, David Goldman's father a "denatured"

National media portrays a different view of the stalemate that jeopardizes diplomatic relations between Brazil and the United States

In the U.S., he became a cause celebre, a kind of protege of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and constant presence in several TV and Internet. Meanwhile in Brazil, David Goldman's father a "denatured" who with the help of influential diplomats, is separating a family together. Goldman, 42, is fighting for custody of her 8 year old son, Sean, who was taken to Brazil in 2004 for his Brazilian mother.

The mother, Bruna Bianchi, died in August last year and since then David took the case to the media in an attempt to get Sean, who lives with his stepfather Brazilian, back to New Jersey. But Brazilian newspapers have portrayed David as a lost cause - not to mention speculation - a father who appeared out of nowhere after 4 years to bring his son happy and well looked back to the United States.

The Brazilian family of the boy accused him live at the expense of his wife, who worked as a teacher in New Jersey before leaving it. Her maternal grandmother, Silvana Bianchi, told a Brazilian television channel that Goldman never sent any money to Sean and not tried to see him in four years.

While the case does not reach the level of the political battle over custody of Elian Gonzalez in 2000, diplomatic relations between Brazil and the United States is already committed, the authorities said.

Activists protested outside the White House in an attempt to press for the return of Sean, while President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the newly elected Barack Obama, who played briefly on the subject. Lula said the decision was in the hands of the courts. A protest by keeping Sean in Brazil was scheduled for last Sunday (15), in front of the Marriott Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, where David was staying.

Local politicians are furious at what they consider "provocative tactics" by Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Clifford Sobel, who have reunited with Brazilian courts in an attempt to "change" his views on the case, according to Brazilian press.

At least twice, Clinton met with Brazilian politicians of high rank in favor of Goldman while the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Clifford Sobel, a judge offered to support his candidacy for a seat in an international institution, according Brazilian media. Visits to Judge Sobel, Ellen Gracie, and another judge, Cesar Rocha, are extremely "inappropriate", according to Brazilian media.

"The U.S. ambassador is overstepping its bounds and this is very embarrassing to the United States," said Sergio Tostes, spokesman Paulo Lins e Silva, Sean's stepfather, a member of an influential family and himself a respected lawyer.

Sobel also wrote a letter to the Brazilian minister for human rights, Paulo Vannuchi, asking him to take into account the Hague Convention, which stipulates that in the absence of a biological parent, the other has custody automatically.

"We expect full cooperation from Brazil to solve this impasse, which is essentially serious, it becomes more tragic with the death of the mother of Sean with harmful consequences to an innocent child," says the letter obtained exclusively by The Daily Post.

"The Embassy takes this opportunity to more strongly reinforces our previous protests related to the case," added the letter. David Goldman came to Rio de Janeiro last week with a team of journalists from the TV channel NBC U.S..

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