Girl, 2, rescued in Argentina after father's cross-border flight; father arrested

A two-year-old girl has been located in Resistencia, Argentina, ending a desperate search after she was taken irregularly by her father. The operation, which involved international cooperation, successfully thwarted the father's attempt to flee with the child to Chile.

Prosecutor Aldo Cantero detailed the minute-by-minute account of the international operation that led to the girl's recovery. He revealed that the case involves a complex legal dispute spanning three countries, with the paternal grandmother currently under investigation and the father already arrested. The investigation began after the mother's formal complaint, triggering protocols from the National Police and Interpol.

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The gentleman would turn the cell phone on and off; we did not have a constant signal. In one of those connections, we saw that he appeared in the Formosa area, Argentina. We immediately activated arrest warrants, communications with Interpol, and the Children's Judge set the yellow code.

The father, a Chilean national, is in custody in Resistencia. Paraguayan prosecutors have formally charged him with contempt for violating a court-ordered visitation schedule, violation of custodial duties, and obstruction of criminal prosecution. Prosecutor Cantero explained that the Paraguayan Juvenile Court must coordinate with its Argentine counterparts to determine the father's return, potentially through expedited migratory expulsion or a formal extradition request.

Meanwhile, the girl's paternal grandmother is being held in Paraguay, prohibited from leaving the country while her cell phone is being examined as part of the investigation. The father had attempted to evade geolocation by intermittently turning his phone on and off during his clandestine flight. However, a technical trace by the Anti-Kidnapping Department of the Police managed to pinpoint his location in the Formosa region of Argentina, leading to his interception at a bus terminal just as he was about to board a long-distance bus to Chile.

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Expulsion via migration can be processed, which is always the much faster procedure, or failing that, formally request the extradition.