Argentina Identifies Another Child Kidnapped During Dictatorship

12/31/2022

DNA tests have confirmed that a man was snatched from his mother as a baby during Argentina’s last military dictatorship and was illegally adopted by a family in a northern province, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

The case, the second announced in less than a week, has increased the total number of successful identifications to 132.

The activist group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo did not release the latest person’s full name, identifying him only as Juan Jose, 46.

During Argentina’s bloody dictatorship, which lasted from 1976 to 1983, military officials carried out the systematic theft of babies from political prisoners who were often executed without a trace. The children were then illegally adopted by other military officers or allied families.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo estimates approximately 500 children were snatched from their parents during the dictatorship. The group is using DNA tests to locate and identify them.

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