Grandmothers' president recovers grandson taken away under dictatorship

Estela De Carlotto, the president of activist group the Grandmothers of the Plaza De Mayo, told reporters that her daughter was "smiling down from heaven" after learning today that the grandchild taken away during the military dictatorship of 1976-83 had been found.

Sources from the group, which aims to reunite the children taken from those disappeared during the dictatorship with their genetic, informed that De Carlotto's male grandson had been located after voluntarily coming forward for a DNA test.

He is the biological son of Laura, the daughter of the Grandmothers' president who remains disappeared. Guido De Carlotto also becomes the 114th person born during the dictatorship who through the Grandmothers has managed to discover their true identity.

“I want to share with you this great joy that life has brought me,” Carlotto told a press conference convened this afternoon. “Laura is smiling down from heaven,” she said.

Because of the sensibility of the case, the human rights activist avoided giving specific details about this morning's discovery. She revealed she has not seen him yet, but said to reporters that “I was told he is beautiful, an artist, a good boy. They told me he looks like us, the Carlottos.”

The Grandmothers' head confirmed President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her son Máximo had called her “crying with joy” after the news broke.

“I did not want to die without hugging him. Now we need to keep looking for the rest of the missing,” Carlotto assured.

"The result was positive, we have found my nephew. We are very excited. The boy turned up voluntary because he had doubts over his identity and the blood test showed a 99 percent match," Kibo Carlotto, the Buenos Aires province secretary of Human Rights, had earlier told the press.

According to the Infojus website, Guido Carlotto, 35, lives in Olavarría and is a musician, playing the piano. He is expected to meet his grandmother at a later date, after spending his entire life unaware of his origins.

Laura was two months pregnant when kidnapped by security forces on November 26 1977, and according to testimony she gave birth to a child she named Guido in the Military Hospital in June 1978.

After the birth, Laura was returned to the 'La Cacha' clandestine detention centre, without her baby, and murdered on August 25 of that same year.

Returning The Stolen

32 years after Argentina's military dictatorship, a heartbreaking legacy emerges. Hundreds are discovering that their 'parents' are impostors, responsible for the kidnap and murder of their real parents.

When thousands of political opponents disappeared in the 1970s, relatives were left distraught. "We only want to know where our children are!" - a woman cries in a crowded street rally where sobbing women hold up pictures of the disappeared. Around 5000 were taken to 'ESMA' - a secret prison where torture and murder were common crimes. Yet it' s only recently that the theft of children and babies of pregnant captives has come to light: "We never imagined this was a systematic plan, executed in a perverse manner", says Estella of the 'Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo'. They work to recover 'lost children' like Huan, who thinks the man who raised him beat him because "every time he looked at me he would revisit the horror of his crime". He now fights for DNA testing to become compulsory. The children of wealthy media magnate Ernestina Herrera de Noble, may not wish to take part in the inquiry, but "the justice system is obliged to solve the crime". And for the lucky ones who still have relatives alive, reunion after 32 years is the most powerful revelation of an unbreakable bond: "it was almost the most beautiful feeling I've ever had in my life".