A Colombian Farewell - Chapter 1: Mission Passport and Bureucratic Fights [esp/eng]

At least for vacation, at least for Sayri to meet his family and, at least, for me to rest after these three years of migration, adulthood (adulting) and motherhood.

I have many doubts, the occasional fear and uncontrollable emotion and joy. Ever since I found out about the trip, there isn't a day that I don't taste my mom's food.

We made the decision a month and a half ago. The most difficult thing, and what I want to talk to you about today, was getting Sayri's Colombian passport.

Mission: Passport

Requesting the appointment through the website of the Foreign Ministry was impossible. Three weeks and two expeditors later, at 5:43 pm, I received an email confirming the appointment for 10:00 am the next day... in Bogotá.

From Salento to Bogotá it is an 8-hour trip.

I jumped immediately, and after the happy I-can't-believe-it dance, we showered, packed a bag in record time and left the house in two hours for the bus terminal.

The feeling of having won the lottery didn’t last long for us.

Upon arriving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we were informed that Sayri could not get his passport because his civil registry did not involve the Resolution 8470; resolution issued in 2019 that allows children of Venezuelans parents, born in Colombia, to apply for the Colombian nationality.

Back-up story:
Resolution 8470 and bureaucratic fights

I gave birth at home in Salento, Colombia, in June 2019. Five days later, when my wounds had healed enough to walk to town, we went to the registry office to register the baby. They informed us that "We do not register foreign children. Much less without a record of live birth (certificate given by the hospital when the child is born)".

We went to the hospital to see if they could help us. Not at all, how crazy, obviously I should have carried Sayri right after he was born.

We went to the notary, it was worse:

We do not (explicitly) register children of Venezuelans... oh, my bad, children of immigrants.

We went to the mayor's office, they sent us to the Family Protection Station where, finally, I allowed myself to sit down after two or three hours walking, sore, bleeding.

And cried.

I breastfed the baby and, for the first time, I understood what he must feel when he breastfeeds. It was the only thing that relieved my impotence, anger and sadness of what I felt like an attack on a newborn baby. And I cried a lil' more.

The family commissioner, in our favor and by order of the Family Welfare Institute, carried out a civil registration warrant by witnesses. She herself took the statements of both witnesses — the child's godparents, and drew up the form. However, the registrar decided to interview the witnesses again.

Thus, two days before his first month of birth, Sayri obtained his civil registry with a clause that specified that he did not opt for nationality. We already knew it. Colombia is the only country in the Americas that does not grant nationality by birth.

Months later, at the end of 2019, the president of Colombia issued Resolution 8470 that allowed Colombian nationality to be granted to the children of Venezuelans born in the territory due to the risk of statelessness of the children due to the breakdown of international relations between both countries; there were no Venezuelan consulates or embassies in Colombia that would allow me to register Sayri as a Venezuelan and I could not take Sayri out of Colombia, to nationalize him in Venezuela, without a passport.

Still, the registry refused because they did not have a record of live births. We fought with the register, again. We went to the municipal ombudsman’s office. The attorney spoke with the registrar. Negative part II. The attorney allied himself with the Family Commissioner (the same one that issued the registration order months before) and they opened a lawsuit against the registrar.

We won, my people. I won the first lawsuit in my name 😅 . And, due to a guardianship ruling by the promiscuous Salento court, Sayri Santiago Meneses Rincón was granted his Colombian nationality.

Back to Bogotá

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we are informed that the registry must say "Applies for nationality by Resolution 8470"; not "Applies for nationality by decision of guardianship of the promiscuous court of Salento", as was the case.

I did not understand. Sayri figures in the whole national system as a Colombian. With his registration, he applies to public health and all the requirements and benefits of a Colombian national. Sayri was ALREADY a Colombian national even if he had Venezuelan parents or not.

So they sent us to the central registry office in Bogotá, the only one in the department that can access records from the interior of the country.

We walked, we arrived. We saw the line of 30 people. I asked the guard what I needed, he told me to get in line to attend me. I got in line. Half an hour later, still in line, I noticed there was a flyer that informed they didn’t attend those who did not have a vaccination card. I went to the guard again to tell him I didn't have the vaccination card, he told me to line up anyway.

Thirty minutes later, it's my turn and… they didn’t attend me because I didn’t have a vaccination card. I told them to, at least, give me information on what I should do. They didn’t even listen to me and called the next one without looking me in the eyes for a single moment. I yelled them to fuck off... I was neither the first nor the last to tell them the same thing in all the time I was there.

Is insulting public workers the unequivocal sign of reaching adulthood?

I'm not proud
and I don't regret it either.

Anyway, out of frustration, we decided to look for an AirBnB and do what seemed most logical. Something that I refused a lot and avoided as long as possible: getting vaccinated against Covid.

_{By the way, was this post way too confusing with all those juridical names? I feel like I got my first semester of Law School already!}