Argentinian activist Maria Isabel Marian reunited with 'wrong granddaughter'

Maria Isabel Mariani announced she had finally met her granddaughter, only to be told two days later that she had been introduced to the wrong woman

Maria Isabel Mariani thought she had finally met her granddaughter (AFP PHOTO / TELAM - Carlos CERMELE)

A 92-year-old Argentinian woman who has been searching for her missing granddaughter for half of her life has been "reunited" with the wrong woman.

Maria Isabel Marian announced on Christmas Eve she had finally met her granddaughter, only to be told two days later that DNA tests showed there was no genetic match between the two.

There has been no suggestion that the woman who met Ms Mariani had attempted to deceive her and Ms Mariani remains positive and will continue the search for her granddaughter, the BBC has reported.

The activist’s granddaughter was kidnapped from her home 39 years ago during the Argentinian dictatorship when she was three months old.

Her parents, Daniel Mariani and Diana Teruggi, were members of the Montoneros left-wing group and the baby was taken from their home in an operation in which Mrs Teruggi was killed.

Ms Mariani, is one of the 12 founders of ‘Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo’, an organisation that seeks to locate all the children kidnapped during the Argentinian military dictatorship of 1976-1983.

The organisation has already reunited 119 children to their families.