SPAIN
El Pais
Jesús Duva Madrid 22 ENE
A women stolen from a hospital in Valencia almost half a century ago — just one of many alleged abductions of newborn babies during the Franco era — has been reunited with her biological mother, say police in the Mediterranean port city.
The woman, now aged 48, has asked for her identity and that of her mother to be kept private, saying that her adopted mother is seriously ill and close to death.
In the wake of several stories that appeared in the media in 2011 — revealing that during the Franco years a network of nuns and doctors at certain hospitals had taken babies from poor families or single mothers and given them to wealthy parents unable to conceive — the woman in question decided to try and trace her biological mother. The abductions are believed to have continued for several years after the death of Franco, in 1975.
The woman, who strongly suspected she was a stolen baby, lodged a judicial request to find her mother, the National Police said in a statement.
She filed a request with the relevant authorities, and the Valencia force began investigating.
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