(Argentina) So, who were the parents of Marcella and Felipe Noble ??

[rabs]

That question may be cleared up finally. The attorney for the adopted siblings today (Friday) announced that they will submit to DNA testing.

Btw, the AP is in error when the reporter says the DNA will be compared with "every relative who disappeared" during the dictatorship. The DNA will be compared only with DNA of parents who disappeared BEFORE Ernestina Herrera de Noble filed adoption papers in 1976. There would be no point to compare their DNA with those who disappered AFTER the children were born.

In Marcella's case that would be 13 de mayo de 1976. For Felipe, el 7 de julio de 1976.



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By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA, Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Two siblings who were adopted as babies by the owner of an Argentine media conglomerate have agreed to court-ordered DNA tests to determine whether they were among hundreds of infants stolen from political prisoners during Argentina's military dictatorship.

Adoptees Marcela and Felipe Noble say they will not appeal the order to have blood samples taken and compared with available DNA of every relative of those who disappeared during the country's 1976-1983 dictatorship. The pair had previously refused to submit to such tests or offered to only allow their DNA to be compared with two families of disappeared people.

The adoptees, who are in their 30s, have said they have no interest in learning the identities of their birth parents and have been protective of their adopted mother, Grupo Clarin owner Ernestina Herrera de Noble, 86.

On June 2, the country's top criminal appellate court ruled that Marcela and Felipe Noble had to submit biological material, with or without their consent, for testing but limited the scope of DNA comparisons to people known to have disappeared before the date of the Nobles' 1976 adoption papers.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/06/17/international/i112434D73.DTL

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For readers of Spanish, a much more complete and detailed story (than the AP)

http://www.semana.com/mundo/herederos-del-clarin-aceptaron-prueba-adn/158637-3.aspx

[Judi Lynn]

1. This is tremendous news. Will be watching for more on this with great interest.

Hope so much has changed by now that Ernestina Herrera de Noble doesn't have enough allies inside the government to manipulate the evidence should they find it. Things have changed some since the days when the fascist monster Gen. Videla toasted her at parties for her service white-washing their Dirty War in her newspapers.

http://upload.wikimedia.org.nyud.net:8090/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Brindis_Noble_Videla.jpg
Surely those kids haven't been kept totally in the dark about who the Mothers are, and why it IS important to know who their parents are now. Apparently they believe they can only take steps their adoptive parent approves if they intend to inherit enough money to make they astonishingly wealthy later.

Thanks for posting this new information. Another reason to keep an eye on Argentina! Recommending.

[rabs]

2. Some aspects to consider

-- Marcela and Felipe's attorney said the siblings had agreed to the DNA tests because of years-long "persecution" by Cristina's government and kirchnerismo for nearly a decade. The pair said they wanted their DNA comparison resolved as quickly as possible. (A report I saw said it could be in about three weeks.)

-- The Genetic Data Bank that was begun by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo was nationalized by kirchnerismo a few years back. So that is how the government got involved.

-- Clarin (tabloid sized) is one of the largest and most important media empires (newspapers, TV and radio stations) in Latin America and the world. The government is trying to break the empire up. (Clarin even publishes a New York Times weekly supplement in English.) It has by far the largest circulation in Argentina.

-- Clarin during the dictatorship was granted exclusive rights to produce and sell newsprint (paper pulp). So Clarin controls higher newsprint prices it sets for other Argentine newspapers, magazines etc. The government's efforts to break this monopoly is currently working its way through the courts.

-- Marcela and Felipe said (through their attorney) that they were not interested in who their parents had been. Being heirs to a billion dollar industry, it is understandable why they would assume that (brainwashed and callous) position.

-- In a similar thread on LBN about this, there were some DUers who insisted that Marcela and Felipe should belong to the only mother they had known. (Ernestina's husband died in 1979 when Marcela and Felipe were tots, she is now 86 years old.)

-- But what those DUers did not consider were the grandparents (and other relatives) of the fathers and mothers who were tortured and killed by the military. Marcela and Felipe's parents were killed at the beginning of the military dictatorship in 1976.

-- The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo yesterday lauded the decision by Marcela and Felipe.

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So maybe for at least some of the grandmothers, there will be closure after 35 years.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Had no idea Clarin had been awarded control of Argentina's newsprint!

What an amazing concession she got from the dictatorship for her service!

Also, I had no idea they had so many other holdings.

Nationalizing the Genetic Data Base looks like the cleanest hope to get trustworthy information, I would really hope. Looks like the best possible solution, considering how much is really at stake.

The claim of "persecution" from the government is a stinking insult, considering what the military dictatorship did to their parents! <outpouring of swear words!>

Great photo. Very representative of two spoiled brats. I can't imagine their real parents would be so proud of them right now.