Iruan meets grandmother

Iruan Ergui Wu (吳憶樺), the five-year-old orphan at the center of an international custody dispute, saw his Brazilian grandmother for the first time yesterday after more than three months of separation.

On the second day of her visit to Taiwan, Rosa Ergui met her grandson at the Dynasty Hotel in Tainan City amid intense media coverage.

Upon seeing each other, Ergui hugged the five-year-old tightly while Iruan lowered his head to escape the camera's glare, holding his grandmother for a long time.

Born to a Taiwanese father and Brazilian mother, Iruan was in the care of his grandmother since his mother died in 1998.

In March, Iruan's father, a sea captain from Taiwan, brought him to Taiwan but died of an unknown disease a week later.

Since then, Iruan has stayed with his Taiwanese uncle Wu Huo-yen (吳火眼), who says he wants to bring up the child in Taiwan as was his deceased brother's wish.

The custody dispute began after a Brazilian court in late March granted temporary custody of Iruan to Ergui, who then asked that the boy be quickly returned.

But Wu since than has been exploring the possibilities of keeping Iruan in his care.

Ergui and Iruan's Brazilian uncle Adir Ferreira set off from Brazil on Thursday and arrived in Taiwan on Saturday in a bid to bring the boy back to Brazil when they go home on Wednesday.

Prior to yesterday's dinner, Ergui and Ferreira had been upset with Wu because he had failed at a previous appointment to bring Iruan to the hotel to meet them. Disappointed, Iruan's grandma then burst into tears and refused to talk with Wu.

Wu said he didn't bring the boy to that meeting in Tainan in order to protect him from the intense media coverage, and said he hoped the grandmother would come to his home in Kaohsiung County to see Iruan and the environment where he lives.

At Wu's home, a dozen of Iruan's Taiwanese relatives were waiting with banners that said "Welcome" and "We are family."

But Ergui said she wouldn't go anywhere unless she sees Iruan in person. Ferreira protested that they had come a long way from Brazil to Taiwan to see Iruan, and it was unacceptable that Wu kept Iruan away from them.

To help ease the tensions, Hsu Wen-ping (許文彬), the Taiwanese lawyer for Iruan's Brazilian relatives, proposed that both sides sit down and talk in the absence of the media.

After hours of a meeting behind closed doors, Wu agreed to bring Iruan to the hotel and have dinner with Ergui.

After dinner, both sides quarreled again as to whether Iruan should stay at the hotel overnight with his grandmother or return to Kaohsiung with his uncle from Taiwan.

Ergui finally agreed to return to Kaohsiung and then to meet again this morning.

Wu Huo-yen also invited Ergui to pay a visit to Iruan's father's tomb during her stay in Taiwan.

Because of a lack of mutual understanding and trust, it appeared almost impossible to proceed with talks about the issue of custody yesterday.

But both sides agreed to continue negotiations until Ergui leaves on Wednesday.