Mabel Escuer is not Mabel Escuer. She is 59 years old and two years ago she found out she was adopted. She brought her case before the court on July 29, 2011 and, only two weeks later, the Judge decided to dismiss it. The name “Escuer” is part of a list of 90000 signatures collected by three Spanish associations representing the victims of a trade of children sold for adoption. They ask authorities not to stop investigations and to reopen dismissed cases; they ask government to help them finding their missing children.
Data are clear: 1500 complaints, 20% of which were dismissed because of a lack of evidence. That is the case of Antonio Barroso, the president of “Anadir”, although he is in possession of a DNA test proving that he is not the son of his parents.
“If you are an only child. If your parents are much older than you are. If you have never seen a picture of your pregnant mother, you too may be a stolen child”, this is what several hundred people cry out before the Public Prosecutor’s Office, asking for justice. Some of them show a notice saying, “I am looking for my twin. If you look like me, call me!”. Protesters perfectly know what to do. If judiciary does not help them, they will ask Spanish government and Parliament to form a committee of enquiry similar to that created in Argentina for children forcibly separated from their families.
It will be impossible to punish all people involved in such an awful human trade began in the 40s. Many of them (members of religious congregations, medical staff, etc.), indeed, died. “We are not fighting for this. We want to find our children and our parents”, says president of SOS Bebés Robados Luis Vega. Vega is the father of a child presumably kidnapped in 1977.
He also argues, “We ask authorities to set up a database collecting information on our DNA”. Previous government headed by Zapatero had created a free special service for that, but victims never had the possibility to access it. According to the Spanish law, indeed, victims could submit themselves for DNA test only when the Judge decided so, and these cases were extremely rare.
One year after the first mass complaint, victims feel frustrated: 1500 cases were reported but no-one was indicted.
On the inside: