Adriana, argentina woman, stolen as baby during ‘Dirty War,’ reunited with biological family 40 years later.
Adriana, 40, who asked not to have her surname released, was found after she took a DNA test with the help of human rights group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the BBC reported.
Although her parents disappeared during military rule, her DNA was found to match that of relatives of her parents.
The woman is the 126th person to be found after children were taken from parents under the country’s former dictatorship.
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo rights group said Tuesday that Adriana is the biological daughter of Violeta Graciela Ortolani and Edgardo Roberto Garnier.
Speaking at a news conference in Buenos Aires, the woman said she discovered the couple who had brought her up were not her biological parents after they died, according to the BBC.
She said: “I found out on a Saturday and on the Monday I had already gone to the Grandmothers, I wanted to know if I was the daughter of people who had disappeared, more than anything because of my date of birth.”
Hundreds of children were snatched from left-wing activists during Argentina’s military rule between 1976 and 1983.
After taking the DNA test it took four months for the organisation to find a match for the woman in their database of relatives who disappeared or were murdered by the regime.
The woman said: “I began to think I had been abandoned, given away, sold, that they hadn’t wanted me.”
But she eventually received a call from the National Commission for the Right to Identity with the information on her biological parents.
Former military and police figures kidnapped Ms Ortolani when she was pregnant in 1976 in the Argentine city of La Plata. Mr Garnier was kidnapped in 1977.
Adriana was born in captivity in January 1977, the BBC reported.
The couple, who were in their early 20s and involved in a left-wing student group when they were detained, were reportedly never seen again.
Mr Garnier’s mother has been a key figure in the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the news channel reported.
Adriana, who has spoken to her on the phone, said on Tuesday: “She is beautiful on the inside and out and such a personality. Love is stronger than hate, always.”
Human rights groups estimate that more than 30,000 people were jailed, tortured and killed or forcibly disappeared during the brutal dictatorship.
Officials during the dictatorship also have been convicted of organising the theft of babies from political prisoners who were often executed.
