Guido.

"-What does it mean to recover our identity?

The journey of an entire country through the story of a Grandmother and her grandson."

(I wrote this on August 5th, Calgary's Airport)

I try to stay away the cynical quote which prays that the death of a person is a tragedy, but the death of thousands is just mere statistic. It is a true reaction of the human mind, otherwise it would be impossible to carry with the burden of the many atrocities committed by mankind in their history. But sometimes history works in the opposite way, and just a simple event may recover the lost sense of humanity within us.

I am bored, waiting at the airport for the end of an endless layover. But while I browse in my phone the news, I read with great joy that in Buenos Aires (Argentina) Guido was finally found. That He was “recovered”.

Guido is the 36-years-old grandson of Estela de Carlotto, who has been looking for him since her daughter was kidnapped and murdered by the Argentine military forces during the last -and bloodiest- dictatorship that this country suffered (1976-1983).

During those times, the military would arrest illegally -or simply kidnap- people suspected of being involved in clandestine political activities. Prisoners were often tortured in clandestine detention centres. Most of them were never seen again. The authorities denied this cases. They simply called them “missing people”. The closest estimation is that 30.000 souls are missing in Argentina.

Numb statistics. Among the list of “missing people”, many pregnant women got arrested too. They gave birth in captivity, and after separating them from their babies, they got murdered. The newborns were given in adoption.  

Estela lost her daughter Laura in 1976. She was in her third month of pregnancy when she was taken. Estela never got the chance to see her grandson -Guido- who was born in captivity on June 26th of the following year. Laura was murdered by the military forces two months after she gave birth.

In the midst of these times of fear and terror, Estela and other brave mothers and grandmothers started to gather to demand the regime for answers. Beyond the threat of death and with no help at all, these women and familiars started a battle for the truth. Each Thursday, they will get together on May Square (in front of the government building) to march and and raise their voices to the deaf authorities. Upon the end of the dictatorship, the newly regained democracy faced their claim for truth and justice, but also for information about their grandsons. 

Memory, Truth and Justice. So this would never happen again.

They fought and still fight to find them. Estela de Carlotto became the head of The GrandMothers of May Square: the organization that groups them. These are ladies between their mid seventies to late eighties, or even nineties. Some of them fought until the end of their lives and were buried without knowing where his/her grandson/granddaughter was.

The truth is, many of these old ladies would die without recovering their last link of their family. This search will continue for years, but sooner than later, The GrandMothers of May Square will cease to exist. For biological reasons.

Despite the the atmosphere of terror, the grandmothers raised their voices

Estimations -again. About 500 grandsons were deprived from their true identity. Nowadays, this people are between 30 and 38 years old. They may be professionals, they might have a family of their own. Yet, many of them call themselves with a name that doesn't belong to them. They may have taken a bus ride together, or lived in the same neighbourhood, just a few blocks away. Who knows. There they are: walking on the streets of the same city unaware of their identity or condition; oblivious of the pain and restless search that their biological family is holding for almost 40 years. Estela, as many other grandmothers, started looking for them as soon as they lost their sons and daughters.

It may sound pointless, but earlier this week -after 36 years- Hortensio found out that his real name was Guido. He is the 114th grandson to recover his identity. He is Estela’s lost grandson. The entire country has watched over the decades this adorable grandmothers peacefully and restlessly searching the truth. Estela’s reward made an entire nation burst in tears of joy. Myself included.

A question must be asked: What makes us believe that perhaps we are not who we are supposed to? What kind of gut-feeling tells us that there’s something else? Identity is a very complex and emotional concept. While I was writing this, a big press conference was in the works to announce and present the newly recovered grandson. The phone of the Grandmothers of May Square head office was burning with hundreds of calls: young men and women, eager to have a DNA test and perhaps find out something truly revealing about themselves. I was asked to turn off my phone once inside the aircraft. I also had to put myself together with the help of a tissue. Today the distances between the prairies and the Pampas are shortened. My heart is with them. Today, the life of a person saved the death of those 30.000 lost in the last dictatorship..

Posface: An excellent development of the identity debate can be found on Paul Ricouer's  description of identity idem and ipse in his book "Soi même comme un autre" (Eng: Oneself as Another)