for Justice, Mariano Fernández Bermejo, has said that he considers the case of Mari Luz to be ‘an anomaly’ in Spanish justice. He described it as ‘infrequent’ and where a chain of unfortunate errors had been made. He said it was fundamental that the law be met, and to cover things up with talk of life imprisonment was ‘hardly serious’.

Santiago del Valle García, has been ordered to prison without bail by the judge in the Court of First Instance in Huelva on charges of murder of Mari Luz and and against sexual freedom.. The judge told him that he must also serve the two years and nine month sentence handed down against him in 2006 by the Court of First Instance in Sevilla for abusing his own daughter.The judge also ordered prison without bail for Rosa del Valle, his sister who had also been arrested along with his wife and a brother. The wife, Isabel García, was released with charges after making her statement to the Instruction judge and is now reported to be staying outside the Huelva province. Santiago and Rosa left the Huelva Court at a quarter to one this morning, bound for the jail in Huelva.Meanwhile the General Council for Judicial Power (CGPJ), the body which oversees the judiciary in Spain has opened an investigation as to why the alleged killer of Mari Luz had not served a single day in jail, despite two prison sentences against him. The latest was the 2 year 9 month sentence handed down against him by the Court of First Instance in Sevilla for the sexual abuse of his own five year old daughter. There was a second earlier sentence also, for two years in jail, handed down for the sexual abuse of a nine year old girl who he surprised on the stairs of her home, which he also somehow escaped serving.It appears the official reason was that his ‘whereabouts were unknown' and had also appealed against the second sentence which had allowed him to avoid being placed inside. He had claimed that it was a gymnastics teacher who had abused his daughter, and not him, presenting a fake medical report at the time to support his case.The court documents from Sevilla at the time make dramatic reading. Público quotes them as saying ‘On several occasions the accused, dropping his trousers, would make his daughter touch his member with her hands, and on other occasions he would masturbate while he touched her genital region. The mother was often present while this took place, and despite the opposition of the child who complained to her father that it hurt, never did anything to stop it taking place’. The court documents note that the mother, Isabel García, has an I.Q. of only 47, and she was clearly under the manipulative influence of her husband. The Sevilla court documents also indicate that Santiago del Valle suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but also that the judge considered that when he abused his daughter he knew exactly what he was doing. The couple’s son and daughter, now aged 9 and 15, are in the care of foster families.
There is also a third case of a 13 year old girl in Gijón, against whom he was handed down a distancing order after he had been chatting to her on the internet and proposed sexual relations. The girl’s mother discovered the plan and informed the police in that case.
The Government Delegate for Andalucía, Juan José López Garzón, commented that it was not for the police or the government to comment on the situation, and he was not going to make a judgement. He called for calm from the local population. However López Garzón did not deny that there was a search and capture order in place against Santiago del Valle since 2006.
It appears that the Police investigators into the Mari Luz case knew nothing of this however, and were unaware that he lived less than 100 metres away from where she disappeared. However the local residents of this tight-knit community did know about Santiago del Valle’s past, and a few hours after Mari Luz vanished they had informed the missing girl’s parents.
El Mundo reports that several people from the neighbourhood, including Mari Luz’s father, Juan José, and some of her uncles, forced their way into Santiago del Valle’s home, taking some papers on the same day that the child had vanished, knocking down the door in search of the youngster. This led the man who is now charged with the child’s murder to call the police for help. The police went to the home and initially thought it was a simple case of breaking and entering, deciding to put off making full enquires until the next day. When they returned, Santiago del Valle and his family had gone, and it was only some time later that police joined the dots in the case and realised that they were dealing with a known paedophile with a previous record.

According to the site of the Spanish newspaper ABC, Santiago del Valle, confessed to the police that he "touched" Mari Luz on the day of her death. There are no official confirmations on the details of the confession, however, judicial sources advance that the suspect confessed to be obsessed with the girl. Mari Luz was lured to the house of Santiago with a toy and then he touched the 5 year old girl in the buttocks.
Rosa del Valle was living with the brother Santiago and his wife, Isabel, in the district El Torrejón up to the date of the disappearance of Mari Luz (13th of January). Rosa is detained by suspicion of having transported the body of the girl in her blue Hyunday. Compromising evidences were found in a wet cardboard that was in the luggage of her car. The neighbourhood in Huelva thinks that she was ‘weird’. They say, for example, that she had the routine of washing her car in the night. After his arrest on Tuesday, Santiago del Valle said he had invited the child into his house and attempted to abuse her, but she struggled and accidentally fell down the stairs and was killed. He also admitted that he had put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. The post mortem showed that she had died of asphyxiation. Frightened and with fear of being incriminated, he launched Mari Luz body to the river Huelva.It was reported that del Valle had a pending prison term of more than two and a half years for the sexual abuse of his young daughter, who was the same age as Mari Luz when the abuse took place. He was originally sentenced in 2002, and the sentence was confirmed by a higher court at the end of 2005.It’s understood that his wife, who was released with charges in the Mari Luz investigation, was also sentenced in that previous case, and that the couple tried to blame a gym teacher for the abuse suffered by their daughter.
There was no warrant out for his arrest in connection with the sentence, Europa Press reports, but a Seville court had issued an order in March 2006 to locate his whereabouts after ruling that he should serve the term. Juan José López Garzón, central government delegate for Andalucía, told the news agency that del Valle has been under watch by police since the beginning of the investigation into Mari Luz’s disappearance. National Police have also confirmed that they received no warrant for his arrest, and noted that there was insufficient evidence to charge him when he was originally questioned in the investigation.Del Valle was sentenced by another court in Seville for abusing a nine year old girl, and received a two year suspended sentence in that case.

The questions remain where was 52-year-old Spaniard Santiago del Valle Garcia was on the day Madeleine disappeared from her Algarve holiday flat. Garcia was detained yesterday in Portugal, on suspicion of killing five-year-old Mari Luz Cortes.
Four people have been indicted in connection with the death of 5-year-old girl Mari Luz Cortes, whose disappearance shocked Spain, police said Wednesday. The main suspect was a man with a criminal record for sexual abuse of children, who lived near the family of Mari Luz in the southern city of Huelva. Those indicted included the man and his wife, who were detained near Cuenca in central Spain, as well as the man's brother and sister. The wife was released with charges. The man was believed to have taken Mari Luz to the couple's home, where she fell down the stairs and died accidentally, after which the other suspects helped the man get rid of the body, according to television reports. The girl's body was found floating in a river on March 7 after two months of searches. An autopsy showed that she had not been sexually abused.The man, a known paedophile named as Santiago del Valle Garcia, lived locally in the Torrejón area and had been a suspect of the family from the start
A man, who was arrested in Spain yesterday is reported to have confessed to his involvement in the death of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl who vanished in Huelva on January 13. The man, named by the victim’s father Juan José, as Santiago del Valle Garcia , lived locally in the same Torrejón district of the city, but has recently moved to Cuenca with his wife to avoid reprisals.The suspect, who has a previous criminal record for child sexual abuse, was arrested with his wife in Pajaroncillo, a village in Cuenca province. Canal Sur reports that his sister has also been detained by the police.Known as the Spanish Madeleine in the British press, she vanished when going to buy some crisps on the previous January 13 in the Torrejón district of Huelva. Her body finally appeared floating in the Ria de Huelva on March 7.
Reporting restrictions remain in force in the case, but the child’s father, Juan José Cortés, told the Huelva Infomación newspaper that the man is called Santiago, lived locally and has a criminal record for child and sexual abuse. He said that the family had suspected him from the very first moment in the case.
‘We know that it is him, we are sure, and this is no surprise to me’, said the father this morning.Europa Press reports that the arrested man has now confessed, to the police but not to a judge, to his involvement in the disappearance of the five year old, but says that she died accidentally. According to his statement to police, he said that she fell and died accidentally when she was with him ‘at her own choice’. The paper reports that this man had been arrested earlier in Granada just a few days after Mari Luz vanished, and was released on a lack of any evidence.
Police say that they are sure that the man is responsible for the death of the child, and they believe that the motive was sexual. He is also reported to have a distancing order in place against his own children. The analysis from the police forensic department indicates however that the man could not manage to sexually force himself on the child.Spanish news also reports that a couple has been arrested in connection with the death of 5-year-old girl Mari Luz Cortes, whose disappearance shocked southern Spain, police said Wednesday. The detainees lived in the same neighbourhood in the city of Huelva as Mari Luz's family. The circumstances of the death of Mari Luz, whose body was found floating in a river on March 7 after two months of searches, have been unclear. The case of Mari Luz has been compared with that of 4-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann, who went missing on May 3, 2007, in a southern Portuguese holiday resort not far from where Mari Luz disappeared. The fate of Madeleine, who made headlines all over the world, has not been clarified

Spanish T.V. reports Telecinco has revealed what it calls the definitive results of the autopsy carried out on the body of the five year old
There has been new information in the Mari Luz Cortés case, the five year old girl from Huelva whose body was found in Ria de Huelva a week ago.Telecinco is reporting that the definitive results of the autopsy carried out on the child, which they say has proved that she was suffocated to death, and then thrown into the water afterwards. The autopsy concludes that the child died in the following 24 hours of her disappearance, and that the injuries to her head and ribs were also carried out before she died.The child’s father, Juan José Cortés, has called for time to ‘cry in silence’ and says that he will fight to find who is responsible and to see them pay for what they have done.Police say they think a local person may have seen Mari Luz with her killer, but is too frightened to come forward.

According to a report in today's ABC, neither of the two autopsies performed on little Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl whose body was discovered in an estuary near Huelva last Friday has established whether she was murdered or died accidentally. The autopsies did reveal that Mari Luz sustained a broken rib and a head injury, but it appears that neither were responsible for her death and may have been caused post-mortem as a result of the body washing up against rocks. It is clear that the girl died within 48 hours of her disappearance and was neither raped nor strangled, though the condition of the corpse made it impossible for asphyxia to be ruled out. Mari Luz disappeared from near her home in the city's El Torrejón district on the evening of January 13th and was found more than a kilometre away, leading investigators to conclude that it is unlikely that she arrived there unaccompanied on foot, especially given that she would have had to cross a busy main road tio get there. However, there are various ditches and drains that lead directly from the El Torrejón district where Mari Luz lived to the estuary where her body was found.

DNA testing has confirmed that the badly decomposed body found floating in the Ría de Huelva -the common estuary of the Tinto and Odiel Rivers - on Friday afternoon, is that of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl who disappeared in the city on 13th January. She went missing after leaving her home in the El Torrejón district of Huelva for a short trip to the local sweets kiosk, and her body was found near the Cepsa refinery installations by a Cepsa employee, still dressed in the same clothes she was wearing when she was last seen. Mari Luz’s father, Juan José Cortés, identified his daughter’s body on Friday, but the DNA testing has now confirmed the identification 100%.It’s understood that the autopsy has now been completed, and the judge will decide whether to release the results to the press as the investigation remains governed by secrecy. Luis Molina, spokesman for the Cortés family, told journalists that the family has no information on the results, and added that there has been no confirmation of reports in the media that the five year old died within 24 hours of her disappearance. He called on the press to refrain from giving any information which could later turn out to be false.

The City Hall of Huelva has decreed 3 days of official mourning for Mari Luz.
Huelva mayor Pedro Rodriguez said the child had been struck on the head but the cause of death was not known. Rodriguez declared three days of mourning starting Saturday.

Reports in the Spanish press and phone calls from reporters in Huelva have confirmed Five year old Mari Luz, missing from Huelva since she left her home in the El Torrejón area of the city on 13th January for a short trip to the local sweets kiosk, has been found dead. El Mundo said her body was found on Friday evening in Huelva province in the Torrearenilla marshland, in a river close to the Cepsa refinery installations, by an employee of the petroleum company. It’s understood that Mari Luz’s body was found with the clothes she was wearing when she disappeared , and that her body was badly decomposed.There was news just last week that the family of the five year old had received a ransom demand for two million euros, via an anonymous caller who demanded the money to release the child.
While it was thought to be a hoax, the family said they were prepared to negotiate in the case of serious calls. Mari Luz’s uncle, Diego Cortés, said at the time that the family would personally go to rescue his niece if necessary, but said they would only be able to raise around 300,000 €.El Mundo said Mari Luz’s parents, Juan José Cortés and Irene Suárez, had arrived at the scene to identify their daughter’s body, and that Juan José López Garzón, the central government delegate for Andalucía, was also en route to the site where Mari Luz’s body was found.

The family of the missing five year old girl, Mari Luz Cortés, who vanished from Huelva in the middle of January, says they have received a ransom demand for two million Euros.
They say they received a phone call from an individual yesterday, who demanded two million € to release the child.
But at a press conference held today in the Plaza Rosa del Torrejón, in Huelva, the missing child’s uncle, Diego Cortés, lamented the call which he described as ‘upsetting and senseless’, as it was believed the call is a hoax. He said that the family ‘was prepared to negotiate’ in the case of serious calls, adding that if the family would go personally to rescue Mari Luz if necessary. He said there was no chance

Interpol is reported to be investigating whether a girl found in Naples could be that of the missing five year old youngster from Huelva, Mari Luz Cortés.The Government delegate in Andalucía, Juan José López Garzón, has today said that there was no confirmation of the identity as yet. It seems the investigation started when a Spanish businessman of Italian origin, and resident of Cataluña was alerted by his mother who still lives in Italy, that they had found an indentified girl in Naples who was no older than five and whose origin and identity was unknown. It’s also reported that the child cannot speak Italian and is in a state of shock, only repeating the word ‘mama’. Despite latest reports that the child has an Asiatic appearance, Mari Luz’s father is reported to be planning to leave for Naples.
Mari Luz was last seen when she left her home in the El Torrejón district of Huelva on 13th January to buy a packet of crisps at the local sweets kiosk. Several searches in the Huelva area have proved fruitless and did not result in any clues.
The Mari Luz case has resulted in considerable coverage in the British press looking for links to the Madeleine McCann case, given that Huelva is close to the Portuguese border.Authorities in Italy say the unidentified child found in Naples is not Mari Luz, the five year old girl who has been missing from her home in Huelva for more than six weeks. The child in question is in a care centre in the Italian city, is said to be no older than five, and cannot speak Italian. She was reported to be in a state of shock, only repeating the word, ‘mama’.Authorities there have now received a photograph of Mari Luz and say there is no similarity in the two girls’ appearance.
The investigation began when a Spanish businessman of Italian origin who is resident in Cataluña was told by his mother in Italy that an unidentified girl had been found in Naples. She was said to be either Asiatic in appearance, or of gypsy race, as is Mari Luz. EFE said the news that the child is not Mari Luz came through from sources at the Spanish Embassy in Rome shortly after Mari Luz’s father, Juan José Cortés, had left for Naples to follow up the initial information.

The Cortés family say they are against a poster campaign launched in Spain by the McCann family which shows images of four year old Madeleine alongside their daughter, Mari Luz, who disappeared in Huelva on 13th January, and others pictured with Yeremi Vargas, who was seven when he disappeared from Gran Canaria last year.
Mari Luz’s father, Juan José Cortés, said after a meeting with Manuel Chaves, President of the Junta de Andalucía, this weekend, that, while he is not against collaborating in the search for Madeleine and ‘even helping to draw up a poster of all the missing youngsters,’ the lines of investigation into the disappearance of the two young girls are distinct, and are being carried out in two separate countries. EFE said he is considering taking legal action for using his daughter’s image for the campaign.The news agency noted his comment that the press in Portugal is reporting that the cost of the poster campaign is being met with 4,000 € from each family.Juan José Cortés said after the meeting with Chaves, ‘the President has understood the pain we are suffering, and this type of meeting helps us to at least feel we have the support of the administration.’The Poster campaign linking the disappearance of Madeleine McCann with two missing Spanish children is being launched today.Nearly 18,000 are being sent out across Spain. They will show Madeleine with either Mari Luz Cortes, five, or Yeremi Vargas, seven.They carry the headline No Nos Olvideis - Spanish for "Don't forget us" - and phone numbers where possible sightings can be reported.Mari went missing in Huelva, 120 miles from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, on January 13. Madeleine vanished from Praia da Luz on last May 3 .Yeremi disappeared on Gran Canaria in March 2007.The Helping To Find Madeleine support group produced the posters.Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We know the Portuguese police looking for Madeleine have examined both cases and our investigators have also looked at them and continue to keep an open mind."In Portugal, the police inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance is about to end, it was claimed yesterday.Justice minister Alberto Costa told a Lisbon hearing: "We're at a stage where we're approaching the conclusion of the process."

A large demonstration took place in Seville on Monday to call for the safe return of Mari Luz, the five year old gypsy girl who has been missing from her home in Huelva for more than four weeks. It was headed by her parents, Juan José Cortés and Irene Suárez, and they have now contracted the services of a private detective agency to help them find their daughter.Mari Luz was last seen when she left her home in the El Torrejón district of the city on 13th January to buy a packet of crisps at the local sweets kiosk. A report from Huelva Información on Monday speaks of two witnesses who say they saw her that afternoon. One, they say, who was driving by at the time, saw a girl who answers her description being put into a van near the square where she lives, where two people were waiting inside the vehicle. The paper said Mari Luz’s parents have called on any father who was in the area and could have been seen having a minor disagreement with his own daughter to come forward so that the statement from the witness can be discounted from police enquiries. The van in question was white, according to reports.

Spanish press are announcing that a man has been detained in El Torrejón close to the disappearance of Mari Luz on suspicion of attempting to take a young girl from the street. The seven year old was leaving her grandmother house when the attempt was made an aunt rushed to help the child. The police were called and a man was detained.large crowds have gathered outside the National police station

Juan José Cortés spoke of his anger at the lack of progress which has been made, and confirmed that the family will be contracting the services of a private detective agency to help in the investigation. He said two have contacted him, and a third, outside Spain, is ‘interested in the case.’ The family has opened a bank account in the BBVA bank for any donations.

He also mentioned new police information that his daughter crossed the road after the leaving the kiosk where she had gone to buy a bag of crisps, and said she would not have done so alone, as she knew it was totally forbidden.
In Andalucía, hundreds supported a protest outside Málaga City Hall on Tuesday morning, with others also taking place in Granada and Cádiz. The demonstration in Huelva set off from Mari Luz’s home in El Torrejón, and three doves were released into the air when the protestors arrived at City Hall.

The search for Mari Luz meanwhile goes on, and on Tuesday, apart from Huelva itself, extended to Gibraleón and Trigueros. They will move later to the woods of Moguer and Palos de la Frontera if nothing is found, and as far as Mazagón, El Mundo said.

Juan José Cortés, the father of the missing five year old from Huelva, Mari Luz, who vanished on January 13, said yesterday that he is optimistic for a quick advance in the investigation and that the hopes of finding her well were ever greater.
His comments to the press came after a meeting at the Provincial Police Station in Huelva with those carrying out the investigation.
Juan José Cortés said that the hopes of finding the child well were greater than everThe father, while admitting that the clues did not currently indicate any person in particular, they did go towards ‘completing the puzzle’.
‘There was an ever greater chance that she is still alive’, he said, and called for anyone who knew anything to come forward. He said that anyone who supplied information which led to the return of his daughter would be well rewarded.
Meanwhile a large new search is being organised over this weekend using quad bikes and horses across the local marshes. Juan José encouraged the public to take part.

The mother of Yeremi Vargas, the seven year old boy who went missing from Gran Canaria when he was playing in the street outside his grandmother’s house in Vecindario last March, says police investigating her son’s disappearance have been in contact with Spanish police investigating the disappearance of Mari Luz.
They are working on the theory that people involved in child trafficking are behind these cases.’
Yeremi was last seen on 10th March 2007, two months before Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz on the Portuguese Algarve. Yeremi’s mother is reported to believe that both kidnappings were ordered, and that the children were probably sold on.
Yeremi’s mother believes the families should ‘stick together’ to show a united front and to make the public understand that ‘we have not given up on our children being found.’ Ithaisa Suárez wants to arrange meetings with Kate and Gerry McCann, and also with the parents of Mari Luz Cortés, the five year old girl who went missing in Huelva on 13th January.
In Portugal meanwhile, a search is taking place of a reservoir 40 miles from Praia da Luz for any sign of Madeleine’s body. The Daily Record said the cost is being paid by a lawyer, Marcos Correia, who says an un-named source told him she was, as the paper says, ‘murdered and thrown into a lake last May.’ Jeremy Vargas vanished from his home in Gran Canaria just eight weeks before four-year-old Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz.Police searching for a missing seven-year-old boy in Spain are linking it with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

National police hunting for the boy have told his parents they are now working closely with police in Portugal.
The link between the cases was revealed as dive teams searched a reservoir for Madeleine's body.
Jeremy's mother Ithaisa Suarez, 24, said: "The specialist police team from Madrid have told me that they have been in contact with the Portuguese police investigating Madeleine. They are working on the theory that people involved in child trafficking are behind these cases."
Jeremy was playing on wasteground behind his home when he disappeared on March 10 last year.
Ithaisa insists both Jeremy and Madeleine, four, were snatched to order and likely sold on by a gang.
Ithaisa wants to meet the parents of missing Mari Luz Cortes from Huelva, Spain, to present a united front in drawing international attention to their plight.
She said: "We need to stick together and make sure people understand we have not given up on our children being found."
Yesterday, divers continued to search a reservoir for Madeleine's body following a tip-off from an underworld source to a lawyer.

Disappeared Children on the Costa Del Fear.

Juan José Cortés said that some people are asking for money in his name, but outside the official and single bank account which has been opened in the BBVA bank.
The father of Mari Luz, the missing five year old from Huelva, has said that people are making money in his name.
It’s now two weeks since the five year old vanished when returning home the few metres from the local sweets kiosk. Searches have been carried out over the weekend in the nearby villages of Moguer and Mazagón and a group of volunteers are collecting signatures in demand that the investigations in the case continue.
They spent the weekend at the doors of the Hipercor-Costa de la Luz local commercial centre in Huelva. Some of the volunteers helping in the weekend searches are students from the Huelva University
Local police in Huelva continue to search garages and basements in the area of El Torrejón where the family live.

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