The number of known complaints so far relating to possible ‘baby thefts’ carried out during the Franco regime is around 800, and in La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz province, the first exhumations are being carried out.
The bodies of two babies are being exhumed to try and ascertain whether they do in fact belong to two women who were told that their children had died at birth or whether a swap took place, their healthy babies being replaced by ones who had died earlier for the purpose of selling them to other families.
It is estimated that at least 300,000 babies were stolen during the Franco regime, the mothers being told that the babies died during childbirth.
This particular case relates to a suspected baby theft carried out in the 1970’s.
Extreme precautions are being taken with such exhumations, the families concerned only being notified a few hours beforehand and the exhumation occurring outside normal cemetery hours.
Another exhumation is expected in Málaga province in the near future.