Liliane will turn two years old in a week and is beginning to mumble her first words. But she speaks them in Spanish, not Portuguese, the language of her home country, Brazil, and also of Angola, her mother's homeland, Sandra.

The baby has been in a shelter in Panama for ten months after crossing the dangerous and inhospitable Darién jungle, part of the long land route toward the U.S., with her mother. But she reached the jungle's exit carried by other immigrants. Sandra, they reported, died during the crossing.

Then just over a year old, Liliane was handed over in December to teams from Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian organization that the then-government of Panama later prevented from operating in the Darién region. Afterward, she was taken to the shelter, where she remains.

The case of the baby born in São Paulo is currently uncertain and holds little hope. While waiting for a solution, Liliane continues to live the first parts of her childhood in the same shelter that has already received at least two other Brazilian children in very similar situations. Her last name and her mother's will be kept confidential.

Orphaned, Liliane was only registered by her mother on her birth certificate, and there are no leads as to who her biological father might be. There are also no details about Sandra’s likely death in the Darién jungle. The forest is filled with rushing rivers, wild animals, and small armed gangs.

The Brazilian girl remains under the care of a shelter run by a Catholic NGO on the outskirts of Panama City. The Itamaraty (Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is monitoring her case, and embassy staff in Panama visit her to bring clothes and food. Panama has already requested that Brazil take responsibility for Liliane. The dilemma, explained by those privately involved in the case, is that the only viable option for the girl today is to transfer her to another orphanage in Brazil—an option they do not see as adequate.