Argentine stolen at birth, now 32, learns identity

[Judi Lynn]

Argentine stolen at birth, now 32, learns identity
By MICHAEL WARREN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Feb 23, 7:34 pm ET

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The search is finally over for Abel Madariaga, whose pregnant wife was kidnapped by Argentine security forces 33 years ago. After decades of doubt and loneliness, of searching faces in the street in hopes they might be related, Madariaga has found his son."I never stopped thinking I would find him," the 59-year-old father said, squeezing his son's arm during a packed news conference Tuesday.

"For the first time, I know who I was. Who I am," the young man said, still marveling at his new identity: Francisco Madariaga Quintela, a name he only learned last week.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo rights group believes about 400 children were stolen at birth from women who were kidnapped and killed as part of the 1976-1983 dictatorship's "dirty war" against political dissidents, which killed as many as 30,000 people.

Madariaga and his wife, Silvia Quintela, were members of the Montoneros, a leftist group targeted for elimination by government death squads. He last saw his wife — a 28-year-old surgeon who treated the poor in a Buenos Aires suburb — being pushed into a Ford Falcon by army officers dressed as civilians as she walked to a train on Jan. 17, 1977.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100224/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_argentina_dirty_war_children

[Wilms]

1. Wow.