Abuelas Find Grandchild 110: Today the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo announced they had ‘found’ grandchild number 110. Estela de Carlotto, head of the human rights organisation, revealed the woman was the child of Liliana Isabel Acuña and Oscar Rómulo Gutierrez, who were disappeared on 26th August 1976. Acuña was five months pregnant at the time of her kidnapping, and her daughter was born in a clandestine prison and then adopted. The woman’s identity has not been revealed. During the press conference, her uncle, Ricardo Gutiérrez, said: “This was a pregnancy that lasted for years and today she was born”. De Carlotto confirmed that the woman had come to the Abuelas on 31st October last year with doubts about her identity. The organisation then accompanied her to the National Commission for the Right to Identity (Conadi) where she left a blood sample, which was then run through the National Genetic Data Bank, where it was discovered that she was the daughter of the disappeared couple. The Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo are a human rights organisation, who work to find the missing children of couples who were disappeared during the 1976-83 dictatorship. An estimated 500 women were pregnant at the time of their disappearance, and many of their children were born in captivity and then adopted out to new families, after which their biological mothers were killed.
Large Protest in Support of Las Heras Oil Workers: Hundreds marched through the streets of Buenos Aires yesterday in support of three oil workers convicted of the murder of policeman Jorge Sayago. Hugo Gonzáles, Inocencio Cortés, and José Rosales were sentenced to life in prison in December for the death Sayago during a workers’ uprising in February 2006 in the Patagonian town of Las Heras. Six others were also sent to prison for their role in the uprising, in what human rights organisations are calling a miscarriage of justice. The march, which ended in Plaza de Mayo, saw Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, representatives of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Línea Fundadora, and national legislators address the crowd, calling for the men to be pardoned due to “irregularities” in the investigation. Nicolás del Caño, national deputy for the PTS, said: “The trial in which the men were convicted was completely staged with the objective of teaching a lesson to the workers and stopping them from organising and fighting for their rights.” He went on to say the trial was in accordance with the oil corporations and with government complicity. Acts of solidarity were also held in Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Mexico, and Chile.
Firefighters Laid to Rest; Investigation into Cause of Fire Opened: Buenos Aires residents were given the chance to pay their respects to those who died during yesterday’s fire as a funeral procession drove through the streets of the capital to a memorial service at Chacarita cemetery. Nine firefighters and first responders were killed when a wall collapsed during a fire at an Iron Mountain storage facility in Barracas. The cause of the fire is still unknown. Prosecutor Marcela Sánchez, who is taking charge of the investigation, will take statements from four Iron Mountain employees, including the security employee, who alerted the authorities to the fire, as well as the firefighters who were at the scene, including those who were injured. Sánchez visited the unit in Barracas yesterday.
It is not the first time the corporation’s facilities have set on fire, with fires have taken place on five previous occasions at deposits in North America and Europe, at least two of which are suspected to have been caused by arson. This is, however, the first time that such a fire has ended in tragedy.
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