Estela de Carlotto (1930-present) is a human rights activist and president of the Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today’s Local Legend is a white-haired, quiet grandmother of twelve. At the age of 84, it’s said she made the entirety of Argentina cry with the search for her twelfth grandchild. She was a well-loved schoolteacher and a dedicated mother, but it was her determination to uncover the truth in the face of constant threat that made her famous. Let’s talk about Estela de Carlotto and the Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo.
Estela was born on October 22nd, 1930, in a rural area of Argentina called La Pampa. Her mother and father were both of English descent. Estela’s father worked as a postmaster, while her mother stayed home and made fancy clothing. Growing up, Estela’s mother taught Estela how to sew and dress herself.
When Estela turned 20, she realized a childhood dream by becoming a primary school teacher. She prided herself on her relationship with her students. She later became the principal of a school in La Plata, one of Argentina’s biggest cities.
Around this time, Estela met and married a man named Guido Carlotto. The couple had four children together. They named their oldest daughter, Laura, after a movie they often watched together during their engagement.
By all accounts, Estela was happy to live the rest of her life as a teacher and mother-- but, it seems, history had other plans.
In 1976, the Argentine military staged a coup, or junta, against the Peronist government. Led by Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla, it was the beginning of one of the country’s darkest chapters, called the “Dirty War.” The junta persecuted any perceived dissidents, including activists, students, journalists, and anyone tied to Leftist organizations, with brutal force. Those who were taken-- more than 30,000 individuals-- were called “los desaparecidos,” or, “the disappeared.” Often, they were never heard from again.
In the years leading up to the junta, three of Estela’s children had become involved in Leftist politics. Laura, especially, had become a militant Peronist and activist through her work in journalism. Though Estela and Guido often encouraged Laura to flee the country, she was steadfast in furthering her cause in Argentina. In 1977, Laura had just entered the University of La Plata to pursue a degree in history when she was kidnapped and taken to a detention center. She was 23 years old, and three months pregnant.
It wasn’t out of the ordinary for pregnant individuals to become part of “the disappeared.” Often, these women were kept alive until they gave birth. The mothers were then killed, and the babies were given to military families or others connected to the regime. The process was a brutal method of re-educating the future Argentinian population in favor of the Videla government.
When Laura disappeared, Estela and Guido set to searching for her. It was a dangerous task, however-- Guido was taken prisoner and tortured for 25 days for his investigation. He was only set free after Estela paid a hefty fine.
Nearly six months after Laura went missing, Estela followed the advice of a close friend who had also lost a daughter to the junta. She attended a group session of women who had lost children to the Dirty War. They called themselves the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo.
The Abuelas were founded in 1977 in response to the Dirty War. Most members had lost a child or grandchild to the Videla abductions. The Abuelas took it upon themselves to bring attention to los desaparecidos. They did so in a series of public marches in the Plaza de Mayo, the main square in Buenos Aires. They identified themselves by wearing a white handkerchief around their hair, a now-famous symbol for human rights in Argentina.
Estela joined the Abuelas in April of 1978. Just four months later, in August, she was informed by the police of Laura’s death. Laura’s body was returned to her for burial, which was out of the ordinary. Still, Estela heard no news of Laura’s baby.
That same month, Estela retired from teaching and dedicated herself full-time to working with the Abuelas of the Plaza de Mayo. The group was pursuing a lofty goal: they wanted to locate the children of the “disappeared” and reunite them with their existing biological family.
They began by piecing together stories from survivors of detention centers. But the Abuelas soon added another tool to their arsenal: they became instrumental in the development of genetic forensics in Argentina. With the help of an American genetics scientist, the Abuelas set to work testing willing children for genetic similarities to those taken by the regime. Their endeavor eventually led to the creation of a national blood bank to identify children born in captivity, as well as the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team.
In 1983, the military coup came to a close and a democratic government was elected. This allowed the Abuelas’ efforts to continue with less controversy. In 1989, Estela was elected president of the group. She became famous for her always-coiffed hair and refined demeanor as she traveled the world to publicize the Abuelas’ cause.
From survivors of the detention center, Estela had learned early on that Laura had given birth to a baby boy and named it Guido. Estela searched for nearly forty years without further word on Laura’s son. In interviews, she always spoke of her grandson and said she was waiting to meet him. In the meantime, Estela helped identify over 100 children by 2009 and became a grandmother to eleven other children. Her husband, Guido, died in 2001.
It wasn’t until 2014, 36 years after Laura’s death, that a DNA test confirmed a musician from the countryside 200 miles away was Estela’s grandson. He became the 114th grandchild to be identified. He changed his last name from his adoptive family’s back to “Montoya Carlotto” in honor of his birth parents. Though he does not go by Laura’s intended name of Guido, he did adopt it as his middle name.
According to the Abuelas, an estimated 500 children had been kidnapped or born in detention centers. Under Estela’s watch, the Abuelas have identified 121 children, over 10% of the total missing population, and have been presented with numerous humanitarian awards. Estela, now 90 years old, continues to head their efforts.
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