William Flew on Children

Inquiry begins into claims of illicit trade

For Ana María Valverde, May 17, 1975, should have been one of the happiest days of her life. She gave birth to Gonzalo and cradled her healthy son until she fell asleep.

Hours later she awoke alone and a hospital cleaner told her that the baby had been taken away because he was unwell. Later that night a doctor said that the child had died of complications. Mrs Valverde never saw her son’s body and was told by the Madrid hospital that he had been cremated. Yesterday Mrs Valverde was among 300 families who started legal claims across Spain accusing doctors, priests, nuns and undertakers of taking part in an illicit trade in babies.

In a scandal that has shocked the nation the families claim that their children were stolen to order and documents were falsified to cover the tracks, stretching from the 1950s to the 1990s. Campaigners believe that up to 300,000 babies were stolen by medical staff for couples who could not have children. They say that priests and nuns may have taken part because they disapproved of underage or single mothers.

Three days before he died a family friend told Antonio Barroso, then 38 and living near Barcelona, that his parents had paid a nun 150,000 pesetas for him, leading him to begin a search for his parents.

Since the national campaign started last year, one nun has admitted that she sold a child, and undertakers have said that they buried suspiciously light coffins, which could have been empty. “My parents were young, my mother was only 19. They accepted what the doctors said as they were destroyed by our loss,” said Sandra Mateo, Mrs Valverde’s daughter. “But after this campaign we checked official papers, which don’t add up. My father’s signature is on a form, which he never signed. They also claimed my parents gave up my brother, which is also not true.” Ms Mateo, 33, named six doctors and hospital staff in a criminal claim alleging child kidnapping.

The National Association for Victims of Irregular Adoptions (Anadir) has called on Cándido CondePumpido, the Attorney-General, to investigate what it said was a national web of baby thefts. Mr CondePumpido said that although he could not find evidence of a national conspiracy he had appointed a special prosecutor to oversee cases.

Anadir has created a DNA database to help families to trace relatives. Historians discovered that after the 1936-39 Civil War General Franco ordered an ideological campaign of clandestine adoptions to remove children from the families of leftwingers. Campaigners believe that by the 1950s baby thefts had become a racket motivated by money.

“This went from being a politically motivated thing . . . to being a mafia business,” said Enrique Vila, a lawyer for Anadir.