MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Missing child 81 found.

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo yesterday announced the identification of another child abducted at birth by the military dictatorship of 1976-83 and illegally offered for adoption.

The 28-year-old son of Inés Beatriz Ortega and Rubén Leonardo Fosatti was born in custody in the 5th police precinct of the city of La Plata on March 12, 1977. Inés, a student union activist, was just 16 years old when she gave birth to a son she called Leonardo. Both mother and child disappeared and no trace of either had been found until now.

The Grandmothers have worked tirelessly to track down babies born in captivity who disappeared under the military regime. Leonardo is the 81st missing baby whose true identity has been recovered but the organization believes another 400 are yet to be found.

"We found another grandson ? another grandson found us," said the Grandmothers in a statement.

The military regime waged a so-called "dirty war" against suspected guerrillas and political opponents. Some 12,000 people are still missing, according to an official count. But human rights groups put the number at 30,000.

Grandmothers' head Estela de Carlotto said a man had contacted the organization's branch in La Plata in March, 2004, saying that he had doubts about his identity. He underwent a DNA test in November, 2004 and was told on August 11 of last year that he was the son of Inés and Rubén.

Ortega was a textile worker, a high school student and an activist in the UES students' union. She was seven months pregnant when she was abducted. Rubén was a metalworker and studied history at the University of La Plata.

The couple were living in a house in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Quilmes when they were kidnapped by a military task group at the corner of Baranda and Islas Malvinas streets on January 21, 1977.

They were both taken to the 5th police precinct, a torture centre that gained notoriety for its brutality. Inés was placed in a cell with another pregnant woman. Witnesses said she gave birth on a filthy kitchen table in the precinct, gagged and handcuffed, and assisted by the Buenos Aires provincial police doctor Jorge Bergés.

She only had Leonardo in her arms for five days. The guards then took the baby away and told her the he would be given to her family. Carlotto said yesterday the child was illegally given in adoption to a non-military family from La Plata. Leonardo, meanwhile, has said he wants to adopt the surnames of his real parents. (BAH)