International

Argentine group finds 131st dictatorship-era ‘stolen’ child

Photo: Luis Robayo / AFP

| By AFP |

More than four decades after being taken from his parents — activists who “disappeared” under Argentina’s military dictatorship — a man raised by others has learned his true identity, an activist group has announced.

The man is the 131st child “stolen” during the dictatorship era to be identified under a decades-long fight by the group known as the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo — and the first in nearly three years.

His assumed identity has not been divulged.

“We are happy to announce a new restitution of identity,” the Grandmothers said in a statement Thursday after the man’s DNA tests came back.

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“As if the end of the year wanted to fulfill all our wishes,” they said in reference to Argentina’s recent World Cup victory, “we celebrate the discovery of a new grandchild, number 131.”

Almost 300 other men and women “living among us with falsified identities” after being taken from their parents under the 1976-1983 dictatorship remain to be found, the Grandmothers added.

Now 44 years old, the man was the son of Marxist activists Lucia Nadin and Aldo Quevedo, from Mendoza, detained in Buenos Aires in October 1977.

Nadin, 19, was nearly three months pregnant at the time.

Grandmothers president Estela de Carlotto, 92, told reporters Nadin likely gave birth to her son at the notorious Navy Mechanics School (ESMA), which served as the country’s largest detention and torture facility.

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“We are told that he is a sweet, calm person,” de Carlotto said. “He (did not react) with refusal or sadness” to discovering his true identity.

But she said he would need time to fully digest the stunning news before being presented to the public.

“He just took it as a reality, a new reality for him,” said de Carlotto.

30,000 people lost

The Grandmothers group was founded in 1977 by women trying to find their arrested daughters — and the babies they bore in captivity.

They take their name from the Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires, where women defied authorities to hold protests demanding information on the whereabouts of their loved ones. They did so in vain.

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As many as 500 children were taken from their imprisoned mothers, most of whom then disappeared under the country’s brutal military rule.

Most of the children were given to childless people close to the dictatorship, keen to have them raised as regime loyalists.

Many of those aided by the Grandmothers reached out after experiencing doubt over their identity — because of a lack of physical resemblance to their parents, the absence of photos of their mothers while pregnant, or holes in the family history.

This was the first new identification since June 2019. The coronavirus pandemic had put the brakes on the Grandmothers’ research and interviews with potential victims.

Six of the original grandmothers died during the pandemic.

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Rights groups say some 30,000 people died or disappeared under Argentina’s military dictatorship.

International

Paraguay summons Brazilian ambassador over Itaipú espionage scandal

Paraguay summoned the Brazilian ambassador in Asunción on Tuesday to demand “explanations” and called its own representative in Brasília for consultations following Brazil’s acknowledgment of an espionage operation. The Brazilian government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attributed the operation to the previous administration.

The surveillance effort aimed to uncover Paraguay’s position in now-suspended negotiations with Brazil regarding the pricing of electricity from the binational Itaipú hydroelectric plant, according to reports in the Brazilian press.

The Brazilian government “categorically denied any involvement in the intelligence operation,” stating in a Foreign Ministry communiqué on Monday that the espionage was carried out under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration (2019-2023).

“The operation was authorized by the previous government in June 2022 and was annulled by the interim director of the (state intelligence agency) ABIN on March 27, 2023, as soon as the current administration became aware of it,” Brazil’s government asserted.

Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez announced that Brazilian Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho was summoned “to provide detailed explanations” regarding the operation. Additionally, Paraguay recalled its diplomatic representative in Brasília “to report on aspects related to the intelligence activity conducted by Brazil regarding Paraguay’s government affairs.”

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International

Elon Musk to step down as government advisor, per Trump insiders

President Donald Trump has informed his inner circle that Elon Musk will be stepping down from his role as a government advisor, according to a report by Politico today.

Citing three individuals close to Trump, Politico states that the president is pleased with Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has implemented significant budget cuts. However, both have agreed that it is time for Musk to return to his businesses and support Trump from a different position outside the government.

A senior administration official told Politico that Musk will likely maintain an informal advisory role and continue to be an occasional visitor to the White House. Another source warned that anyone thinking Musk will completely disappear from Trump’s circle is “deluding themselves.”

According to the sources, this transition is expected to coincide with the end of Musk’s tenure as a “special government employee,” a temporary status that exempts him from certain ethics and conflict-of-interest regulations. This 130-day period is set to expire in late May or early June.

International

Milei vows to make Argentina so strong that Falkland Islanders “choose” to join

Argentine President Javier Milei reaffirmed his country’s claim over the Falkland Islands (known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina) and praised the role of the nation’s armed forces during a ceremony marking the “Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Malvinas War Day,” commemorating 43 years since the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom.

Argentina continues to assert sovereignty over the islands, arguing that Britain unlawfully seized them in 1833.

“If sovereignty over the Malvinas is the issue, we have always made it clear that the most important vote is the one cast with one’s feet. We hope that one day, the Malvinas residents will choose to vote with their feet and join us,” Milei stated.

“That is why we aim to become a global power—so much so that they would prefer to be Argentine, making deterrence or persuasion unnecessary. This is why we have embarked on a path of liberation, working to make Argentina the freest country in the world and once again the nation with the highest GDP per capita on the planet,” he added.