Donda testified at the trial for her appropriation and asked her uncle to know her date of birth and where her parents are.

The former head of Inadi and reinstated granddaughter, Victoria Donda, testified today in the case in which her paternal uncle and former member of task force 3.3.2 of the ESMA, Adolfo Miguel Donda Tigel, is accused as a co-author for her appropriation, to whom she asked “to know her date of birth” and the whereabouts of her parents. I am interested in knowing two things: I want to know my date of birth because I am sure that he (Donda Tigel) knows it, and to know in which pit they threw it to my dad to be able to take his bones, his ashes, somewhere and be able to leave him a flower, “asked Donda.Before the Federal Oral Court (TOF) 6 of CABA, composed of judges Ricardo Basilico, Daniel Obligado and Gabriela López Iñíguez, Donda testified for more than an hour, where she told what she could reconstruct about the kidnapping of her parents, the captive birth of her mother in the Esma and the long journey that would lead her to restore her identity in October 2004. María Hilda “Cori” Pérez and José Laureano Donda, were part of the Montoneros organization and had a daughter, Eva Daniela, five months old, who was at that time in the care of her maternal grandmother. Pérez was kidnapped when she was in the fifth month of pregnancy in the western part of the conurbation on March 28, 1977. Then she was seen in the 3rd Police Station of Castelar and in August of that year she was transferred to the ESMA, where she gave birth to a girl whom she called Victoria in a delivery assisted by the military doctor Jorge Luis Magnacco.On the day of the kidnapping, Donda was able to reconstruct through the testimonies of witnesses and neighbors that her mother tried to escape and that in the bullfight she lost a shoe, that José Laureano – her father – would find lying on the floor hours later, so he immediately began a desperate search to find her. Victoria’s father, brother ten years younger of the accused Donda Tigel, was kidnapped in May 1977 and remains missing, as does “Cori”. During her statement, the current undersecretary of Analysis and Strategic Political Monitoring of the province of Buenos Aires read aloud a letter written “in her own hand” by her father and addressed to her paternal grandmother. There, José Laureano thanked everything he had been taught “in terms of sacrifice, humility and rectitude of principles, which has always been the development of the family framework that has allowed me to see what is the only way to assume life.” That way is the struggle, that struggle is for the family, because ultimately, the homeland and the people are the sum of the families of our land. The construction of a new family, of a new man, of a new society is our goal”, were the words of José that Victoria read before the Court.That was one of the last contacts that José Laureano could establish with his family along with a telephone call to his mother. ” This is the voice of my father, who was 21 years old when he was kidnapped during the dictatorship in which his brother participated. Brother who in 1972 informed his superiors, knowing the risks, the ideology of his younger brother to gain their trust, “said Victoria. “To complement the profile and character” of Donda Tigel, Victoria said that the former Navy officer revealed in a hidden camera of the program Telenoche Investiga That he was one of the authors of the book of instruction for interrogations of the Buenos Aires Police, where it is explained that “a detainee cannot be interrogated by giving him a cup of coffee but you have to give him ‘machine’ (by the electric prod) and do what needs to be done.” In another part of her statement, Victoria referred to the transfer of her mother to the former Esma and how she navigated her pregnancy. A fellow detainee of “Cori” told her that when her mother went into labor she asked for help, then they took her to the pregnant room and she gave birth on a table, by natural birth. “My mom ripped off the serum, jumped from where I was, hugged me and gave me Victoria,” Donda said about the data she was able to obtain from the testimony of Esma survivor Lidia Vieira, who assisted “Cori” during childbirth. While in the room of the pregnant women of the ESMA, “Cori” had received the visit of a sailor; He told his fellow captives that he was his brother-in-law and identified him by his first and last name: Adolfo Donda. “I was able to talk to almost all the survivors who were with my mother and thanks to them and their memories, and that of colleagues who served and knew her, I was able to reconstruct the memory of my mother, whom I could not meet because there were those who believed they owned the life and death of people who believed in a different country.” said the official.to Buenos Aires. Victoria was appropriated by the prefect Juan Antonio Azic, who integrated with Donda Tigel the task forces that operated from the ESMA. When his niece was born, Donda Tigel was not among the repressors who acted in the ESMA although he was seen on some occasions. However, in 1978 Donda Tigel was assigned to the ESMA officers’ casino, where he became in charge of the Operations Headquarters and tactical intelligence of that Navy unit.Towards the end, Victoria warned her uncle that if he would benefit from temporary departures “every time he goes out on the street know that he has them thanks to us, that we fight for freedom and democracy, thanks to his younger brother, whom he allowed to be killed, disappeared and to whom today neither his grandchildren nor his granddaughter can bring a flower.” Remember that she also has that freedom thanks to that woman whom she saw in shackles and pregnant asking her to please take me to my grandmother, “said Victoria and concluded: “The only thing I want to know is where they are (Cori” and José Laureano). Break the pact of silence. They used the State to commit crimes with the worst crimes that humanity knew and for which they are being tried today.” For his part, former marine Donda Tigel during the extension of his investigative statement reiterated that he does not know the whereabouts of his younger brother and sister-in-law, who did not know the designated “pregnant room”. In addition, he claimed that he had asked for information about his brother José, but had no answers. “I am at your disposal, I do not know where my brother is, I do not know where my sister-in-law is and I would also be interested in knowing the fate of the two,” said the accused and insisted that he “could not do anything” for José Laureano and said that he came to ask a companion of “his trust” if he knew anything about his brother but did not obtain information. After three hours of hearing, TOF 6 proceeded to give rise to a fourth intermission until Monday, March 20 at 10, when the trial will resume.

Original source in Spanish