The Noble siblings case is an Argentine case concerning the biological identity of Marcela and Felipe Noble Herrera, adoptive daughter and son of
Ernestina Herrera de Noble
Ernestina Laura Herrera de Noble (7 June 1925 – 14 June 2017) was a prominent Argentine publisher and executive. She was the largest shareholder of the Grupo Clarín media conglomerate and director of the flagship '' Clarín'' newspaper. She ...
, owner of
Grupo Clarín. The
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( es, italic=no, Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo) is a human rights organization with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the 1976–1983 Argentine military dicta ...
believe them to be children of women who
disappeared
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...
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 as ...
, and have requested samples for
DNA profiling to compare with their database of victim families. Marcela and Felipe rejected the study. The administrations of both presidents
Néstor and
Cristina Kirchner
Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
*Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess
*Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...
supported a compulsory
blood collection
In medicine, sampling is gathering of matter from the body to aid in the process of a medical diagnosis and/or evaluation of an indication for treatment, further medical tests or other procedures. In this sense, the sample is the gathered matter ...
in order to carry out the DNA profiling. The opposing parties and legal precedence, on the other hand, support the Nobles
right to privacy
The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 194 ...
.
Development
Ernestina Herrera de Noble requested on May 13, 1976 in the Juvenile Court No. 1 of San Isidro, at that time in charge of Judge Ofelia Hejt, the adoption of a girl that she said she had found eleven days before in a cardboard box left at the door of his house, offering as witnesses his neighbor Yolanda Echagüe de Aragón and Roberto García, his driver, whom he introduced as the caretaker of Yolanda Echagüe de Aragón's farm.
Shortly after, on July 7, 1976, Herrera de Noble asked the same judge for the adoption of another baby, a boy who would have been left that same day in the same court as Judge Hejt, by a person who claimed to be single mother, who exhibited a national identity document that was later found not to correspond to her and gave a false address. That same day, without further formality, the judge gave him the custody of the baby and just 43 days later he granted the adoption and imposed the name of Felipe Noble Herrera. Hejt died in 1978.
The case started in 2001, and two years later Marcela and Felipe agreed to compare their DNA with the two litigant families. Those families, however, delayed the execution of the ruling.
In 2009, during the
controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism, Marcela and Felipe agreed to a new study at the Forensic Medical Unit, but judge Conrado Bergesio ordered a
search of their homes and the collection of personal clothing. Bergesio was replaced by Arroyo Salgado, who considered the evidence to be insufficient for a DNA profiling, and attempted to detain Marcela and Felipe at the street, break into Ernestina's house, and a compulsory collection of blood and spit. All opposing parties condemned the attitude towards the Noble Herrera.
Salgado ruled as well that the collection should not be done by the Forensic Medical Unit, but by the National Bank of Genetic Databases, under control of the executive power.
A 2011 ruling ordered again a compulsory collection of blood and spit, but not allowing to compare it with the more than 1,500 samples in the Grandmother's database, but just with a few specific families. The Noble Herrera will appeal, and their defense will be based in that Marcela and Felipe are
adults, that they did not commit any crime, and have the right to refuse these studies.
The Prieto-Gualtieri case decided in 2009 by the
Supreme Court of Argentina
The Supreme Court of Argentina ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Argentina), officially known as the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentine Nation ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina, CSJN), is the highest court of l ...
, set the precedent that compulsory blood collection is an unconstitutional violation of the right to privacy.
The adopted children of Clarín owner Ernestina Herrera de Noble accuse
Aníbal Fernández
Aníbal Domingo Fernández (born January 9, 1957) is an Argentina, Argentine Justicialist Party politician, lawyer, and certified public accountant. Throughout his career, he has remained a close ally to the former President of Argentina, Preside ...
of using them as pawns in her conflict with their mother's company. "We feel scared, anguished, insecure, persecuted," Felipe Noble Herrera and his sister Marcela said in a televised statement.
Requested closure
The appropriation charges have not been proved by DNA tests. The head of group Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, who advocated for those tests, has said the case is not closed as new tests will be performed as more families of disappeared submit blood samples to the genetic pool.
Aníbal Fernández
Aníbal Domingo Fernández (born January 9, 1957) is an Argentina, Argentine Justicialist Party politician, lawyer, and certified public accountant. Throughout his career, he has remained a close ally to the former President of Argentina, Preside ...
said the government should not have to apologize to the adopted children of Ernestina Noble Herrera magnate. The lawyers of the Noble Herrera request instead that the case against Ernestina Herrera de Noble be closed, as happened with all the similar cases when the DNA tests gave negative results. The case was finally closed in January 2016.
La jueza Sandra Arroyo Salgado sobreseyó a Ernestina Herrera de Noble en la causa por apropiación de niños durante la dictadura
See also
* Controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism
References
{{CFK
Political scandals in Argentina
Presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Sibling duos