Argentina: "He has the same ears!"

There's now an excellent English-language article about Argentine found grandchild Martin Amarilla-Molfino, which also draws together issues of the new DNA law and the owner of Clarin, Ernestina Herrera de Noble.

As I've said before, this is obviously a sensitive issue. People are understandably sympathetic to the personal desires of the presumed disappeared children to decide whether or not they wish to take a DNA to establish their true parentage, and our initial reaction may be shock that the Grandmothers are fighting to make such tests compulsory. Yet we are talking here about crimes against humanity and clearing up an aspect of Argentina's history which has been unresolved for thirty years. With this in mind, I found this statistic particularly arresting:

In 83 of the 98 cases of missing grandchildren found by the Abuelas, the families that raised the children were in part responsible for, or at least knew about, the disappearance of the child's real parents.

So, we are not talking here about innocent adoptive parents who just wanted a family of their own, but rather people who were consciously complicit with a murderous military regime. Would you really consider murderers and accessories to murder to be suitable parents?

The postscript to the article is also sobering:

Since reuniting the Amarilla-Molfino family, the Abuelas have announced that the 99th missing grandchild has been found. In stark contrast to the case of Martín however, the discovery was the remains of Mónica Gabriela Santucho, disappeared in 1976 at the age of 14.

New DNA Law in Argentina Will Help Find the Missing Grandchildren (NACLA)