The Public Prosecutor in Málaga is the latest to begin investigations into suspected cases of ‘baby theft’ during the Franco dictatorship, the current cases relating to the period 1957 to 1980.
There are currently ten cases under investigation, all with the common denominator that the mother was sedated and when she regained consciousness, she was told that the baby had died and was not allowed to see the body of the child.
There is also no record of any of the deaths in civil registries or in cemetery records. Other discrepancies have also been documented, such as differing reasons given for the cause of death of babies.
Four cases relate to the Hospital Carlos Haya, three to the Hospital Civil, two to the Hospital de Antequera and one to the old Hospital de Julio.
Several of the cases involve the birth of twins, in each case the mother being told that one of the twins had died.
The first case to arrive at the office of the Public Prosecutor, in July 2010, involved a woman, Isabel Agüera, who demanded an investigation into the alleged death of her sister at the Hospital Civil in 1970.
The chief prosecutor for Málaga, Antonio Morales, came to the conclusion that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that the crimes of identity theft and forgery had been committed. The perpetrators of these crimes are still alive.
The second case emerged in October 2010 and since then there has been a steady trickle of people coming forward to demand investigations, with five so far in February 2011.