MADRID (SPAIN)
Agence France-Presse
July 11, 2019
The first woman recognised by Spanish courts as one of the “stolen babies” of the Franco dictatorship has discovered her biological family thanks to a DNA database.
Scores of babies were taken from their mothers – who were told their children had died – and given to others to adopt during the 1939-1975 dictatorship, often with the help of the Catholic church.
Initially, babies were taken from leftwing opponents of the regime, with the practice later expanded to supposedly illegitimate children and those from poorer families.
The newborns were meant to be raised by affluent, conservative and devout Roman Catholic families.
Estimates range from hundreds to tens of thousands of victims.
On Thursday, Ines Madrigal, 50, who found out in 2010 that she was a “stolen baby”, said she had been able to find a cousin thanks to a DNA database.
The cousin then informed her that her biological siblings were also searching for her.
“For the first time, I have completed the puzzle that is my life,” she said. “I know who I am and where I am from.”
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