More cases of stolen babies emerge in Girona's Alliance (and many more are expected to be found)

GironaA birth without apparent complications, the baby's first cry, a fleeting glance with the mother, and then the nurse rushes the baby away. A little later, she returns and announces that the baby has died. It cannot be seen, baptized, or buried. Doctor's orders. And then, silence. Years and years of silence within the family, with a latent suspicion: perhaps that baby didn't really die, perhaps it was sold to make money and is now living in an unknown location.

This is the experience shared by several families from Girona who, during the 1960s and 1970s, gave birth at the Clínica L'Aliança, on Carrer del Carme in Girona, where the Causse Clinic, formerly the Clínica Onyar, is located today. All of them contain compelling evidence that a clandestine network was operating in this hospital trafficking babies for 200,000 pesetas, with nurses, nuns, midwives, and doctors involved. At the time of the events, during the Franco regime, no one dared to protest or ask the authorities uncomfortable questions, but in recent years, cases have come to light. Such is the case of Josep Comas, from Salitja (Selva), brother of a child presumed dead in 1965 in L'Aliança, who has been investigating the subject for some time and has just published the book One hundred years and one absence, dedicated to his mother, Maria Freixas, 100 years old.

ARA journalist Albert Llimós told his story in a report in summer 2021 And from there, more Girona families with stories similar to L'Aliança's got in touch. So far, eight witnesses have joined forces and created a Instagram profile to make a fuss. However, there are many more affected people, dozens, yet they still don't dare to take the step of sharing their experiences, whether out of fear, the smell, or fear of discredit. They all share a common story: more or less the same team of midwives and nurses, and none of the babies are registered anywhere. Neither as born nor as deceased, which further fuels the premonitions.

The mothers were not to blame.

"Every time an article or photo comes out, there are people who see themselves reflected in it, they contact us and we confirm that all the cases have the same thing. modus operandi", explains Josep Comas: "The more we spread the word, the more likely it is that someone will suspect or find out that he was supposedly adopted, raise their ears, contact us, and agree to consult the state DNA bank." Comas is very clear about his mother's words to her stolen son: "She wants to tell him that, alone, when they took him away and told her that her son had died while they were washing him, what could she do?" defends Josep Comas.

The relatives, despite having the names and surnames of the main suspects, do not want to accuse those responsible or take legal action against them, because most of them are dead, they are not dead, they are the hearts of their descendants. Nor do they want to charge the clinic, because the current owners have nothing to do with it, it is a French company, which, although it has not made things easy for them when it comes to accessing the files, has no responsibility for the past events. orphaned or of parents who had abandoned her.

Objective: find the children and siblings

The families' main goal is simply to locate their lost siblings. "I want to find my siblings," confirms Dolores Sitjà, sister of a boy and a girl who were born without a trace in L'Aliança during that same decade. "A girl who knew she was being adopted wrote to me saying that maybe we looked alike and that she remembers her father secretly carrying an envelope at the clinic, but we did the tests and it wasn't my sister," she explains.

For her, finding her siblings would be very painful, but also deeply emotional: "I haven't had any siblings, and I want to explain to them how my parents experienced this absence. I want them to know what they've missed. I hope they had a good life, but they didn't have one at home, and I like that they're not alone, because if they were taken in and then not treated well... that would be really hard."

Sitjà has encountered hair-raising situations: "When I was at university in Bellaterra, I was mistaken for another girl more than once, and in recent years, I've also been told more than once that someone had seen me. She looks a lot like me, but I don't know who she is."

Pressure on administrations

Beyond this joy in finding their lost siblings, families are also raising their voices to pressure the authorities, because until now they have encountered numerous obstacles to archiving and registering. They are demanding that the 2020 Catalan law on the enforced disappearance of minors be enforced and that the Generalitat (Catalan government) take charge of its investigations. For now, the group has contacted Carme Renedo, a member of the Junts (Junts) party in the Congress of Deputies, who is closely familiar with the case and is working to present it soon. a motion in the room to reactivate the law.