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  • In Spain, forensic experts find no trace of alleged baby theft Manuel Ansede
    A team of forensic geneticists who examined the graves of newborns allegedly stolen in Spain during the Franco regime has published its findings for the first time in a scientific journal. The five researchers, from the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences (INTCF), underscored that their data challenges “the widespread narrative of systematic theft” in hospitals and rejects “the conjecture, by now a hoax, about 300,000 cases of stolen babies in Spain.” Seguir leyendo
     

In Spain, forensic experts find no trace of alleged baby theft

11 April 2026 at 04:00
An exhumation at Alicante cemetery for an investigation into alleged stolen babies, in January 2012.

A team of forensic geneticists who examined the graves of newborns allegedly stolen in Spain during the Franco regime has published its findings for the first time in a scientific journal. The five researchers, from the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences (INTCF), underscored that their data challenges “the widespread narrative of systematic theft” in hospitals and rejects “the conjecture, by now a hoax, about 300,000 cases of stolen babies in Spain.”

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Geneticist Antonio Alonso, former director of the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences, in Madrid, on February 2.Lawyer Enrique Vila (right), with Antonio Barroso, co-founder of the National Association of Victims of Irregular Adoptions, in January 2011.An exhumation at Alicante cemetery for an investigation into alleged stolen babies, in January 2012.Geneticist Manuel Crespillo, at the headquarters of the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences in Barcelona, ​​on February 2.

Ismael López, historian: ‘It can’t be ruled out that armed forces will have to go back to riding horses’

10 April 2026 at 12:58
Ismael López, pictured in Barcelona.

In today’s landscape of warfare, where drones and missiles play such a decisive role, and as we await the arrival of robot soldiers on the battlefield, studying cavalry seems like an exercise in military archaeology tinged with romantic nostalgia for a vanished world of lancers, hussars, uhlans, and dragoons. Apart from the fact that the countless horsemen slaughtered on horseback throughout history would hardly have seen the romance in it — let alone their poor mounts — cavalry not only remained in effective military use for much longer than is commonly thought, but could once again play a role in warfare in a world that has run out of the fuel or electricity that power modern military machinery. This is the view of the young military historian Ismael López (Valdeobispo, Cáceres, 31 years old), author of the monumental 800-page Sables al viento (Sabers in the Wind), an exhaustive history of modern cavalry between 1860 and 1945, from Custer’s horsemen to those of the Waffen-SS, and full of incredible episodes (published in Spain by Ático de los Libros, 2026).

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Ismael López, historian.
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