An American citizen living in the Guadalajara airport

I bought the Mural, can´t find the story online.

Brenda Janet Castro, a U.S. citizen from Los Angeles has been living in the Guadalajara airport for 18 days. She is pictured on the front page of the MURAL sitting on a bench in black and yellow Tweety Bird pajamas and two small bags next to her. She did not know her name when asked but she told officials she was 36 years old and produced her passport.
Airport officials say that she has not bothered anyone so they will not take any measures to have her removed but they have contacted her consulate . It is not known if she has been eating or if she has any money in her possession.
She suposedly has had airline tickets that she has not used and she is waiting for her uncles to come get her because they know where she is and she can´t understand why they left her there. She prefers guadalajara to any U.S. city and she does not want to leave.. Officials say that she might suffer from a mental disorder.


I am very concerned about this woman. I will be going to the airport in a few days so i will look for her.
If you go to the airport please look for Brenda, ask her if she needs a meal or if there is anything you can do for her. I hope this story ends well.

Ill post a picture soon

I will be flying out Tuesday. What should I do if I see her? Yes, I will offer to buy her a meal Etc. And I will have my iPhone with me and I will, if I find her call someone, but I don't know who. Let's hope that by Tuesday the problem will be solved and I will have no one to look for.

I don't know what can be done for this poor woman...I feel so sorry for her. It's just so sad, she's sitting at the airport in her Tweety Bird Pajamas waiting for her uncles...sheesh.
I don't think the consulate will do anything except try to find her relatives, you would think someone would be looking for her, but there is no one to call as things appear to be now.

I didn't know the picture got cut off, I'll try to fix it.

Obviously some problems - a sane rational person would not be at an airport in tweety bird pj's - Hopefully the counsulate will step in......seems to be they would have the ability to be helpful - whether they would have the desire to do so is another matter  i guess

No, she is not sane...but look how hopeful she looks. And she has her new snappy looking Mexico suitcase there...she had another larger suitcase at the beginning and they are not sure what happened to the other one.

Can't really tell from the photo, but what newspaper was that story in? Anybody have a link to the original article? It might be helpful to post it elsewhere... maybe get something circulating on Facebook? Send it do US news agencies, who might be able to show it someplace that the lady's family might see?

Heather

18 days?!??!!! Jesus. I would think the most helpful thing to find out is where she flew in FROM. Then contact the media in the US in that area to put the story out on TV, etc.

If she just doesn't know, maybe she still has her ticket or flight record? And if they were so inclined, the people at the US Consulate could find out easily enough. They are part of the State Department, which is in charge of passports.

She says she came from Los Angeles and she arrived in Guadalajara with $100.00 that her father gave her. She came here to visit her Grandparents and was taken back to the airport by her Uncle.
Airport employees have never seen her eating but they have seen her talking to herself. I guess she has not given any names or phone numbers.

The rest of the article

I did locate the story online at Mural.com, but a subscription is required to read it. Hopefully it's the same as the one printed above. Thanks.

I posted the photo on my Facebook and asked that it be circulated to people in the LA area. Directed them back here for updates (in case it's reported that she's been rescued).

Heather

I will be at the airport early Monday evening to pick someone up and will look for her. Actually I will go early and try to find her and see what I can do to help.

I am sending an email to the counsulate - along with a link for the story - if anyone else is inclined to do so, here is the info.......

Her name - per the article is Janet Castro

Guadalajara consulate is :  usconsulategdl@state.gov


What I am emailing:  The newpaper the Mural, on August 24,  has a picture of an American Citizen who has been living at the Guadalajara Airport for the past 18 days.  She is dressed in tweety bird pajamas.  Obviously the person is distressed and needs assistance.  Please assist.  

It's concerning that somebody would have dropped her off at the airport with an expectation that she was competent to deal with the situation, unless she was OK at that time and might have suffered a stroke or something. This seems very strange.

Thanks, Joyfull, for trying to find something when you're there.

hkrause wrote:Can't really tell from the photo, but what newspaper was that story in? Anybody have a link to the original article? It might be helpful to post it elsewhere... maybe get something circulating on Facebook? Send it do US news agencies, who might be able to show it someplace that the lady's family might see?

Heather

good idea - i found the mexican bureau for the LA times and emailed them....

I emailed TV stations in L.A. And put the info on some of the news stations Facebook pages. However, having a passport issued in Los Angeles does not mean she is from L.A.  Lets hope some how her family finds out about her.

Wow! Nice job ladies...
She said she lived in L.A. With her father and it looks like she was sent to Mexico to live, or at least she said she wants to live here. She gave some street names and the colonia where her grandparents live but she was staying with her uncle when she got dropped off at the airport with a ticket to return her to L.A. but she didn't get on the plane.

The story ran in the MURAL but is not available to read online without a subscription. Maybe it will be released tomorrow, I'll keep checking.

Sent an e-mail to the consulate in Guadalajara - thanks for the link Mad Max. Just a quick note to please help her if possible. Put her name in the subject line....maybe if they get enough?

To repeat, Consultate e-mail again: usconsulategdl@state.gov

Also noticed a quick google search finds her on the Facebook page of Channel 7 in Los Angeles. So for those who use Facebook, you can add your voice there.

Tried "flipping" that article from Mural, but still can barely read it. The word that jumps out from the subhead or first paragraph, is "abandoned".

I have the entire article translated, in the morning I will proof read it and then we can start posting it. That should help.

From the MURAL - August 24, 2013

She arrived in Guadalajara international airport with 3 large suitcases and one sports bag, since then she has not left terminal 1.
Day and night the employees have seen her go outside of the waiting area and later return. Most don't know her name, but they call her " La Inquilla" . &&&&
Through a photo of her passport which we obtained last night we obtained her name, Brenda Jeanette Castro is 34 years old.
In the time that she has been here brenda has not bothered anyone or caused any problems, but it's strange that as of yesterday she only had the small suitcase, we suspect that she may have sold the rest of her luggage, perhaps to buy food.
Airport authorities confirmed that she is an American citizen since she has an dodi ciao I.D. And a u.s. passport . For this reason the consulate of that country has been advised so that the process of repatriation can begin.
Airport personnel assured that that they have permitted her to remain in place because she has not given them a motive to remove her.
Brenda Janet came to Guadalajara to visit her grandparents and on two occasions she at the point of returning to Los Angeles California, where she lived before her trip, but she decided to stay and wait for her uncles to come for her, according to her version of the story.
No one knows if she has eaten or if she has found a place to sleep at night, as of yesterday the woman has been there for 18 days.
She did not even know her name. She said she was 36 years old and originally from Los Angeles California, but she likes Guadalajara better than any North American city.
She is wearing a pajama set, a jacket and eyeglasses.. As of Thursday she had in her possession only one sports bag and a gift bag that seems to contain clothing.
The employees have never seen her eat, but they have seen her sitting alone talking to herself.
" The thing is, I don't want to go back there because I like it here and I came here to live. So they can't throw me out of where I want to be because I am an American citizen and if I want to be outside or out in frount I can be. " affirmed the mysterious woman.
She commented that she had come to Guadalajara about three weeks ago and was staying in her grandparents house en colonia Electrista, near the streets Raul Quintero and Chamizal, but she later went to stay with an uncle, who took her to the airport to return to Los Angeles, but she felt bad and didnt want to travel.
It seems that when she got better they again took her to the airport to fly her home, but she didn't want to take the plane so she decided to stay in the terminal waiting for them to return for her.
She arrived in Guadalajara with only $100.00 used that her father, with whom she lives in the United States, gave her.
" My uncles know that I am here and they know that they have to come for me. Why did they leave me here? I don't know. They have to come, I don't know why they are playing jokes on me. " she said.
Miguel aliaga, director de relaciones institucionales del grupo aeropuerto del Pacifico, explico that they can not make her leave just because she has been staying in a public area. They can not forcefully remove her, only try to help her contact her relatives. The woman could have a mental disorder, he added.
Since she is an American citizen we have contacted the consulate so that they can give, if it is needed, some type of support.
She argues that she has been missing some flights and according to our investigation it appears that family members have sent her some plane tickets that she has not used.
However, the woman commented that she is not interested in going to any shelter or recieve any assistance since her uncles know that she is there and it is her uncles who should come pick her up.

Thank you. I am sharing it on Facebook.

thanks for translating - Wow 18 days! Hopefully the counsulate will step in - but what would they do with her?

Mad_Max wrote:I am sending an email to the counsulate - along with a link for the story - if anyone else is inclined to do so, here is the info.......

Her name - per the article is Janet Castro

Guadalajara consulate is :  usconsulategdl@state.gov


What I am emailing:  The newpaper the Mural, on August 24,  has a picture of an American Citizen who has been living at the Guadalajara Airport for the past 18 days.  She is dressed in tweety bird pajamas.  Obviously the person is distressed and needs assistance.  Please assist.  

OK I sent an email to the consulate and attached her photo. Maybe if enough people email them they will send someone out to do something.

Looks like the Mexican relatives don't want her and she doesn't want to go back to the US. I guess only the consulate has the authority to contact relatives in the US and see that she is put on a plane back home and that there is someone to receive her. How sad to be just dropped of by an uncle at the airport. When my relatives fly home I take them to baggage check in and departure gate. And wait to hear that they safely arrived home.

simpsca wrote:Looks like the Mexican relatives don't want her and she doesn't want to go back to the US.   I guess only the consulate has the authority to contact relatives in the US and see that she is put on a plane back home and that there is someone to receive her.  How sad to be just dropped of by an uncle at the airport.  When my relatives fly home I take them to baggage check in and departure gate. And wait to hear that they safely arrived home.

You can't accompany a passenger to the departure gate. It sounds to me like her family has done what they can--giving her multiple tickets. At the end of the day she is an adult who should either be institutionalized or take care of herself.