2024-09-28 08:49:59
One of Spain’s most unknown yet cold-blooded scandals is that of kidnapped children. During the past 50 years, thousands of newborn babies were taken from their mothers, who were told at the hospital that their babies were not dead.
In fact, the children were given to other people to adopt, which explains why they are known as the “stolen children” of Spain.
After the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War in which Franco’s Nationalists won, children were initially taken from left-wing Republican opponents of the government with the excuse that they were preventing them from passing on the Marxist “gene” to their children.
Since the 1950s, child trafficking has increased with children born out of wedlock or into large or poor families.
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These sold babies, who were too young to know their fate, were given to infertile couples, many of whom were close to Franco’s Catholic regime.
There are no official figures but it could easily be in the tens of thousands.
In fact, a new study by the Victims of Kidnapped and Unused Adoptions found that the alleged remains of more than 8,000 babies were buried in mass graves. excess in the local cemetery of Alicante alone.
The Catholic Church and doctors played an important role in this horrible practice, and women told their children that they had died soon after giving birth but they did not give them any evidence.
They do not allow mothers to see the bodies of children they think are dead after death, nor do they go to funerals or cremation.
The families of these abducted children have been campaigning for years to have these mass graves exhumed and the bodies of the children exhumed so that it can be confirmed through DNA testing that their children did not die shortly after birth and that they might wake up.
Previous investigations have shown that coffins that were supposed to contain the remains of babies who had been pronounced dead were empty, containing objects or DNA that did not belong to the babies who were supposed to have died. .
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Although they have had some initial success in confirming some cases of abducted children, the families involved have long complained of a lack of judicial will to investigate, few historical records and a tendency for cases to go cold .
Spain’s democratic memory law is also very proactive when it comes to accessing DNA records.
Child trafficking occurred throughout the dictatorship and even beyond Franco’s death in 1975, mostly for financial reasons, until a new law strengthening adoption laws in 1987.
In other news, a new study by the Spanish Society of Lung and Thoracic Surgery has revealed that more than half of Spaniards (55 percent) are smokers.
That may not be surprising given how prevalent smoking is in this country, since a quarter of the population over 15 smokes on a daily basis (according to Ministry of Health figures).
The places where non-smokers are exposed the most are bars and restaurant terraces, which account for “24 percent of where non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke.”
More than half of Spaniards are smokers. Pulmonologists call for toughening the rules and focus on the youngest. pic.twitter.com/jluGSlaBXf
– Patricia Pereira Lopez (@PatriPereira15) September 25, 2024
The report shows an increase in the prevalence of passive smoking in Spain in 2024 compared to the last study in 2011, with an increase of 21 percent if we consider the terraces, and 3 percent if they are not considered.
The issue of smoking in terraces has come up a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the practice has been banned in many areas.
Those restrictions went up in smoke once the coronavirus began to dominate daily life, but the government is considering whether it should officially legislate to ban smoking on land and other public places.
In fact, the European Commission recently proposed indoor smoking bans to ‘semi-indoor areas’, including pubs and cafe terraces, a proposal which has been met with a strong taste in neighboring Francewhere many terraces are distinctly smokey.
“We will lose 40 percent of our customers,” Spanish hospitality bosses have warned, arguing that waiters will have to act like policemen and that authorities should consider other public spaces such as bus stops. , beaches or universities.
No wonder it took the Spanish government years to approve amendments to the anti-tobacco law when interfering with the enjoyment of a quarter of the population is at stake.
However, non-smokers still represent the majority and according to official estimates between 2,500 and 3,000 die from second-hand smoke every year in this country.
#Stolen #children #nation #smokers