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Argentine dictatorship victim learns father's identity 50 years later
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

Argentine dictatorship victim learns father's identity 50 years later

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Official statement Outcome reported
  • Marcos Eduardo Ramos, who was appropriated as a child during Argentina's last military dictatorship, has learned his father was also a victim of the regime.
  • Ramos was born in 1976, and his mother, Rosario del Carmen Ramos, was kidnapped while pregnant with him. She disappeared in late 1976 after being kidnapped again.
  • In 2018, Ramos discovered his mother's identity and reunited with his maternal siblings. A DNA test using his paternal aunt's genetic material confirmed his father's identity.

Marcos Eduardo Ramos, who was appropriated as an infant during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship, has learned the identity of his father, another victim of the regime. This discovery comes five years after Ramos, born in June 1976, learned his mother was Rosario del Carmen Ramos, a member of the Revolutionary Workers' Party (PRT) and its armed wing, the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP).

Rosario del Carmen Ramos was kidnapped in early 1976 while pregnant with Marcos. After a month in captivity, she was released, only to give birth to Marcos shortly after. She was abducted again between November and December 1976 and remains disappeared. That same year, Marcos and his 8-year-old half-brother, Ismael Suleiman, were also kidnapped.

A 2013 complaint suggested Marcos might be the son of disappeared individuals. In 2018, a DNA test through the National Genetic Data Bank (BNDG) confirmed his maternal lineage, leading to a reunion with his maternal siblings, Ismael and Camilo Suleiman.

The investigation continued to identify his paternal family. A key witness was Ilda, Pastor Dante Campos's younger sister, who recalled seeing her brother and Rosario together shortly before they disappeared. Advances in DNA technology at the BNDG allowed for the confirmation of Marcos's paternal link through Ilda's genetic profile. This confirmation was communicated last week, enabling Marcos to meet his aunt and cousins.

The organization Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo highlighted that science helps recover information suppressed by repressors. They also denounced the de-funding of the BNDG by President Javier Milei's government. Judicial investigations indicate Marcos was appropriated by Víctor Lucio Sánchez, a civilian employee of the Army's Intelligence Detachment 142 in Tucumán. A trial for the appropriation of Marcos and Ismael Suleiman is scheduled to begin soon.

The identification of Marcos's paternal line demonstrates, once again, that science allows us to recover information that the repressors silence.

— Abuelas de Plaza de MayoThe organization commented on the confirmation of Marcos's paternal identity and criticized the de-funding of the genetic data bank.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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