Saturday 20 October 2012

Argentina: Clarin heirs test negative

It's been a while, but time was I covered the Herrera Noble case rather extensively.

If this doesn't ring any immediate bells, very briefly: Ernestina Herrera de Noble is the director of Clarin, Argentina's largest-circulation newspaper. She has two adopted children, who are now in their '30s. The circumstances of their adoption were irregular and this led to suspicion that they might be children of the disappeared. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have for many years now been using legal means to attempt to prove this; and the Noble children have been resisting with every means at their disposal.

Now, results are finally out: Marcela and Felipe have tested negative against all samples in the genetic database.

As the Grandmothers point out, their samples will now stay there and can be tested against families who may or may not come forward in the future. The Grandmothers say their quest for answers goes on. But for all practical purposes, it seems like we've come to the end of the road. If the two are children of the disappeared, the truth will probably never be known.

In light of this, further unsurprising things: Clarin reported that Felipe and Marcela were "not children of the disappeared", without qualifications, and Ernestina Herrera de Noble wants the charges against her, of kidnapping, to be dropped.

Argentina media magnate wants child kidnap case dropped (Perth Now)
Noble Herrera: confirman que no son hijos de desaparecidos (Clarin)
Herrera de Noble pide ser sobreseĆ­da (La Nacion)

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