A U.S. man and his nine-year-old son held an emotional Christmas Eve reunion in Brazil Thursday and flew back to the United States to get to know each other after emerging from a bitter five-year custody battle.
David Goldman and son Sean Goldman were aboard a flight chartered by a U.S. television network that bought exclusive access to their story, Chris Smith, an American lawmaker who helped the father, told AFP.
Early Thursday, the two were brought together at the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro for a "very warm, very emotional" meeting made possible by a Brazilian Supreme Court order delivered this week, Smith said.
The legal victory capped Goldman's long custody struggle against his late ex-wife's Brazilian family. She died in childbirth last year, and the family assumed care of Sean and tried to keep him in Brazil.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "thrilled" that father and son were finally together and flying back to the U.S. state of New Jersey.
"I offer my warmest wishes for father and son as they celebrate their first holiday season together in five years," Clinton said in a statement.
She had led U.S. government efforts to have Sean returned to Goldman.
The U.S. Congress also added pressure, denouncing what it called the boy's "kidnapping" and holding up passage of a trade measure benefiting Brazil until the handover was secure.