A Chilean man was evicted from his home by his family after the Civil Registry Office mistakenly registered him as the father of two Venezuelan children he had never met. Until the beginning of this month, Leonardo Sepulveda Rodriguez, a middle-aged man from Santiago, Chile, was enjoying a stable and fulfilling life alongside his wife of 30 years and their two children.

An unpleasant surprise for the family

However, it all fell apart on July 5th, when his son went to the local civil registry office to obtain some documents required for the family court and learned that Leonardo had recognized two Venezuelan children as his own.

The son called Sepulveda Rodriguez to confront him, but he was distraught, as he had never traveled abroad, let alone had two children in Venezuela, but despite his attempts to prove his innocence, his wife asked him to leave the house.

Leonardo Sepúlveda Rodriguez lamented: “The damage done to me and my family is terrible… Until July 5, I came home, hugged my children, my wife and my grandchildren, who are what I love most, and now I can’t do that anymore.”

According to Leonardo’s mother, his wife didn’t believe he knew nothing about the two children by his name, so she asked him to provide evidence that the registration was wrong.

As it turns out, Leonardo’s family life was ruined by a mispronunciation. His name was too similar to that of Leonard Rodríguez Sepúlveda, a Venezuelan with two children. Only civil servants registered them as Leonardo’s children by mistake. However, it took a while for the civil registry to admit the mistake, despite Leonardo’s pleas.

“The error occurred in the family network system, which returned a phonetic match in the search, including two children of a foreign father with a similar name,” civil registry office representatives said in a statement, adding that the error has been corrected.

However, in an interview with CHV NoticiasLeonardo Sepúlveda Rodriguez said he intends to sue the Civil Registry Office for the pain and suffering caused to him and his family.