Sibling Survivors of Mexico's Dirty War Reunited

A brother and sister have been reunited 29 years after their family was destroyed and their original identities lost in Mexico's "dirty war" against leftwing groups.

The meeting was the culmination of three years of determined detective work by Aleida Gallangos, now aged 31. She tracked down her 33-year-old brother Lucio Antonio Gallangos, who has lived for the last decade in Washington, DC.

Ms Gallango's search was supported by the Mexican special prosecutor's office, which was set up in 2002 to pursue crimes associated with the government's ruthless crackdown on the left from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Officials from the office told reporters that Lucio Antonio was the first person on an official list of 532 people "disappeared" at that time to be found alive. They believe there could be more.

The Gallangoses' story goes back to a police raid on a Mexico City safe house of the clandestine communist group, League of September 23rd, during which the parents were taken away and never seen again.

Their youngest child, Aleida, named after Che Guevara's daughter, was rescued by a friend of the family called Carlos, who handed her to his brother.

Carlos promised to return to his brother's family with information about Aleida's elder brother, but was killed.

Renamed Luz Elba Gorostiola, Aleida grew up unaware she was adopted until she was 16, when she heard the story from an aunt.

Then, in 2001, she read a newspaper interview with a woman who recounted a family story similar to her own. The woman turned out to be Aleida's biological grandmother.

This sparked the search for Lucio Antonio, who was nearly four at the time of the raid. Aleida traced him to a Mexico City orphanage and from there to his adoptive parents, who refused to help. They had never told him he was not their biological son.

Armed with her brother's new name, Juan Carlos Hernandez, Aleida traced him to Washington DC, enlisting the help of the local media, who publicised the story.

On Christmas Eve she had a phone call from a man who asked: "Who are you looking for?"

The siblings met a few days later in Washington.

"Overnight, my life has changed and I don't know if I can take this all in yet," said Juan Carlos.