A British man has claimed that his newborn child was swapped by staff at an exclusive private hospital in El Salvador in order to be sold to human traffickers.
Richard Cushworth and his wife Mercedes Casanellas welcomed a son at a hospital in San Salvador in May this year, but say they immediately suspected that something was wrong.
The couple, who live in Dallas, Texas, have since had a DNA test and found that the child handed to them by hospital staff is not related to either of them.
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Nightmare: Richard Cushworth and Mercedes Casanellas, has had a DNA test and found that their child, pictured, is not related to either of them
Changeling: Ms Casanellas, pictured with the couple's biological son after the birth, says that she noticed that the child given to her by hospital staff in San Salvador was darker and looked nothing like her or her husband
Mr Cushworth, whose parents hail from Bradford, West Yorkshire, and his wife had travelled to the capital San Salvador in order for Ms Casanellas to give birth in her home country.
Ms Casanellas says she noticed that the child that staff claimed was hers had a darker skin colour than she remembered at birth, but she was told that she was mistaken.
The couple now fear their light-skinned baby was snatched deliberately by staff at the Ginecologico private hospital, in order to sell the baby boy to child traffickers.
In an emotional interview with a local TV station, a teary Ms Casanellas said: 'We haven't been able to sleep thinking about where he is, and who has him.
'We just want them to give us our son back.' Mr Cushworth, who met Ms Casanellas when he worked as a missionary in El Salvador, added: 'It's a horrible situation. I have a child and I don't know where he is.
Horror: Mr Cushworth and Ms Casanellas, pictured with the 'swapped' child, says they fear hospital staff has sold their biological child to human traffickers
'Someone took my child and I have no idea where he is, who is taking care of him, what has happened to him. Is he in the country? It's awful.
'I sometimes try not to think about this because it is so frightening.'
Ms Casanella's obstetrician-gyneacologist, Dr Alejandro Guidos, who the couple accuse of masterminding the plot, was arrested on Thursday, according to their family's lawyer Francisco Meneses.
Ms Casanellas said that, from the fifth month of her pregnancy, she remembered how Dr Guidos would repeatedly tell her that her child would be dark-skinned, even though the father is white.
She said: 'I always thought that was strange. How would he know that from the ultra-sound scans, and why would he keep saying it?'
Under arrest: Dr Alejandro Guidos was arrested on Thursday and the Salvadorean Attorney General has now ordered a criminal investigation into the 'baby swap'
Remembering her baby's birth, she said: 'I was very stressed at first because the baby took a while to start breathing, but then I held him and remember thinking that he looked like my husband.
'He was very white and had similar features. I remember seeing his genitals and thinking that they were white and pinkish.'
Ms Casanellas and her husband took a number of photos of their biological son after the birth, which they say is further proof that their child was swapped.
'But then the anaesthetist came and told me that I was very nervous and that they were going to give me something to put me to sleep. After that I don't remember anything, until I woke up the next morning.
'Around 8am, they started to bring the babies to their mothers, and I waited for mine. But when I took him I saw that he was very different to the one I had held in the delivery room. When I changed his clothes I noticed that his genitals were very dark and not rosy like how I'd remembered.
'I said to the nurse, 'look, his genitals are very dark', and she told me, 'no, that's normal, that's normal''.
Unbelievable: After Ms Casanellas gave birth, she was given an anesthetic and when she woke up, she claims she was given a different baby (pictured is their biological son)
Not theirs: The couple had returned to El Salvador, Ms Casanellas home country and the place where they met, to give birth to their son (pictured is their biological son)
Despite the doubts, the couple took the baby back home to Dallas, Texas, but over the coming months family and friends also noticed the child's darker colour and lack of resemblance with his parents.
Ms Casanellas said: 'I would take photos of him and put them next to my husband, trying to find something of us in him. I kept trying to convince myself that he was really ours, that over time we would begin to see a resemblance.
'But my motherly instincts kept telling me that he wasn't mine.'
The family have reportedly already investigated all the other babies born at the hospital on the same day and found that all are with their correct parents - reinforcing their belief that their own son was stolen.
The baby was three months old when the couple finally found to courage to take a DNA test, which showed he has a 0.00 per cent probability of being their son.
The couple have accused staff at Centro Ginecologico with swapping their fair-skinned child for another boy with darker skin
Desperate to find the baby she gave birth to, the couple has since rushed back to El Salvador.
On Saturday, Mr Cushworth and his wife had DNA tests performed on all the male children born at the hospital on the same day as their son - May 21st.
Out of the ten other children born on the same day, four were male and six were female, but the newspaper did not reveal the outcome of the DNA tests.
At first San Salvador's Ginecologio hospital, considered the best private hospital in the country, denied that the baby could have been swapped, saying it was 'impossible' due to their 'high standards' of control.
But after Dr Guidos's arrest, following the family's high-profile TV interview, the hospital ordered an internal investigation and promised that the situation will be 'rectified'.
The country's Attorney General has now ordered a criminal investigation into the baby's disappearance amid claims a trafficking gang, led by Dr Guido, has been operating inside the hospital.
Plot thickens: Ms Casanellas said photos she took of her baby son (pictured) soon after the birth prove that the baby was white-skinned
Ms Casanellas said: 'I just want him to give me my baby back. I want to know that my child hasn't been trafficked or any other crime committed against him. I need my baby, I'm just asking for my baby.'
The couple added that, if the true parents of the baby they were given are not found, they will raise him as their own.
She said: 'If they can't find his mother, he already has parents, us. We are taking care of him and, even though we know he isn't our biological son, we still love him.'
The El Salvador Gynecology and Obstretics Association (ASOGOES) defended the doctor accused of stealing the couple's baby.
In a press conference, a spokesman for the assocation, of which Antonio Guidos is a member, called for the presumption of innocence enshrined in the country's constitution for Dr Guidos, and demanded that "due process is performed, respecting this guarantee as a person and as a medical professional."
They also called on the Attorney General's Office to conduct investigations "in order for Dr Guidos' innocence to be proved."
He said: "When an obstetrician attends a birth. whether naturally or by caesearian, it is normal that the baby is immediately handed over to the neonatologist or paediatric nurse. So if there is any swapping of the baby it is impossible for the obstetrician to do this."
He also said that it is normal for a mother who has had a caesarean to be sedated following the birth in order to "avoid stress" and relax her.
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