MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo find Grandchild 133

“We found the son of Cristina Navajas and Julio Santucho,” Carlotto said

The organization Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo Friday announced in Buenos Aires the finding of the 133rd grandchild taken during the military dictatorship (1976-1983). He is a nephew of Mario Roberto Santucho, founding leader of the guerrilla organization PRT-ERP, whose mother Cristina Navajas was kidnapped in 1976.

“We found the son of Cristina Navajas and Julio Santucho, the grandson of Grandmother Nélida Navajas,” Grandmothers' President Estela de Carlotto said during a press conference which was also attended by Miguel Santucho, one of the three children of Cristina Navajas and Julio César Santucho.

“This search cannot be sustained without everyone's accompaniment. I always had several arms supporting me. That was very important. My thoughts today are for my brothers and sisters who are still searching. I hope that what happened to me happens to all of them,” said Miguel Santucho.

The person found is a man who spontaneously approached the organization. He had been taken by a couple formed by a military man and a nurse who already had a daughter 20 years older, the Grandmothers said. The discovery of Grandson 133 came after the death in 2012 of Nélida Gómez de Navajas, who was secretary of the organization.

Cristina Navajas was kidnapped when she was two months pregnant, on July 13, 1976, along with her sister-in-law Manuela Santucho and Alicia Raquel D'Ambra. According to survivors' testimonies, she was taken to several clandestine detention centers.

“Let's enjoy this meeting together. I can't stop telling you that he is a beautiful boy physically and spiritually,” Carlotto also said.

The new identity restitution comes seven months after the last case: on December 28, 2022, the human rights organization confirmed the finding of Grandchild 132. It was Juan José, son of Mercedes del Valle Morales, who disappeared during the last military dictatorship. Juan José's paternal identity is still unknown.

After the exhumation of the body of his presumed father, which was ordered by the Tucumán Office of the Prosecutor's Office for Crimes against Humanity and the Federal Court N°1 of Tucumán, it was found that this man was not the biological father of Grandson 132.