María Macarena Gelman García (born 1 November 1976, in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

) is an

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an activist and politician.

Biography

Born in captivity to an Argentine mother, María Claudia García Irureta Goyena, her father was Marcelo Ariel Gelman Schuberoff, son of Argentine poet

Juan Gelman Juan Gelman (3 May 1930 – 14 January 2014) was an Argentine poet. He published more than twenty books of poetry between 1956 and his death in early 2014. He was a naturalized citizen of Mexico, country where he arrived as a political exile of th ...

. Her parents were kidnapped during the

Argentine military junta The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United St ...

, and María Claudia was moved to Uruguay under Operation Cóndor; while there, she was held at the clandestine detention center ''Centro de detención del Servicio de Información de Defensa'', ultimately being moved to the Hospital Militar upon the birth of her baby. Macarena was placed for adoption to a Uruguayan family. Her biological parents were murdered. Her father's remains were found in Argentina in 1990; as of 2021, her mother's remains have not been located. Macarena studied at The

Universidad de la República The University of the Republic ( es, Universidad de la República, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is Uruguay's oldest public university. It is by far the country's largest university, as well as the second largest public university in South America and t ...

, first in the Faculty of Science, and later in the Faculty of Chemistry.

The search for Macarena

On December 23, 1998, Juan Gelman published "An open letter to my grandchild" in the weekly newspaper Brecha. The text, written in 1995, detailed his feelings for his granddaughter, whom he had not yet found, along with the story of her parents. This letter was part of a long time public effort on Gelman's part to find his grandchild; this search gained notoriety in the exchange of open letters between Gelman and former Uruguayan president

Julio María Sanguinetti Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo (; born 6 January 1936 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan politician, lawyer and journalist, who twice served as President of Uruguay (from March 1985 until March 1990, and again, from March 1995 until March ...

. Gelman asked for the at the time President's help in the investigation, while Sanguinetti denied that the "stealing of babies" ever took place in Uruguay. Sanguinetti began then receiving letters from various people around the world, including renowned authors and several Nobel Prize winners. Under such public pressure, in 2000, Sanguinetti's successor, President

Jorge Batlle Jorge Luis Batlle Ibáñez (; ''Batlle'' locally or ; 25 October 1927 – 24 October 2016) was a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, and a member of the Colorado Party. He served as the President of Uruguay from 2000 to 2005. Dr. Jorge Batlle ...

ordered two parallel investigations, which arrived at the same conclusions reached by Gelman in an independent investigation. Thus, Macarena recovered her identity. After this discovery, Macarena changed her surnames to those of her biological parents (Gelman García). She pursued a career in social activism with a particular focus in human rights violations during the

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

, and the recovery of identity of those who suspect familial relation to disappeared people. In March 2014, Gelman took the decision to take part in politics and endorsed the presidential candidacy of Constanza Moreira. At the same time, she declared her own candidacy to the

Uruguayan Parliament The General Assembly of Uruguay ( es, Asamblea General de Uruguay) is the Legislature, legislative branch of the government of Uruguay, and consists of two chambers: the Senate of Uruguay, Chamber of Senators and the Chamber of Representatives of ...

for the Broad Front in the October elections.

References

External links

* 1976 births Politicians from Montevideo Uruguayan activists Uruguayan Jews Uruguayan people of Argentine descent Uruguayan people of Basque descent Uruguayan people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Jewish activists Jewish Uruguayan politicians Living people 21st-century Uruguayan women politicians 21st-century Uruguayan politicians Children of people disappeared during Dirty War University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni Jewish women activists {{Uruguay-activist-stub