A woman from Argentina who was kidnapped some 32 years ago aged just 13 by human-traffickers has been released with her nine-year-old son who was born in captivity.
The as-yet unidentified woman, today aged 45, was released from captivity after an operation carried out by Argentine and Bolivian police officers on a house in the city of Bermejo, close to the border with the south of Bolivia.
"P," as she was identified in a statement, was reunited with her family in their hometown of Mar del Plata earlier this month, a statement revealed, highlighting the role of the Gendarmerie and the Special Anti-Crime Force (FELCC) of the Bolivian national police.
The statement announcing her release, sent out on Christmas Day by the national Gendarmerie, provided no details about her abductors.
However, reports in local outlets said Argentine officials uncovered information about her potential whereabouts earlier this year, which they then passed to Bolivian officials.
According to unnamed Security Ministry sources cited on Perfil.com, an investigation into the woman's location began in 2014 but it was not until January of this year that she is believed to have arrived at a house in the border town.
Officials then involved the federal prosecutor's office in Orán, Salta province, from where enquiries were expanded and led by local prosecutor Dr. José Luis Bruno.
According to a report in the local Clarín daily, the duo were kept as "slaves" in poor living conditions, in a garage which was locked everyday with a double padlock. They had no identity documents, the newspaper reported, saying the woman had been forced to work in a brothel during her decades in captivity.
Despite the lengthy time she had spent in captivity, her family never stopped looking for her, the report claimed.
- TIMES/AFP
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