Timeline of Her Story

The police was knocking at the door. Maria José Carrascosa was on the phone with her mother, pleading for help in a low voice at the time of her arrest. Her mother recalls: " I have never heard a more heart-wrenching cry"
1998 - The attorney from Valencia got married, very much in love and full of enthusiasm; unaware of the future that laid ahead of her.

May 2004: Her ex-spouse moved out of the shared home.

October 2004: The separated spouses agreed that the father can have visitations of the child on alternate weekends. He was already in agreement that the child should reside with the mother. He does not make use of his visitation rights, and neither does he provide financial support to the child's upkeep and education.

December 2004: Petition for annulment of matrimony in Spain, where the wedding took place.
January 2005: The child, Victoria, travels to Spain, accompanying the mother, who must travel to attend a court hearing on the annulment.

March 2005: Maria José renews her passport and the Passport Agency informs her that she appears on a delinquency list since April of 2004, a month prior to her ex-spouse's departure from the family home; apparently using any travel of the child to Spain to denounce the mother of child abduction.

April 2005: Maria José's illness takes a turn for the worse. A benign tumor is detected in her pancreas. Her spleen and two thirds of her pancreas are removed. Prior to that event, she had been receiving thyroid treatment. In October of that same year, she undergoes further treatment at the Quiron Clinic in Valencia. She is placed under special desintoxification treatment, since the forensic results show that her condition was provoked by ingesting pesticidal substances. This results are denounced in the Courts in Valencia.

July 2005: Her ex-spouse travels to Spain to submit a complaint against her and return to the USA with his daughter. The 9th Circuit Court of Valencia decides: THAT THE CHILD WILL NOT BE HANDED OVER, and that the mother, Maria José, continues to have full custody of the minor, as he himself had previously conceded. He will be allowed visitations on alternate weekends, while the mother is granted the choice of residence. The Carrascosa family therefore states that there is no abduction involved, reminding further that the child has double citizenship and has lived more in Spain than in the USA, having been registered as permanent resident of Valencia, along with her mother.

January 2006: The ex-spouse of Maria José appeals the sencence - and once more the Circuit Court of Valencia decides again in favor of the mother.

September 2006: Maria José travels to the USA to prove these court decisions to the American authorities, without subjecting herself to their jurisdiction. The Judge confiscates her passport and orders the return of the minor child. She is unable to comply since the Court in Valencia holds the minor's passports until Victoria reaches adulthood (18 years).
November 2006: Maria José is sent to jail and accused of disobedience and abduction of a minor.

February and March 2007: Maria Jose awaits sentencing by a Court who wants to send her to prison indefinitely. The Regional Government of Valencia is giving full assistance to the Carrascosa family, the Spanish Government reminds the USA that they are members of the The Hague Convention, but all to no avail - the sentencing procedure continues.

What should all other members of this The Hague Convention think? The ex-spouse has now created AN INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT.
What will be the fate of this Buñolera, Valenciana, and Spaniard?
And what of the child who wants to be with her mother?