The jeep runs along the winding road in the highlands of Guatemala. Carlos Haas is sitting in the back along with his wife, Juliane, and their two children, and during their tour they pass through the majestic mountains of the Cuchumatanes. Carlos, however, does not pay attention to the landscape. He is nauseated by curves. And for the emotion. Again and again he asks the driver how much is missing: "40 minutes," he replies. 40 minutes for Carlos to return to his homeland for the first time after more than 30 years.
Carlos Haas has German nationality, although he was born in Guatemala in 1985. He has very little information about his first months of life; Memories, it has none. The adoption was organized by Rosa Elena Calderón, a Guatemalan lawyer with many contacts in Germany. Carlos was only four months old when he was handed over to his adoptive parents in Germany. His relationship with them is very affectionate: "Every time someone tells me they are my adoptive parents, it irritates me," he says. "For me they are simply my parents." Carlos spent his childhood and youth in the quiet city of Niedernberg, in northern Bavaria. After graduating from high school, he decided to study History at the University of Heidelberg. He now lives with his wife and two children in Augsburg, an hour from Munich, where he works as a historian.
Carlos Haas when he was a baby and was adopted by his German parents. Carlos was born during the violent time of the civil war in Guatemala, in 1985.
When he was a teenager he began to become more interested in his native country and decided to learn Spanish. When he turned 20, he met a group of Guatemalan youth at World Youth Day, in Cologne. He created new ties with his native country. However, it took another ten years before he could travel to Guatemala for the first time. It was then that he realized that not all foreign adoptions were legal.
Stories of a violent Guatemala