Argentina activist reunited with 'wrong granddaughter'

A 92-year-old Argentine activist who spent nearly half of her life looking for her missing granddaughter will need to resume her search after a case of mistaken identity.

Maria Isabel Mariani, known as Chicha, announced on Thursday that she had finally met her granddaughter.
Clara Anahi Teruggi was abducted by the military government in 1976.
But a prosecutor working on the case said Ms Mariani had been introduced to the wrong woman.
The announcement, on Thursday was hailed as another triumph for the campaign group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which was formed to reunite families with their missing children.
Even President Mauricio Macri celebrated the news on his Twitter account.
But two days later DNA tests were released showing that the woman Ms Mariani met was not her missing granddaughter.
"There is no genetic match between Ms Mariani and her alleged granddaughter," said prosecutor Pablo Parenti.

Argentina's president tweeted: "I want to wish Chicha Mariani, her granddaughter, and all the family a happy Christmas reunion."

Ms Mariani, a founding member of the Grandmothers, had hired a private laboratory to carry out her own DNA tests, said Mr Parenti.






She founded her own organisation, the Anahi Foundation, which includes one of her granddaughter's names, after stepping down as president of the Grandmothers in 1989.
Results from an official bank of genetic samples were negative.
Ms Mariani, who is nearly blind, is devastated, said Anahi Foundation spokesman Juan Martin Ramos Padilla.
"It was a hard blow for Chicha," he said, adding that she is determined to carry on.
"She is 92 and will continue searching for her granddaughter. We just hope to be able to find her."
Her granddaughter was abducted 39 years ago, when she was three months old.

Information source:bbc

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