The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo announced this Friday the discovery of grandson 138 who had disappeared during the last military dictatorship (1976-83) and that recovers its identity in the midst of a radical political turn marked by the current Government’s denial of the events that marked Argentine history almost half a century ago.
“Finding him was the best response to that family’s struggle.. They are going to get to know each other and build that bond,” said Manuel Gonçalves Granada, member of the Grandmothers Board of Directors. Both grandson 138 and his brother, Diego Antonio, son of Marta Enriqueta Pourtalé and Juan Carlos Villamayor, are lawyers. “We already did jokes about that,” commented Gonçalves Granada. The man, who has recovered his story, “is very moved.” He is going to meet “a family that looked for him, that never lost hope.”
The owner of Abuelas, Estela de Carlotto, said that her parents were last seen 49 years ago in the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA), the concentration camp where some 5,000 people passed through, the vast majority of whom later became part of the list of missing people. De Carlotto estimated that grandson 138 was born inside that clandestine center that stands on Avenida del Libertador, one of the busiest in the city of Buenos Aires. At least 30 clandestine births took place there.
“I am overcome with emotion, you are very welcome,” Diego Antonio said from Spain to his brother. “Thank you Grandmas, you are national pride, I adore you.” They also had something to say: “We truly hope for the son of Marta and Juan Carlos so that he can rebuild his ties with the family that always looked for him and loved him.
The humanitarian organization estimates that around 500 boys and girls were separated from their parents, the vast majority disappeared, and subsequently subjected to illegal appropriation. The Grandmothers have had different types of state support since the democratic recovery. Aid was redoubled at the turn of the century.
Political setback
“This restitution is, once again, proof of the consequences of State terrorism in the present and the centrality of Human Rights policies,” said De Carlotto, the president of the Grandmothers. Just hours before he had made a request to the international community to be alert to the danger of a political “setback” which jeopardizes the recovery of grandchildren who have not been found.
The first year of President Javier Milei, Carlotto assured, “has been very hard for a good part of Argentine society, and even more so for the human rights movement, which became one of the Government’s favorite targets.” Argentina, he noted, faces “a worrying context” with “the advance of regressive policies and sectors that promote dehumanization and stigmatization, transforming compatriots into enemies.”
He also recalled that the authorities intend completely deactivate the National Commission for the Right to Identity (Conadi)which was created in 1992 and whose investigation unit resolved 2,468 of almost seven thousand cases, of which 25% reached court. Conadi operates in the orbit of the Human Rights Secretariat which this week was practically dismantled with the dismissal of 2,400 employees. This organization operates in what were the gloomy ESMA facilities. On the other hand, the Ministries of Security and Defense have restricted access to substantial documentation related to the repression.
“The year is ending, we are in a decline and we receive a grandson, we find the truth again, again the result of Abuelas’ struggle,” said Guillermo Amarilla, another restored grandson.
