Happy ending for leader of rights group

Estela Carlotto.

The long-lost grandson of the head of an Argentine rights group that has fought to find babies stolen by the 1976-1983 military dictatorship has been found after a 35-year search.

Estela Carlotto, the 83-year-old leader of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo group, was told that her daughter's kidnapped son was found after DNA tests confirmed the now 36-year-old man's identity, a relative and a judge said.

The man's mother, Laura Carlotto, was kidnapped while pregnant during the dictatorship's "dirty war" against leftists and dissidents. She gave birth on June 26, 1978, while being detained by the authorities and was killed shortly after giving birth to the boy.

Estela Carlotto searched for her grandson, convinced the boy was alive.

The man is named Ignacio Hurban and lives in Olavarria, a city 350km southwest of Buenos Aires, according to federal judge Maria Servini de Cubria, who is in charge of several cases of babies who were stolen by the right-wing military regime. Kivo Carlotto, son of Estela and brother of Laura, revealed that a DNA test showed with 99.9 per cent certainty that his nephew had finally been found.

"The result of the test was positive. We have found my nephew after 35 years," Kivo Carlotto, who is human rights secretary for Buenos Aires province, told Todo Noticias television.

While the family were overjoyed to find their missing relative, it was also "a terrible feeling", Kivo Carlotto said, adding that the revelation was also "a terrible shock" for his nephew. "But he presented himself voluntarily and he's doing all right," the uncle said.

News of the discovery was delivered to Carlotto by Servini de Cubria.

Servini de Cubria said the man's DNA was compared with the remains of his father.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and a sister group, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, have been leading a nationwide effort to reunite an estimated 500 children who were taken from leftists and government opponents during the dictatorship.

As many as 30,000 "disappeared" are presumed to have been murdered during Argentina's "dirty war" against leftists. In many instances, their children were taken by ruling families and raised as their own.

The Grandmothers group, which was founded in 1977, has managed to locate scores of missing children. Laura's son is the 111th child that has been found so far. AFP