“How do you hug someone in a way that compensates for 42 years of hugs?” This is the question Jimmy Lippert Thyden asks himself, as he has traveled from the United States to Chile to see his biological mother for the first time.
María Angélica González and her son were victims of child trafficking during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Now, thanks to the NGO “Nos Buscamos” (We Search), Jimmy has discovered that his adoption in the United States was falsified and that his biological family has always been waiting for him.
“She says, ‘Son, you have no idea about the oceans of tears I’ve shed for you. How many nights I’ve stayed awake praying for God to let me live long enough to find out what happened to you,'” Jimmy says tearfully.
“Nos Buscamos” found out that Jimmy was born in a hospital in Santiago and that his mother was told he had died and that his body had been disposed of. Thanks to a DNA test, Jimmy not only confirmed that he was 100% Chilean but also was able to get in touch with his cousin and, shortly after, with his biological mother.
Constanza del Rio, founder of Nos Buscamos, explains that they have already organized over 450 meetings between adoptees and their biological families in the last 9 years, a problem that especially affected poor families.
“They simply stole children and sold them. It wasn’t to save them from poverty or prevent them from starving to death or anything like that. That was the story they presented. But the real story was that… these children were stolen from poor families, poor women who didn’t know. They didn’t know how to defend themselves,” Del Rio explains.
Although Jimmy managed to reunite with his biological family, he acknowledges that reunification can be difficult. Jimmy confesses that some form of financial support for families to visit their country of origin is necessary.
TYT Newsroom
