A 92-year-old Argentine activist must continue her search that’s lasted 39 years after DNA tests showed that a woman who said she was her missing granddaughter was not who she claimed to be.
María Isabel (Chicha) Chorobik de Mariani’s granddaughter, Clara Anahí Mariani Terrugi, was taken away in 1976 when a military junta dominated the country, and Mariani has been looking for her since then.
Her granddaughter was taken when she was just 3 months old and was targeted because of her parents’ affiliation with the Montoneros left-wing group.
In 1976, Mariani helped found Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo – an organization dedicated to finding children stolen and illegally adopted during the dictatorship – and served as its second president until 1989.
An announcement on Thursday claimed Terrugi was found and it was hailed as another success for the organization.
Even Argentine President Mauricio Marci took to Twitter to celebrate the find.
“I want to wish Chicha Mariani, her granddaughter and all the family a happy Christmas reunion,” Marci’s tweet read.
However, two days after the joyous announcement, Pablo Parenti – head of the Attorney General’s Unit for Cases of Child Appropriation – said “there is no genetic match” between the two women.
Juan Martin Ramos Padilla – spokesman for the Anahí Foundation that Mariani founded in honor of her granddaughter – told the BBC Mariani was devastated.
“It was a hard blow for Chicha,” Padilla said. “She is 92 and will continue searching for her granddaughter. We just hope to be able to find her.”
The mistaken woman – identified as Maria Elena Wehrli by the Buenos Aires Herald – approached Mariani with the results of a DNA test carried out by a private lab, Parenti said.
“The National Genetic Database is the only body authorized to determine the identity in these cases,” he added.
In 2003, the National Commission of the Disappearance of Persons listed the official number of missing people at 13,000.
Since it was founded, Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo has found 87 of the disappeared children, according to its website.
