Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo receive record-high number of inquiries

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, an organization looking for the people stolen as babies by the last Argentine dictatorship, received a record-high number of inquiries on March 23 and 24, the 50th anniversary of the coup that started the dictatorship. They received 350 inquiries from people suspecting their origins and 122 messages with potential information about the disappeareds children. A year earlier, 46 people contacted the group with questions about their identity, and 60 others provided potential information. In other words, in two days, we received eight and twice as many inquiries, respectively, compared to the previous year, the organization said in a statement. On March 23 and 24, 2024, 30 people contacted the Grandmothers, and in those same days in 2023, 63 did so. Stolen babies 30,000 people were kidnapped, held in clandestine detention centers, and killed by the military dictatorship the desaparecidos. The de facto government stole some 500 babies from the people they kidnapped and gave them up for adoption with forged identities. The grandmothers of the stolen children founded the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo organization to look for their grandchildren in 1977, one year after the military took down the democratic government. The Grandmothers have already restored the identity of 140 grandchildren, the latest in July 2025. According to the group, they achieved their goal of raising awareness due to activities carried out throughout Argentina, as well as at the headquarters of the International Network for the Right to Identity in Italy, Spain, the United States, and Canada.  Thanks to the many events marking the 50th anniversary of the coup, many people were encouraged to take the plunge, while others shared the information they had kept hidden for 50 years, they added. Last week, members of the International Network of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in Europe denounced that the Argentine government had halted the shipment of DNA kits to consulates. Those kits were used to collect blood samples from people who live outside the country and suspect they are children of desaparecidos. People who have doubts about their origins or who wish to provide information to help locate the 300 grandchildren who have yet to be found can contact the Grandmothers through the forms on their website. Inquiries also come in via email to [email protected], for people doubting their own identity, and [email protected] for those who want to provide information. People can also call +54 11 43840983 or visit the various Grandmothers offices in the cities of Buenos Aires, La Plata, Crdoba, Rosario, or Mar del Plata, as well as through the nodes of the Network for the Right to Identity throughout the country and abroad.