MATIAS JOFRE

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This article explains how Argentina’s dictatorship systematically stole at least 500 babies from disappeared political prisoners and gave them to military families to raise as their own. Many of these children grew up not knowing their true identity, including Javier Penino Viñas, whose story shows the trauma and contradictions faced by the stolen children. The Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo have spent decades tracing these identities using testimony, archives, and DNA testing, and have recovered about 130 grandchildren so far. The piece highlights the brutality of the regime, the psychological impact on the children who were raised by their parents’ persecutors, and the ongoing search for truth and justice as witnesses age and families still wait for answers.