Mexican Teen Who Dreamed Of Royal Wedding Rebuffed By British Immigration

Enlarge Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Estibalis Chavez paints a portrait of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton in front of the British Embassy in Mexico City.

Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Estibalis Chavez paints a portrait of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton in front of the British Embassy in Mexico City.

In a last ditch attempt to bear witness to the Royal Wedding, Estibalis Chavez, 19, staged a 16-day hunger strike in front of the British Embassy. As we reported last week, the stunt didn't land her an official invitation but a good samaritan ponied up enough money to get her on a plane and head to London.

But Chavez's dream trip has turned into a bit of a nightmare: Mexico's El Universal reports that after landing in London, British immigration denied her entry into the country:

Last Thursday, Estibalis travelled to Spain with the intent to fly to London. On Friday, however, she was denied entry into England because she did not have enough money to cover her stay.

Octavio Fitch Lazo the man who gave her the money to travel said today that Chavez had 10,000 pesos for expenses. That's about $862 and 523 pounds.

"She knew this could happen and even then she decided to take the risk," he told El Universal.

CNN Mexico said Chavez was returned to Madrid, where she had a layover. Mexican citizens, CNN explains, are allowed to travel to England without a visa but they have to show they have a place to stay and enough money to cover their expenses.

CNN reports that Chavez was planning on staying in London with a friend she met on Facebook. She told CNN that she was fine in Madrid and still had hopes to come up with more money and make it to London in time for Friday's wedding.

As we reported earlier, Chavez has lived a tough life: Her mother died while giving birth to her and growing up everyone told her her mother was a huge Princess Diana fan. She left the Mexico City slum in which she lives to try and realize her dream and her mother's dream.

"She's a humble girl," Lazo told El Universal, "And she wants to come out on top."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/26/135738030/mexican-teen-who-dreamed-of-royal-wedding-rebuffed-by-british-immigration?ft=1&f=1001

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