Argentine grandmother finds granddaughter, stolen by dictatorship, after 39 years

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Argentine grandmother finds after 39 years her grandchild back

Today, 15:05

In Argentina, a grandmother after a search of 39 years has been reunited with her granddaughter. The girl was kidnapped during the dictatorship when she was three months old and housed by supporters of the military regime. Her parents were murdered, they were members of a leftist opposition group.

Her grandmother, the 92-year-old Maria Mariana, was one of the founders of the human rights group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, which searches for missing children. She sought for 39 years incessantly for her granddaughter Clara.

Letters

Her search was highlighted because Maria during all those years wrote open letters to Clara. “They tried to convince me that you’ve just been killed like your mother, but I know you’re alive. My dream is to hold you and to recognize myself in your eyes,” wrote the almost blind Maria in her last letter last March.

In her letters she added baby pictures in the hope that Clara would recognize herself. Eventually Clara reacted and it was confirmed by DNA testing that she is the granddaughter of Maria. Clara is the 120th missing child reunited with relatives.

Military regime

In Argentina from 1976 to 1983 a military regime was in power. Opposition members and people with leftist convictions were arrested and disappeared often without trial.

An estimated 30,000 Argentines were murdered and 500 children were stolen from their parents. Their children were given for adoption to supporters of the regime.

See also here.

UPDATE: Amother DNA test says the women are not family.

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