THE 83-YEAR-OLD HEAD of the Argentinian movement which works to track down babies stolen by the country’s brutal 1976-83 military dictatorship has found her grandson after a 35-year search, a relative said today.
Estela Carlotto, who leads the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo group, met her kidnapped grandson earlier today, said a relative, who said the identity was confirmed through genetic testing.
“The result of the test was positive. We have found my nephew after 35 years,” said Kivo Carlotto, the son of Estela. His sister Laura disappeared during the dictatorship while she was pregnant.
While the family was overjoyed to find their missing relative, it was also “a terrible feeling,” Kivo Carlotto said, who said the test results confirming who his mother was, was also “a terrible shock” for his nephew.
A friend of Laura Carlotto who was detained with her by the regime told her family that she was killed a short time after giving birth to a son, whom she had planned to name Guido.
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and a sister group, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, have been leading a nationwide effort to reunite an estimated 500 children who were taken from leftists and government opponents during the dictatorship.
As many as 30,000 people “disappeared” are presumed to have been murdered during Argentina’s “dirty war” against leftists.
In many instances, their children were taken by ruling families and raised as their own.
The Grandmothers group, which was founded in 1977, said it has managed through the years to locate scores of missing children, who now are adults.
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