RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Media Mogul Arrested for Illegal Adoption

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 18 2002 (IPS) - A prominent rights group in Argentina reaffirmed Wednesday that there is convincing evidence against Ernestina Herrera de Noble, the owner of the country’s leading newspaper, who was arrested Tuesday on charges of illegally adopting two children of ”disappeared” victims of the last dictatorship.

Herrera, 77, the director of the powerful media conglomerate, the Clarín Group, is facing charges of falsifying public documents in the adoption of her son and daughter, Felipe and Marcela, in 1976.

Federal prosecuting Judge Roberto Marquevich is handling the case based on a lawsuit filed in 1995 by Estela de Carlotto, the president of the rights group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.

Years ago, the Grandmothers received ”convincing information” that Herrera’s adopted children ”were given to her by the military regime in power at the time,” said de Carlotto, the head of the rights group that for 25 years has been seeking the missing children of political prisoners who were ”disappeared” by the 1976-1983 de facto military regime.

Since 1995, Judge Marquevich has been studying the adoption papers, which initially appeared to be legal, although he reached the conclusion that they were full of ”irregularities, inconsistencies and contradictions,” she explained.

”This situation does not bring us any pleasure, but if there are two youngsters who were stolen, a crime has been committed, while on the other hand if the adoption was legal, that is up to the judge to say,” said the activist who arrived Wednesday from Rome, where she received an award presented by Italian President Carlo Ciampi.

Members of the Grandmothers tried many times to talk to Herrera about the allegation that her children were illegally adopted, but she refused to meet with them, said Rosa Roisinblit, the vice- president of the organisation.

”We were received by her secretary, who only wanted to know who had denounced her,” she said.

Herrera also refused to have her children undergo genetic testing that would rule out or confirm that they were the biological children of ”disappeared” victims of the dictatorship. And Marcela and Felipe, who could have shown up for the exams despite their adoptive mother’s objections, did not do so on the argument that they could suffer ”psychological damages.”

”If they refuse, it’s because they have something to hide,” argued Roisinblit, who explained that the young adults can be forced to undergo the genetic tests, the results of which are 99 percent accurate, through a special order from the Supreme Court.

”That is why we were forced to turn to the courts,” she added.

The Grandmothers often receive anonymous tips from people who suspect that adopted minors may have been the children of some of the estimated 30,000 people ”disappeared” by the military regime. In recent years, many youngsters have themselves contacted the group to undergo the tests because they have doubts about their true identity.

Roisinblit said there were around 500 cases of small children who were ”disappeared” along with their parents, or infants born in captivity to political prisoners. Of that total, the Grandmothers have tracked down 73, many of whom had been illicitly adopted by people who were aware of what had happened to their parents.

But of the total number of missing youngsters who have been found, 14 were living with parents who had adopted them in good faith, unaware that they were missing children, and the biological families agreed that they should stay in the homes where they were raised.

”We are not child-snatchers. What we care about is the identity issue,” said the activist.

For several years, judges in Argentina have been investigating whether the military regime had an organised scheme for illegally adopting the children of political prisoners. But up to now, only former military leaders had been arrested.

Herrera was arrested Tuesday without having received a summons, and taken in to give a deposition. She spent the night in a jail cell in the federal police division of complex crimes.

The elderly businesswoman is the chief shareholder of Clarín, one of the newspapers with the widest circulation in Latin America. She also owns Radio Mitre, the sports daily Olé, TV channel 13, the cable TV news channel Todo Noticias, and other media outlets.

Late Tuesday, the Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino, a publishing company belonging to the Clarín Group, issued a statement calling the arrest ”abusive and illegal,” and underlining that at no point was Herrera served a summons to testify.

Two previous criminal complaints against Herrera in connection with the same charges were dismissed by Marquevich himself in 1995 and by Judge Adolfo Bagnasco in 1998 on grounds of ”lack of evidence.”

”Arbitrary Arrest of the Director of Clarín” was the newspaper’s front-page headline Wednesday.

On May 13, 1976, Herrera presented two witnesses to testify that a newborn baby girl had been left on her doorstep in a cardboard box. The courts granted her temporary custody while the legal adoption went ahead.

On Jul 7 of that same year, a woman appeared in the same courtroom with Felipe, and that very day Herrera showed up to apply for his adoption, which was granted after a period of temporary custody.

The same judge, Ofelia Hejt, who is now dead, arranged both adoptions.

Herrera’s lawyer, Eduardo Padilla, said Wednesday that his client was the victim of ”abuse” by the court.

”There is no element in the case file justifying (her arrest), especially given the stance taken by the señora, who has always put herself at the disposal of the courts,” he argued.

Padilla said Herrera was held in a windowless cell behind a double-barred door, but was not incomunicado.

If Marquevich orders preventive detention after Herrera gives her sworn statement, her attorney will ask that she be put under house arrest, given her advanced age and her health problems, which include a heart condition and diabetes.

RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Media Mogul Arrested for Illegal Adoption

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 18 2002 (IPS) - A prominent rights group in Argentina reaffirmed Wednesday that there is convincing evidence against Ernestina Herrera de Noble, the owner of the country’s leading newspaper, who was arrested Tuesday on charges of illegally adopting two children of “disappeared” victims of the last dictatorship.
(more…)