Argentine rights group confirms identity of 132nd child disappeared during country’s dictatorship

A prominent human rights group in Argentina announced the identity Wednesday of the 132nd child who was disappeared during the country’s dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.

The announcement by the president of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto, at a news conference, came after federal court No. 1 of Tucuman confirmed that Juan Jose, 46, was the son of Mercedes del Valle Morales Romero who was detained and disappeared in 1976 in a town in Tucuman province.

President Alberto Fernandez paid tribute to the work undertaken by the rights group. 

"We close the year with more truth," he wrote on Twitter. "The restitution of the identity of each one of them generates a deep emotion and joy in us. Thank you for this tireless struggle, dear Grandmothers."
Jose was less than one year old at the time of his disappearance while his mother, 21, was a member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party.

Del Valle Morales Romero’s parents and brothers were also detained, leaving Jose with the owner of a farm where his mother had worked until his adoption in 1981, according to the Pagina12 newspaper.

After the farm owner's death, Jose discovered he was not the biological son of the owner. 

In 2004, he began to search for his real identity, approaching Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and another group. 

The case is the second identity announced by the rights group this week. 

During the civil-military dictatorship, military officials periodically stole babies from political prisoners. The prisoners were often tortured, killed and disappeared. 

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a human rights group, was established to investigate disappearances and to determine what happened to the babies, whom they refer to as “grandchildren.”

AA