President of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo Estela de Carlotto and Argentine Human Rights Secretary Horacio Pietragalla announce the return of grandson 132 stolen during the dictatorship on December 28, 2022 in Buenos Aires afp_tickers This content was published on December 28, 2022 – 20 :25pm December 28, 2022 – 8:25pm (AFP)
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo announced this Wednesday that they found grandson 132, dispossessed during the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983), the son of a worker kidnapped in Tucumán (North) in 1976 when he was 9 months old , and whose father has not yet been identified.
“Today we embrace him as our grandson 132. It’s a puzzle that is never finished. A new path begins to find one’s real father,” said the president of the grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Estela Carlotto, at a press conference, 92 years old.
The 47-year-old man, named Juan José, zoomed in from Tucumán following the press conference held at the Espacio Memoria y Derechos Humanos, where the Navy School of Mechanics (ExESMA) secret detention center operated. He was seen through a giant screen, but technical problems prevented him from speaking and answering questions.
Carlotto specified that the Tucumán Federal Court 1 informed Juan José on Wednesday “that he is not the son of the person who raised him and confirmed that he was indeed a victim of theft, concealment and impersonation as part of state terrorism. “
– family decimated –
Juan José is the son of Mercedes del Valle Morales, who was kidnapped at the age of 23 and disappeared on May 20, 1976 in Tucumán, 1,300 km north of Buenos Aires. She worked on a farm whose owners raised her son as their own.
Along with her, Juan José’s maternal grandparents were kidnapped, and four days later his three uncles. They all disappeared during the dictatorship.
Grandson 132 began searching for his identity in 2004 after his appropriators died and his foster brothers told him he was not a biological son of that family and gave him his original ID.
After documentary research and DNA studies at the National Genetic Data Bank, he learned in 2008 that he was the son of Mercedes del Valle Morales, who was among those who disappeared during the dictatorship. He then left his genetic profile with the Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), who later managed to identify his mother’s remains in North Tucumán Cemetery.
However, he could not be counted as a suitable child until it was confirmed whether the person who raised him was his biological father, for whom the body had to be exhumed. The negative parentage result was confirmed this Wednesday.
“A new path begins to find his real father. The matter will remain open,” said Carlotto.
Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo is still looking for around 300 men and women around the age of 45 who are living under false identities, were born in captivity to their mothers who later disappeared or were abducted as babies with them. But this case was not counted among those sought by Abuelas.
After three years without a finding, this is the second investigation Abuelas announced last week into a case of baby theft and identity theft during the dictatorship.
“We have solved a new case and closed 2022 with more truth,” the humanitarian leader said. “For a 2023 with more encounters, more truths and more identities,” he concluded.