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Argentina Reunites 140th Stolen Grandchild After Nearly 50 Years

Funding cuts under President Javier Milei have crippled identity-search efforts, prompting the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo to seek international backing for DNA testing

Adriana Metz Romero is the sister or the recently-identified 'Grandchild No. 140', forcibly taken from his mother in 1977
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Estela de Carlotto is the leader of the 'Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo' activist group

Overview

  • A 48-year-old Buenos Aires man has been identified as the 140th child abducted by the 1976–1983 military regime after an anonymous tip led to DNA confirmation with his sister.
  • His mother, Graciela Alicia Romero, was held five months pregnant and killed after giving birth in a clandestine detention center, while his father and infant sister were also disappeared.
  • Since 2021, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo have used large-scale DNA campaigns to trace roughly 140 of an estimated 500 infants taken from political prisoners.
  • President Javier Milei’s administration has closed the National Commission for the Right to Identity’s special unit, defunded the National Genetic Data Bank and dissolved military archives teams handling disappearances.
  • This week the Grandmothers group petitioned European Union officials for funding and diplomatic support to expand DNA testing kits at Argentine consulates and locate the remaining missing grandchildren.