The Argentinian government shipped out hundreds of DNA testing kits to embassies around the globe to put names to unidentified victims murdered within the “Dirty War.”
In 1976, the Argentine military ousted the government of Isabel Perón, the widow of populist president Juan Perón as part of a series of U.S.-backed political coups called “Operation Condor.”
The military dictatorship, which called itself The National Reorganization Process (simply referred to as el Proceso, “the Process”), ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. The junta turned against Argentina’s citizens, targeting critics, political adversaries and leftist supporters. Those identified as enemies were imprisoned, tortured and even murdered.
The junta killed an estimated 30,000 people.
Many children were “disappeared” or born after their mothers were raped in prison. These babies were then adopted by childless couples in the military and police forces.
According to The Guardian, the Argentinian authorities teamed up with the National Commission for the Right to Identity, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo movement and investigators from the Argentinian Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) to launch the international Right to Identity campaign.
The team is committed to putting a name to every woman, man and child killed by the military junta in Argentina in the 1970s and early 80s.
Last year, the EAAF was nominated for the Nobel peace prize in 2020.
In the 30 years, we have been able to locate 128 of the disappeared children, including four found by governmental commissions and two located by CLAMOR, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the Southern Cone.
