Accidental Twins, The (2024)

[bunniefuu]

When I was already an adult,

I dreamt that I had an identical twin.

I woke up curious, thinking,

"It'd be so cool

to have an identical twin."

Then the unthinkable happened.

Something I wouldn't believe could happen

if it hadn't happened to me.

I saw the two photos on my phone

and was very shocked.

I mean, they were the same.

"I can't believe it!"

"He looks just like me."

Everything took a turn,

I didn't understand what was going on.

At some point,

I thought my life was a lie.

It was like discovering a double life.

Do you believe in soap operas?

Because after this, your life will change.

No one knows the pain you live with.

I didn't have the right

to change people's lives.

It's not easy to wake up one day

and learn your life is a lie.

I really didn't know

which side of the mirror I was on.

THE ACCIDENTAL TWINS

I'm Jorge Bernal.

I was born in Bogot

on December 21st, 1988.

I worked at a hydrocarbon company,

where I had a friend named Laura.

One day Laura said to me,

"Hi. How are you?"

"I saw you in my area." I asked, "When?"

She said, "Last weekend."

I said, "But I wasn't in Kennedy."

She was like, "For real, I saw you."

All this started...

JORGE'S CO-WORKER

...because of a company barbecue

that Yaneth and I were going to.

They asked if I could buy the meat.

Yaneth told me, "Don't worry."

"My boyfriend's cousin has

a butcher shop and he can help us."

"He will give us excellent meat

at a great price." Okay.

So we go into the butcher shop,

and William was preparing our order.

WILLIAM'S FRIEND

Laura was shocked to see William.

I saw the butcher and he looked

exactly like my colleague, Jorge.

I was shocked.

"Yaneth, I work with him!" I said, "Hi!"

I was trying to say hi to the butcher.

He looked at me with a blank expression.

She left thinking it was me,

and that I didn't want to say hi.

I always assumed that Jorge

was embarrassed to say hello,

since I'd recognized him

while he was working at the butcher's.

That's what I thought.

She kept insisting.

She actually said to me,

"Hey, are you embarrassed

to say you work at a butcher shop?"

I said, "I wouldn't be embarrassed,

but I don't work at a butcher's."

"It's not me."

I didn't think much of it.

I mean, I didn't believe it yet.

He told me he had a brother.

Not identical, but a twin.

So I was like,

"Oh, so he's the guy I saw."

And he said, "I don't think so,

we don't really look alike."

I kept bothering him for a long time

about his twin.

We also made speculations.

At some point he said to me,

"What if I have a lost sibling somewhere?"

"A sibling my dad never told us existed."

Some time later,

Yaneth came to work at the company.

I didn't greet her,

because I didn't know her.

But I noticed that

sometimes when I arrived,

she would stare at me.

I saw Jorge at the company,

and I said, "Oh my God!"

I actually said to Laura,

"He does look a lot like William,

but he's clearly not William."

I don't know if that... It was like a dream.

And all of a sudden,

it sparked my intrigue.

I knew William was born in December.

So, I asked Laura,

"Do you know when Jorge's birthday is?"

We have a birthday board at work.

I told her,

"I'll get that one. Super easy."

I went and looked at the board

and sure enough,

he was also born in December.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

DECEMBER

21 - JORGE

So I said, "I think there is

something strange going on here."

Then one day, Yaneth said to me,

"Hey, I have a picture of William,

from the butcher's shop."

"Could you show it to Jorge

and see what he says?"

She comes to me, hands behind her back,

with her phone in her hand, like,

"Remember what I told you?"

"About the guy I thought was you?"

"It definitely wasn't you."

"But are you ready

to see your doppelgnger?"

"I'll show you the photo."

He was like, "Let's see my twin."

When he saw him, he was...

He was completely... I mean, shocked.

Obviously I was surprised,

because there really was someone

who looked just like me. Identical.

He started asking

our coworkers passing by,

"How do I look in this pic?"

And they'd say,

"You look good. Yes. Great." Cool.

Let's ask someone else.

"How do I look in this photo?"

So he was like, "Do you realize

that no one can tell that he's not me?"

I said to a friend,

"Look at this pic,

tell me what you think."

He looked and said,

"What? It's you and some other guys."

I said, "That's the funny thing,

that's not me in the picture."

He went back and double-checked,

and said to me,

"But he looks just like you."

After a while I went downstairs

and asked her,

"Could you get me his name,

to see if I can look him up somewhere?"

"Facebook or something?"

She said, "Look up William Caas Velasco."

I started to look for him and at him,

and to check picture by picture.

And I was quiet, looking at a picture.

I'd review it completely.

I found some photos where he didn't have

the mustache I saw in the first photo.

He looked just like me.

So that's when... I started to freak out.

Also, like, "Something is happening here."

When I thought that I'd seen everything,

and nothing else could happen...

I came across the photo

that really changed everything.

The one that turned

this whole story around.

A girl I used to have lunch with

at the office wrote me,

"We're looking at the pictures

of your boyfriend's cousin,

he looks just like Jorgito."

And I said, "Really?

You know something funny?"

"William has a twin

that doesn't look anything like him."

She said, "Same with Jorgito."

And I said, "Do you have a picture

of Jorge with his twin?"

"I'll send one of William with his twin."

When I see both pictures

on my cell phone, I'm like,

"Oh, my God. I mean,

they're two sets of twins and they're..."

- Mixed up.

- "They're mixed up."

There wasn't just one problem.

- There were two.

- But two.

One problem, bigger than we thought.

I immediately sent them to Laura and said,

"It's two sets of twins

that have been swapped."

I was shocked.

It was something unbelievable.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing,

because in that photo was someone

identical to my brother.

So I kept staring at that picture

and I was like, "Who is he?"

And one of the comments said,

"Brothers, joined at the hip."

But it said "brothers."

Then I was like,

"Something is happening here."

"What is this? A parallel world?

A mirror world?"

I don't know. I felt very confused.

It even crossed my mind that,

"My life is a farce,"

or, "Something's going on."

Because I didn't know who they were.

I mean, I was confused and shocked.

And we started asking

a series of questions,

of things that might indicate

that they are siblings.

Twins.

That they've been separated

for some reason.

Then, of course,

we start by matching the birthdates.

But some things didn't match,

like the birthplace.

They were born in Santander.

But I didn't understand.

How were they born in Santander?

YANETH: WAS JORGE BORN IN SANTANDER?

LAURA: BOGOT, I THINK

YANETH: YOU SURE?

And Laura said to me,

"No, he wasn't born in Santander."

And I was like, "We failed. No."

So, I asked my boyfriend,

"Hey, do you know if they were brought

to Bogot for some reason?"

He said, "I think so. I'll ask William."

Enough, Conchita.

My name is William Caas Velasco.

Yaneth used to visit

the butcher's shop where I worked.

I began to analyze and ask myself

the same questions that Yaneth asked me.

We began investigating,

because I always believed

that I was born in Santander,

and grew up in Santander.

It turns out I was born in Santander,

then brought to Bogot.

I called my aunt, and asked,

"Auntie, do you know which hospital

I was brought to in Bogot?"

Then she tells me,

"Yes, they brought you

to Materno Infantil."

MATERNO INFANTIL HOSPITAL

ADMISSIONS

Yaneth got the information about

the other twins, where they were born.

They were born in Santander,

but it turned out that one of them

had become ill while in Santander,

since they were born at seven months.

So one of the twins

was brought to Bogot very ill,

and arrived at the same exact hospital,

the Materno Infantil.

So when we learned that, we said,

"No, that's it.

It clearly happened at the hospital."

"Nothing else to do."

I went home. Carlos was there.

He was there watching TV. I arrived.

I'm Carlos Alberto Bernal Castro. I'm 34.

I was on the phone

when Jorge arrived from college,

he said to hang up, we needed to talk.

And I know Jorge is a bit... Not a bit.

He's a big prankster.

He is a big joker,

so I asked what he needed to talk about,

that I was busy.

I was like, "How are you, Carlos? Good?"

"Do you believe in soap operas?"

And he said to me, "What happened?"

All serious, like he is.

And I said, "What happened?

I mean, be clear."

"Do you believe in soap operas?"

He said, "No."

I said, "I'm gonna show you something,

you tell me what you think."

I said, "What? Jorge, stop bothering me.

I'm busy, tell me."

"Because after this,

your life will change."

I said it laughing,

but deep down I was serious.

I knew what I was saying to him.

I opened Facebook

and I showed him William's profile.

I showed him the photos,

he put his face in his hands,

he laughed, he took it as a joke.

He said, "That guy looks like you."

I said, "What do you mean a double?"

"I don't know what could've happened,

if Dad had another son on the side."

I said, "I still haven't shown you

the best picture."

We got to a picture where he was

with another person,

with another guy,

and I was just shocked.

As soon as he saw that picture,

he stopped laughing.

He asked me,

"Where did you get that? Who are they?"

The guy who looked like my brother

was in a photo

with a guy who looked just like me.

That's when the fun was over,

the joke was over, and I went to my room.

Once there I started to investigate.

I got very nostalgic.

I started to cry.

I went back to Jorge's room. I hugged him.

I told him I loved him very much.

A gesture that was very unusual

on my part.

I'd only do that while drunk.

For the first time,

I told him I loved him, sober.

He told me, "Stop. Let it be."

"Don't start investigating.

Don't do any of that."

"Let it go."

I did deduce immediately that

if someone was swapped, it had been me.

Physically,

my brother looks a lot like my sister,

he looks a lot like my mother,

and at the same time,

I was always different from them.

Clearly, my biggest fear was to think

that my family from Bogot

would reject me.

That they would say,

"You're no longer our child here."

"You're not Luz Marina's son.

There's nothing for you here."

There were hard questions to ask,

with answers that

were even harder to accept.

It wasn't easy to face

that I was not the brother

of who I thought,

nor was I the son of the person

I most admired in this world.

Deep down, I knew I'd keep investigating.

He didn't want to, but I wanted to get

to the bottom of the matter,

and find out what was going on.

At times, Laura and I thought,

"What if this thing ends

in a really tragic situation?"

"Like, one of them commits suicide."

So, considering all that,

for us, it was... terrible. Really.

"When did I get involved in this?

I shouldn't have asked anything."

"I shouldn't be involved."

Because we didn't know

what was going to happen.

We didn't know how they'd react

when they finally look at each other.

The families!

I thought a lot about their mothers.

I told my husband, like I was gossiping,

"Imagine this happening to you."

He said, "How dare you say

they were swapped?"

I said, "Look at the evidence,

and the photos."

He insisted that I not do anything,

that something bad could happen.

That I could change people's lives

and I had no right to do that.

Yes, he was right, clearly.

But no, I... I went on.

After the second picture,

I decided to call Yaneth,

and ask her for the phone number

of the guy who looked identical to me.

I vividly remember that

when the phone started ringing,

I didn't even know how I'd talk to him.

My heart was beating so fast,

'cause I knew on the other side

was someone like me,

but I didn't know how he'd speak,

what he would say to me.

I knew it was him. I picked up.

I said, "What's up, man?

How are you doing?"

When I heard his voice,

for a moment I thought

we weren't identical.

I felt I was talking to someone

other than myself.

He spoke very softly,

like, "Hello, how are you?"

"I'm William, the guy from the butcher's.

They showed me your pictures."

And all of a sudden I was like,

"Hey, where can we meet?"

"There are already

many coincidences going on,

and I want to meet with you

to see what is going on."

I said, "Of course! Where?"

"Lourdes church, okay? Know where it is?"

"Yes. I know where it is."

I said, "Okay. Does evening work?

Around 9:00 p.m.?"

"Yes, sir."

And that's when he told me

that he could meet me at night.

I asked, "Are you coming alone?"

He said, "Yes, I'm coming alone."

I said, "I'm going alone too."

I told him that.

I said, "I'll call Carlos

and tell him that I'm going to meet them,

maybe he will come with me."

I said, "What are you doing?

I'm going to meet them today. Come."

I remember one of the things he said was,

"I told you to let that go."

But well...

I was already going to meet with them.

He said he was going to meet

one of them, and asked if I wanted to go.

I said, "No, I can't.

I'm working on my thesis. I can't go."

It's not that I couldn't,

I just didn't want to.

He said, "I'm not going,

you shouldn't either."

I was like, "Come on.

Nothing's going to happen."

"No. I'm not going.

I have things to do and I'm busy."

When he decided to actually meet them,

I didn't want to,

I didn't want to face a new reality.

I didn't want to face that situation.

I was too afraid of rejection.

As he insisted on meeting them,

I obviously couldn't keep him

from his decisions,

so I said to him, "I trust you,

just be careful, and keep me informed."

I am Wilber Caas Velasco.

I was born in Vlez, Santander.

I grew up in La Paz with William.

He used to say

that we were identical twins.

William worked in Kennedy.

He called and asked me to come there,

said he needed me urgently.

I got to the shop. I greeted him.

Then he showed me a picture

of a guy identical to William.

And next to him there was another guy,

identical to me. And a girl.

All I could say was,

"William, you're my brother until death,

and nothing will change that."

That's all I could say at that moment.

Being a twin,

besides the physical resemblance,

is like having a blood double,

a double in thinking, in taste.

And I never felt that with Wilber.

We were always fighting.

Our parents tried to dress us

in the same clothes.

But we weren't like each other.

We never understood each other.

When we'd fight, inside, I'd feel like,

"I want to have someone identical to me."

I used to feel like,

my twin should be like me.

Jorge and I had different tastes.

We didn't like to share.

He loved basketball, I love soccer.

He likes hip-hop and rap, I like rock.

So, little by little,

we started going on different paths.

I called Wilber to tell him,

"Wilber, I set up a meeting with the guy

who's identical to me."

Then he responded,

"William, you're my brother until death,

but I'm not coming with you."

And I said, "Even if you're not coming,

I'm going."

When he saw I was about to leave,

he said, "Wait. I'm coming."

"I worry about you going alone

with so much insecurity."

"It could be a set-up."

It could be a set-up to rob him,

you never know.

I am very cautious about that.

We got a cab

and headed towards Lourdes Square.

Obviously, we were talking about it

the whole taxi ride.

What it was going to be like,

the guy I was going to see.

The route to Lourdes church

felt like an eternity to me.

It seemed very far because

I was very pensive, nervous, and worried.

And William was talking nonstop.

Like a motormouth, he wouldn't shut up.

I thought, "We don't know who the guy is.

Who knows if it's him?"

When I was walking to Lourdes,

I ran into a very good friend of mine

from college.

I greeted him.

I said, "Dude, this thing happened.

Want to come?"

And I began to tell him the story.

I'd never explained the story as

succinctly as I did then in three blocks.

Well, he came with me.

So we arrived to Lourdes Square.

LOURDES SQUARE

BOGOT

We were standing, talking,

and I'll never forget something he said.

It was something like,

"Oh, he's coming, I can see him."

"Here you come."

And we both burst out laughing.

And I kept asking my friend quietly,

"Do I look like that?"

He said, "Yes, you do."

"Do I walk like that?" "You're the same."

And I realized

William came with his brother.

William did not get there on his own.

He went with Yaneth,

and Brayan, the cousin.

Somehow I was...

I was very surprised to see him.

And I said, "You brought the other one."

Meaning, Wilber.

He said, "You didn't come alone either."

And we laughed.

Look at that.

William has lighter skin.

Yes, he's lighter.

- From the cold.

- The cold.

- This is incredible. God!

- Yes, exactly.

Extraordinary.

- What?

- He looks like William when...

- It's just he was...

- The hair...

He had a haircut today.

- Otherwise...

- It was long.

- Did you?

- But I think if I hadn't cut it, I'd be...

With a beard, like this.

Well, when I saw that person

who looked just like me, I was speechless.

I greeted him, and it was not so much

an exchange of words,

but more of an exchanging of emotions.

When I looked at Jorge, I laughed.

It made me laugh a lot because

he was just like William physically.

It was a laugh, a guffaw, like Carlos's.

I'll never forget that.

No, I see you

and it's like seeing my brother.

- They laugh the same!

- He's missing glasses.

I saw the resemblance he had to Carlos,

and that was what shocked me the most.

Because you don't see yourself,

you don't have a mirror 24-hours-a-day

to know how you act, how you gesture,

how you move your hands.

I can't believe it.

On the other hand,

I'd been watching Carlos for 25 years.

I knew every move Carlos made,

and I saw him making them.

I'm not sure if what happened was better

or just looking at him on the street.

That was what made me

a bit more freaked out.

Somehow it got my attention,

more than seeing William himself.

Oh, God.

And I keep looking at him.

There it was, the missing piece,

so we could finally understand

what had happened.

Because at one point William said,

"When I was a newborn,

they brought me here to Bogot."

You weren't brought here, they took you.

- What blood type are you?

- You're the same.

We were laughing.

I remember William and I

took a picture together.

I remember Wilber said, "Now I want

to meet my twin," something like that.

At some point they asked,

"So where is Carlos?"

I said, "He's busy at home."

I didn't say that he was unwell.

I got curious and said,

"I really want to meet Carlos."

"Can we go?"

Jorge calls Carlos saying, "We're coming."

I said, "Why are they coming here?

We didn't agree to that."

"I don't want to meet them

or know anything about it."

Then the doorbell rings.

I said, "Damn. f*ck, they're here."

Jorge knocked on the door,

and Carlos didn't want to open it.

Yeah, there.

From inside he laughed and said,

"No, I'm not opening it."

Who's going to do it then?

Come on, open up!

I didn't want to open the door

and face that reality.

He keeps laughing. Oh, my God!

No way!

When I finally got to meet Carlos,

when I saw him,

I did see a reflection of Wilber.

In the way he laughs,

how he grabbed his head in surprise

at what was happening.

I was going to wear a gray hoodie.

I almost did.

I was shocked.

I have a brother like me.

Like seeing myself in a mirror.

So there was a bit of...

laughter, jokes, nerves, discomfort.

You could even say happiness, right?

Because finding someone who

is physically the same as you,

well, it's curious, isn't it?

And even more so at

the age we were, at 25 years old.

I felt cheated, because, well,

I didn't grow up with my brother.

I was told my brother was William.

And then after 25 years,

a person that I've never seen appears,

and he's my twin?

I was kind of sad,

'cause I would've liked

to have grown up with him,

with my brother,

my own brother, with Carlos.

But to have grown up with William too.

Because even if William

is not my blood brother,

he grew up with me and

I love him very much, like a brother.

Here come the monsters.

- How are you, cutie?

- Smile, Wilber.

- All natural.

- Now what?

- You're here, brother.

- I'll borrow him for a second.

- Of course.

- Of course.

Talent arriving.

Handsome dude.

After our reunion, we started to talk,

and we wanted to go public

about what happened to us.

And we said, well,

it's time to look for a TV network,

because I know they'd like

to film with us.

And we managed to film the story

with Caracol, on Sptimo Da.

It was the first time

our story was told on TV.

It was, without a doubt,

one of the most unforgettable stories

we've ever told on Sptimo Da.

At some point, in the NICU

of the Materno Infantil Hospital,

were accidentally delivered...

I am Juan Guillermo Mercado.

I'm a journalist.

I am a reporter who is always looking

for unusual stories...

JOURNALIS...chronicles, human stories,

investigative stories.

I always wind up involved

with stories about reunions.

I remember it as if it were yesterday.

The show's producer and director said,

"Juan, there's a story

about two sets of twins swapped at birth

who found each other 25 years later."

I said, "Well, this is happening

in the land of magical realism,

but here we could say

that reality has surpassed fiction."

- Hello. Welcome!

- Thank you.

- Hi, Gigi.

- Hello. Thank you very much. Jorge.

- Carlos.

- Carlos, we started on the wrong foot.

I saw a picture of him with his brother,

and he looked just like my brother.

Like the audience, I started to laugh

when I saw the picture of Wilber, my twin.

Then he stopped laughing,

when he saw the picture.

The joke was over.

"WE WERE SEPARATED BY MISTAKE"

You guys are used to this.

You two with glasses were raised together

as twins, but you are not twins.

Yes, fraternal twins is what

they'd call us here.

Of course. It's a beautiful mess.

DECEMBER

MATERNO INFANTIL HOSPITAL - BOGOT

We knew two of the twins

were born in Bogot, at Materno Infantil...

DELIVERY ROOM

...and the other two at Vlez Hospital,

in Santander.

We looked for their

civil registries and medical records.

We found records for Luz Marina Castro,

the Bogot twins' mother.

They were difficult to get,

because the hospital was shut down.

The hospital was closed,

it was even in ruins.

What we found in those medical records

was that they were born premature,

that they had indeed been born

at seven months.

And we confirmed that with the other pair,

their mother, Ana Delina,

had given birth at Vlez Hospital

on December 22nd at 10:00 p.m.

You could say that in 1988,

the distance between the places

where the two sets of twins were born,

in Santander and Bogot,

could be between 12 and 14 hours by road.

VLEZ REGIONAL HOSPITAL

One of the Santander twins was sick.

On Saturday morning,

around 8:00 a.m. the doctor told me,

"One of the babies is sick."

SANTANDER MOTHER

I said, "What's up with the baby?"

He said, "He won't stop crying,

he hasn't had a bowel movement."

He said, "We must send him to Bogot."

The doctor asked,

"Can anyone here go with him?"

My mom arrived

and he sent the baby with her.

The sick baby was moved

by his grandma all the way to Bogot.

But while he was hospitalized,

he was taken care of by an aunt.

And on Sunday,

my sister, who was in Bogot,

went to visit him.

Then they released the baby to my sister.

She sent him back with my mom.

She gives him back to Grandma,

and Grandma brings him back,

after being hospitalized, to Santander.

They gave her the wrong one.

And she didn't realize it.

Of course. They were newborns.

She received her little baby,

took it to Santander,

gave it to the mommy,

and the mommy didn't realize it either.

The baby, who was born in Bogot,

was moved to Santander and

baptized there as William Caas Velasco.

And on the other hand,

the baby who'd been born in Santander

had been moved to Bogot,

and left with this family, in this city,

and they baptized him

as Carlos Alberto Bernal.

It's not easy to wake up one day

knowing that your life has been a lie.

Feeling that you lived

someone else's life,

or that someone else lived

what you should have lived.

What was the psychological impact

on twins whose lives had been swapped?

And their siblings?

And who was legally responsible

for what had happened?

We made an initial analysis

of the situation...

PUBLIC ATTORNEY

...and we observed that there were indeed

some unanswered questions here.

Because it's not just a psychological

issue or an emotional issue,

it is also a legal issue.

We are our parents,

our family environments, our histories.

And so, in this case,

they were removed, against their will,

and forced to inherit circumstances

that were not their own.

The birth of these children

took place at a health facility,

and they should have received

the care that a delivery should,

in this case, the delivery of twins,

and they didn't get it.

REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA

JUDICIAL BRANCH OF PUBLIC POWER

Perhaps the most important question

we asked ourselves

was if it was possible to find out

what happened at the hospital.

How did this big baby swap happen?

HOSPITALIZATION

ROOMS 238 TO 222

Since it's a tertiary care facility,

many babies were born there.

There was a lot of work.

Many patients would come

from all over the country.

NURSE AT MATERNO INFANTIL HOSPITAL

Sometimes we had to put two babies

in one crib, or two in one incubator.

Also, when twins are born, they're marked,

"Twin 1" or "Twin 2," and "Child of..."

The baby from Bogot,

who could have gone to pediatrics here,

was Twin 2,

according to the medical record.

It could be that

one of the babies' bracelets fell off

and it wasn't reported.

I don't really know

what could have happened

with the swap of the twins.

Part of what has been said here

is that the swap was not intentional.

It appears there was

some external circumstance, some accident.

I understand that

one of the babies was born sick...

NURSE AT MATERNO INFANTIL HOSPITAL

...he needed oxygen.

So that baby was the one

that was transferred to pediatrics.

The other stayed with the mother.

The bracelet could have fallen off,

but a nurse, or the doctor,

or whoever is there, should say,

"This baby's bracelet fell off,

and there are two here, so who is who?"

There's no other way

it could have happened.

I mean, I don't think a big swap like that

has ever been done on purpose.

Never.

How many babies have they received

over the years at an institution this big?

How many times has this happened?

How many people in the same conditions,

and they don't know about it?

And so, we want to officially say,

that none of us present here

were involved in this big swap.

It happened and...

Unfortunately it happened.

It really can't be denied

that it happened at Materno.

In this specific case,

part of the problem, let's say legally,

is nobody wants to respond.

The entities that have defended the suit,

all of them,

in one way or another have said,

"This has nothing to do with me."

I think it was Christmastime.

It was party season.

There wasn't much order.

The medical staff was a bit distracted,

because it was Christmastime.

As a result of

Juan Guillermo's investigation,

I realized that

I was not born in Santander,

but here, in Bogot.

And that is where the swap occurred.

I was taken from Bogot to Santander.

And that's where I grew up.

In a place, well...

where I shouldn't have grown up.

He was different.

I never acknowledged it.

Why he didn't look like the others.

Well, I kept taking care of him until...

until he grew up.

Until we discovered the truth.

And I'm still taking care of him.

I still take care of him.

Then I asked about the parents.

Jorge tells me, "Well, my mother...

she passed away four, five years ago."

He said, "My father didn't live with us,

but he also passed away."

Not having met my mother from Bogot...

well, it was difficult for me,

because I would've at least liked

a greeting, a hug from her, because...

well, she was my blood.

For me, the hardest part was knowing

that the person I most admired in my life,

was not my biological mother.

That the human being to whom you owe

everything you are,

isn't your mom, doesn't share your blood.

There's emotional shock,

ego shock as well.

It's not easy when,

from one moment to the next,

everything you thought you were,

in one way or another, isn't yours.

You feel you've stolen a life.

That you've even stolen

someone's happiness.

I locked myself up, like,

in a world where only I lived,

where only I existed.

I tried to clarify many questions,

many conundrums.

What would've happened

if I'd grown up there?

What would've happened

if my mom had met them?

What would her reaction to me have been?

Would she have accepted William?

William and Carlos were deeply

and seriously affected psychologically

by the situation.

And Carlos, who had grown up in Bogot,

but was born in Santander,

did not want to acknowledge

his rural origins.

The place where they grew up

is a rural place,

where armed groups

have historically been present,

both guerrillas and militias,

all financed by drug trafficking.

Going to Santander

was also very complicated,

because almost nobody knew

the internal battles I had to deal with

to even be able to smile

at someone I didn't know,

or hug someone who did not inspire

any kind of affection in me.

He didn't want to go to La Paz.

He didn't want to visit his mother.

He didn't want to recognize her

as his biological mother.

- Anita.

- Welcome. How are you?

- Welcome, son.

- I told you I'd come.

When he first went to Santander,

he found it too remote.

He wasn't comfortable there.

Maybe because of a lack of trust

with my other siblings,

with my mom and dad.

A very delicate issue,

because for 25 years

he was convinced that his family,

his mother and father were here in Bogot,

and when he found out that

that was not so,

well, that was very complicated for him.

CARMELO AND ANA DELINA

SANTANDER PARENTS

He won't call me "Mom," but I understand.

He grew up with another family.

He won't call me Mom.

Same as William.

If his mom were still alive,

he wouldn't call her mom either.

I understand that.

He can accept things. He can accept

that my mom is his mom, but...

it's hard for him because he had a mother

here in Bogot who raised him.

And when Mrs. Luz Marina died,

he suffered a lot.

He felt the loss of his mother.

We all understand that,

because parents aren't who made you,

but who raised you.

Then, seeing another woman as his mom,

even if it is his real mother,

is hard for him to adapt to and accept.

William was in pain.

It was a pain almost like mourning

that he was starting to experience

at not knowing his biological mother.

He was suffering a lot.

He said, "Well, the others,

maybe Carlos, did get to see his parents,

and know his biological parents,

that is, my adoptive parents. I didn't."

What is it, William?

Nothing, I'm just venting.

I'm the most affected by all this, but...

No, don't feel like that.

I'm crying because I couldn't meet

their parents as my own parents.

It wasn't possible, but...

But God's will is like that. All is well.

It hit William very hard.

When he found out and he knew that

his real parents had passed away,

he'd be served food and wouldn't eat it.

William became very sad,

knowing that he'd grown up

in a family that was not his own.

Obviously, he started to take inventory.

Like, "Of course, I don't look like

any of my siblings."

"I don't belong to this family."

William, do you feel the impact of this

has changed your life?

It's not that I cry

'cause I feel like I'm not their sibling

or they're not my siblings anymore,

it's more about the adrenaline I feel.

I remember very well that

for two or three days I couldn't sleep.

And it was also difficult when the family,

people close to me, started to find out.

They'd come talk to me about it, like...

"Is it true you're not really

Mrs. Ana from Santander's son?"

"You have another mom?"

For the aunt who took the baby

from the clinic,

it was terrible. Obviously she thought,

"This was my fault.

I took a baby that wasn't my sister's."

"So this is all my fault."

She also started feeling terrible.

My God, when she told me that news,

I cried. I cried to death.

I thought,

"My Chinillo will toss me aside."

"William will leave."

That was what I thought,

that he'd leave us alone.

Look, Carlos,

these are all my siblings, right?

Those are yours,

but they're mine too, right?

- We all...

- Yes, bro.

When I learned what happened,

it was really tough for me.

Alcira, Wilber, Efran, Edgar, and...

- Ancelmo.

- Ancelmo.

I thought that I might lose him.

ELDEST SANTANDER BROTHER

That he might go, he might leave, and...

Well, I would've lost the brother

who was the most understanding,

and loving with me.

We were very close.

They say there is another brother.

What is he like?

I was thinking, what if he is a...

maybe he's a man of the street, or a con.

I thought so much about that.

- No, these are tears of happiness.

- Thank you.

I never thought...

- Jorgito, come, you're my brother too.

- Come.

Seeing that, at that moment,

was difficult for me.

I didn't want anything bad

happening to anyone.

I mean, it was really unexpected.

All the information came to us bit by bit,

it just kind of happened.

I didn't want to get to the point

of someone getting hurt.

So, seeing how William was so sad,

his family too,

people were feeling guilty.

I really said to Laura at one point, like,

"We shouldn't have done this."

Ma'am, I know it's very emotional

for you to hear all this.

What has been your experience?

Well, at the beginning it was very sad

to know that my son was...

I had raised someone who was not my son.

Of all my children, I loved him the most.

Because he adored me very much.

He was always with me.

Wherever I went, he went.

One way or another,

she gets sad, she starts crying.

I tell her, "Mommy, don't cry."

"Or cry and rest because

if you do cry, you'll want rest."

"But don't think that

I'm going to another family now."

I tell her, "No, Mom. I'm here."

"And I'm going to do

whatever needs to be done here,

and we are going to work to move forward."

"If I was taking care of you,

looking out for you at 50% before,

now I'm going to double or triple

how much I take care of you."

What do you feel?

My heart is racing.

When I met them, Anita hugged me.

She prayed for me.

I can say that I was calm because

I'd had a mother all my life.

I had a great one.

Want to introduce them, Wilber?

Carlos, these are my parents.

Your parents.

When Carmelo hugged me,

there were mixed emotions,

because for the first time in my life

I felt a fatherly embrace.

Carmelo was a man of about 1,90 meters.

Ex-military.

Seeing such a strong person

break down emotionally

for the first time over his son...

May God bless you, my precious son.

May the Lord bless you and be with you,

my precious and adored son.

Someone once asked me

if I missed out on having a father.

I said, "You can't miss

what you've never had."

Right? But feeling a fatherly embrace,

for me, it was something new.

It was a novel sensation,

it was a unique sensation.

It took 25 years to know

what a fatherly embrace was.

And that also completely touched me.

Many people say

there's no mother like your own,

while a father...

We know how the saying goes.

For the first time,

I felt a nice fatherly embrace.

And it was something very...

Spiritually, it was very fulfilling.

Don't cry. This is God's will, okay?

Though we've been very different

since childhood, since adolescence,

he's my brother.

At that moment,

when I shook William's hand,

I felt that charisma in him,

that good energy.

Then I saw myself more,

and I felt that click at once.

I felt like,

besides discovering the truth,

I found my real brother.

We hugged each other goodbye and I said,

"I love you so much." He said it too.

That was the first day we met.

I saw Carlos's reaction.

Carlos sometimes wears

the mask of a tough guy,

but I know that inside

he is fragile sometimes.

And I realized that he, somehow,

was falling apart, he was feeling bad,

because he thought he was losing me.

I was suddenly afraid that,

knowing how Jorge is,

he would want to establish a relationship

like he never had with me.

Because of our preferences,

our priorities, because of our passions.

Then I compared myself to a little child

who has a toy and doesn't use it,

and someone takes it away.

I didn't want that, to lose my brother.

I was afraid that he'd rather be

with William than with me.

That he'd say,

"You're not my brother anymore."

"I live what I live with William,

and you can't replace him."

Good afternoon.

- How are you?

- Good. Oh, you're identical!

Right.

You look just alike.

They always tried to give me

the same haircut as my brother,

but we didn't look alike.

- You too, Jorge?

- What?

Did they try to give you

the same hair as Carlos?

Of course.

In fact, my mom would take us

to see trainees,

and it was easiest to just shave us bald,

then it would be longer

before we needed to go back.

When we grew up,

we each had our own hairstyle,

that's when the differentiation

from Carlos started.

Each establishing our own personality.

But as kids, you'd go to the...

To the free haircuts with beginners.

What? Do we look alike, or not?

- Identical.

- Two peas in a pod.

Yes.

William and I started to share,

to dress alike.

Many things that with Carlos...

If I'd asked him,

he probably would've said yes,

but I didn't ask because

he was so serious, so I just didn't.

Cortito passes to Tobn, centers it... Goal!

Carlos began to greet me more seriously.

More roughly.

Because he felt bad, he was hurt inside.

I wanted him to feel better.

I was thinking, analyzing.

I said, "What can I do

to make him feel better?"

"To make him understand that

I still care for him, that I love him?"

Because he was still my brother.

Nothing better than putting him

next to the tattoo of my mother.

I had reserved the space

for a tattoo of my sister,

but because of what happened,

I wanted to give that spot to Carlos.

I wanted him to feel

that he was still part of my world.

The moment he saw that tattoo,

he understood,

and somehow his attitude changed.

And I also feel that it helped him,

in a way, to accept William.

When I met William,

let's say there were some differences,

there were some disagreements

on both sides.

I was talking about things

I knew nothing about.

I didn't put myself in William's shoes.

"You grew up in the city,

you have privileges."

"You couldn't grow up in the country."

That growing up in the country

would've been too hard for me.

That happened to both of us.

With time, we learned to listen

and understand

that each of us grew up

with pros and cons.

Our relationship is very good now.

I'm his son's godfather.

We travel together, just us.

The relationship is very pleasant.

And I have no biological

or civil tie to William.

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you...

Happy birthday, happy birthday

Happy birthday to you...

I went all the way to their homes.

I went to the butcher shop.

Went to Carlos and Jorge's house.

And I began to clearly see

that they belong to two

very different settings in Colombia.

One pair had been raised in Bogot.

At the end of the 1980s,

when the swap occurred,

that city was a difficult, violent place.

Bogot was one of the flanks of the w*r.

It may have been the darkest period

that the capital went through.

A city that, of course, had easy access

to education, to healthcare,

but a city where people

were fighting hunger on a daily basis.

And that was the case

of the twins from Bogot,

who lived in a family core,

where the mother,

head of the household, did just that.

She went to work every day

to provide for her family,

those two boys, and an older sister.

It was a humble home.

No luxuries.

But yes, I would say

there was a lot of love.

My mother was known to say,

"I don't need a man to raise them,

I can do it alone."

"It's hard. I've had to work

in general services at times."

"At times I've had to figure out

how to get you to bed

with at least a panela water

and some bread."

She always took care of us by herself.

She raised three children.

Always with the mentality,

and her nature, saying we needed studies

so we could earn a living.

That is true feminism.

Just by example, she taught us

to be human, to be people.

If, after coming home

from cleaning houses,

she had to go take care of cars,

or to wash clothes

in order to provide

for our basic needs, she would do it.

Though we didn't have a father with us,

she'd try to do what was best for us.

She was always very loving.

Very kind.

Though my mother

had nothing of her own, she would...

She'd do favors, without anything...

She would do them,

expecting nothing in return.

Many times, she obviously didn't get

anything in return, since she did it...

Sorry.

She was so kind.

That's why many people loved her.

When I met William,

I saw that he's the same way.

I mean, he does that. He does it today.

Then also, from all that happened,

I realized that it could be genetic.

And how she was,

because I didn't expect that somehow

William would be the same.

JULY 14TH, 1952 - NOVEMBER 9TH, 2009

PSYCHOLOGIST AND GENETICISSPECIALIST IN TWINS

I don't know if one could

call it an experiment,

seeing what impact a swap has on twins,

how they develop in the environment,

and how they face life...

GENETICIS...depending on the circumstances

in which they're living

and their genetic background.

I can't call it an experiment because

experiments are always controlled.

There is always a hypothesis to prove.

Here there was an accident and then,

well, then came the ending

of these people's lives as they knew them.

And how each faces their own life.

Did you guys play Tejo?

- Yes. Not a lot.

- But it was...

As kids,

we used to play at the sports center,

but not on a big court like this one.

Ours was clay, right? Remember?

Yes, it was mostly an occasional thing.

- So you don't know how to play.

- No.

This is my siblings' favorite sport

in Santander.

Of course, every time they play,

they're champions over there.

- I tag along to learn, but...

- He'll mop the floor with us.

Our luck. Let's see what you've got.

You start then, show us what you've got.

Let's see what you get.

See? That was good, right? It was great.

- Can you tell I practiced?

- Well done.

Let's skip the guy from Santander.

- Calm down.

- I'm from Santander.

I'll throw like my little brother.

- Play. Don't fight.

- Carlos started it.

Blood is thicker than water.

You're so bad.

No, you're making me look bad, Carlitos.

- Not like that.

- Give it your best shot.

- Okay. Go, Wilber.

- He's who knows best.

Go, roadside hawk.

- He knows.

- Move your hand.

- Look...

- It's a bad shot.

- You finally did something right!

- A strike!

Something odd about the day we first met,

was the first question

we asked each other.

What was similar,

and what was different about us?

Obviously, aside from the physical aspect.

For example, in the case of Wilber and me,

we are very orderly,

obsessed with being tidy.

We're more serious.

We're a little more...

At the time we were more flirty.

More serious,

more thoughtful of being on time.

Jorge always talks about the day

he bought the same clothes as William.

I remember well when Wilber said to me,

"I'm going to copy you."

"Let's go shopping together.

You know about it and you're cool."

We went to a shop nearby

to buy some clothes.

He says to me, "Some browns shoes."

And I said, "Brown."

Making fun of him.

Then the stylist made fun of him.

I said, "Don't do that. Only I can."

"I have a biological right to do so.

Respect him."

Well, in our case, we're more sociable,

more charismatic.

We always see things in the best way.

Even if there are difficulties,

we approach things with positivity.

We're more expressive regarding

our feelings towards our relatives.

We're more reserved about those things.

In our emotions we are more private.

More reserved, unlike them.

- There, take it, brother.

- Jorge!

You hurt my jaw.

- Throw it, bro. Right here. Throw it.

- sh**t it!

Nothing but net, dude.

Play!

- Should I score another or no?

- Easy.

Easy, bro. Bro!

It's going in!

-Damn

-Again!

- Wilber!

- Here. No, Wilber.

- Yeah!

- Good, Wilber!

Without lube, son.

Genetics, son.

A genetic link means a cultural link.

There's a heavy genetic weight.

That's unquestionable.

But also, the environment

in which the person develops,

and the opportunities

that person has in life,

will also have an impact.

Genetics have a heavy influence.

It takes an hour

to go to school in the morning,

and an hour to return.

You'd come home from school

and you had your work to do,

your chores to do at home.

You'd have to get firewood.

There was no proper aqueduct

or anything to bring water to the house,

so we had to go

to the nearest tap to get water.

At night, we'd use a small candle

that we called our little lamp.

Since there was no electric light

at our house either,

we obviously lit candles.

From the '90s to the 2000s,

it was always dominated by guerrillas.

Around 2000, they started to leave

and then the paramilitary entered.

At that time, there was ill*gal farming.

There was coca.

Our life situation forced us many times

to harvest coca and work in that field.

We'd do it out of necessity,

not because we liked it.

I always said to myself,

"This is not for me. I want out."

But I had to wait 17 years,

until I turned 18,

and I joined the army so I could get out.

I had a brother

who was also in the military.

He was older than I.

As fate would have it,

he lost his life there.

He lost his life at 22 years old.

For me, it was...

Well, for everybody, it was so difficult.

At that time, William and I

could only think about revenge.

When we were kids, we would say,

"When I'm 18, I'm going to join the army."

"And then, we're going to avenge

our brother's death."

When William told me

that he was going to serve,

my first thought was

that they'd k*ll him too,

they'd already k*lled Israel.

My mom suffered a lot

when William enlisted.

He said, "Mommy,

will you let me go into the service?"

I said, "I won't say yes or no."

"I'm not telling you to go or not."

I was worried they'd k*ll him too.

"It's up to you."

He said, "Mommy, let me go."

"I want to go to serve."

"I want to have

my military service record,

and when I finish, I'll go to Bogot."

I remember the day Wilber arrived,

after I was there for four months.

Seeing him in uniform and all that,

well, I felt kind of envious.

I went home that afternoon

and told my parents, "I'm going to serve."

And we went to

the southern part of Bolvar.

In the southern part of Bolvar, well, we...

We got closer.

We found that brotherhood, because we used

to fight a lot when we were kids.

But once there,

maybe because it was an area

where the enemy was present,

I felt a closer brotherhood with him.

Eventually, I could no longer

pursue a military career

and had to retire from the army.

I arrived in Bogot

to a godmother's house.

She sold arepas.

She taught me the recipe,

how to make them,

and I started working with her.

I set up a street stand.

I also sold arepas in the street,

in Bogot.

Working for a family

opened other doors for me.

Through them,

I was able to work with meats.

And then, he encouraged Wilber.

He was leading the way for Wilber to come,

and anyone else that wanted to come,

but the other siblings didn't want to.

A person is born with a genetic makeup,

and that genetic makeup can make

that person more driven to do things.

How are you? How's it going, Don Flix?

And knowing the story of my twin brothers,

that they were both

about to be professionals,

I set this goal for my life, and said,

"I also want to become a professional."

My man.

Use what I saved at the butcher shop

and pay for my own career.

William, friend.

- My friend, how are you?

- Good!

He has studied, he's now a lawyer,

he's specialized, he's super driven.

- It's a deal then, Feiser.

- Thank you, friend.

- God bless.

- Blessings for everyone.

- Bye.

- See you later.

Of all my mother's children

that I grew up with,

I'm the only one who had a degree...

who has a degree. As of right now.

I got my law degree.

I was also given a chance to study

to specialize in constitutional law,

and that's also when I decided

to return here, to La Paz.

The town elected me as a council member,

by popular vote.

PRESIDENAnd from there, to work,

and be able to help many families

in La Paz who also want to get ahead,

as I have done.

Professionally, I am a public accountant,

I specialize in taxes,

and I have some additional studies.

I work as deputy finance director

for a labor union.

Aside from working,

I also like to play sports.

I practice basketball, swimming, CrossFit.

My job right now is... I'm a meat carver.

I like this job, I'm passionate about it

and I'm happy at my workplace.

My plan is to have my own business,

to be independent,

and to move forward, like I always do.

Level-headed.

You must have an open mind

to understand and comprehend

that in an instant,

something can change your life.

At that time,

I thought of myself as "unique."

That there was no one like me,

and I was the best.

But life showed me,

and it did it with a slap in the face.

Not only did it tell me I'm not unique,

but it brought someone just like me,

identical to me.

And I learned from that, too.

Now that some years have passed,

to see their beautiful relationships,

Jorge and William, and Carlos and Wilber,

is really fulfilling for me.

I feel like what we did was okay

and I have no regrets.

- Thank you, Mr. Ciro!

- Thank you.

- Over here?

- Yes.

Hi, Mom!

Joking.

- Close the door.

- Thank you.

- Mrs. Anita!

- Carlitos, how are you?

William didn't want to tell you.

Scold him.

- Hi, Carlitos.

- Hi, William!

How are you, Mom?

- Hi, my son. How are you?

- I'm good, Mom.

Affectionately, this song is for

Doa Anita and Doa Luz Marina,

two beautiful mothers who brought

four twins into the world.

It goes like this.

I'm going to tell this story

Of so many things that happened

Things that are surprising

Things we won't forget

The story of the twins

Which has shaken Colombia

That December 21st

'88 was the year

Four boys were born

To begin the journey

And a hospital error

Would change their destiny

And a hospital error

Would change their destiny

Among those four boys

There is a deep love today

Because now they are four brothers

No one can separate them

And it was only two mothers

Who brought them into the world

And it was only two mothers

Who brought them into the world

Wilber and Carlos, ladies and gents

Born here in my land

Here in La Paz, Santander

In a beautiful village

Where the people are humble

Positive, no matter what...

Now, ten years later,

I ask myself every day

what is going to happen to us.

Always with an open mind.

And well, knowing that, nowadays,

I have two more brothers.

25 years later

One day, a friend of Jorge's

When she met William

Her surprise was enormous

And that's when the story

That everybody knows was discovered

And that's when the story

That everybody knows was discovered

Today, proudly reunited

Everyone enjoying life

"Very well," said their parents

"The family has grown"

Today they're the pride of La Paz

And that story is not forgotten

Today they're the pride of La Paz

And that story is not forgotten