Roberto Bustos Morales, born in Madrid in 1953, has located his three maternal siblings six decades after being separated from them following his admission to the Casa de Sant Josep in Tarragona. The search has allowed the reconstruction of a story that begins in Tortosa, passes through a juvenile center in Tarragona, and ends dispersed between the Pyrenees, La Noguera, and the Ebro Delta.
The paradox of the reunion is that the four siblings went through the same circuit of abandonment and guardianship, but grew up without knowing where the others were and, in at least two cases, were handed over to private individuals to work without pay. Roberto arrived at the age of 10 or 11 at the home of cattle ranchers in Viu de Llevata, in Alta Ribagorça, where he worked until shortly before military service.
Socuéllamos Researchers Identified the Father Who United the Four Siblings
The key breakthrough came when local researchers from Socuéllamos determined that Andrés Muñoz Alcolea, the name assigned at the orphanage, was the biological father of the three minors Roberto was looking for. From there, the family connection that had been broken since childhood emerged.
Angelita Muñoz, cousin of the brothers through her father, confirmed that kinship by recognizing her uncle's name in a publication about the case. That identification made it possible to close the link between Roberto Bustos and José, Manolo, and Gregorio Muñoz.
The four had been admitted to the Casa de Sant Josep in Tarragona after being abandoned in Tortosa. Manolo Muñoz explained that his mother left them on the carrilet, the small train that connected Tortosa and Salou, and that his father could not take care of them all and left them in the care of some nuns who sent them to Tarragona.
"My mother left us on the little train, on that small train that went from Tortosa to Salou. Then my father, Andrés, couldn't take care of all the brood and put us in the care of some nuns, who in turn sent us to Tarragona" - Manolo Muñoz
Two siblings reported unpaid work after leaving the center of Tarragona
The separation did not end in internment. After leaving the center, Roberto was handed over by a priest from the Casa de Sant Josep to some farmers in Viu de Llevata, where he spent years working without pay.
Manolo Muñoz recounted a similar experience. After leaving the juvenile center, a Cuban farmer who lived between Montblanc, El Prat de Llobregat, and Barcelona took charge of him and also put him to work doing unpaid labor.
Furthermore, Manolo recalled episodes of violence in childhood prior to that stage. He recounted that they were beaten and forced to beg in Barcelona and Gavà when he was eight or nine years old, and that if they didn't bring back money, they received blows.
"He would hit us and force us to beg in Barcelona, in Gavà… I would have been eight or nine years old. If you didn't bring money, you got hit" - Manolo Muñoz
Today the relationship between the brothers has been remade with different intensity depending on each case. Manolo lives in Sant Jaume d'Enveja and has already met Roberto both in Castejón de Sos and in his municipality in the Ebro Delta.
José Muñoz resides in a care center in La Seu d'Urgell, where Roberto visits him periodically. Gregorio Muñoz lives in Balaguer and maintains weekly contact with him via messaging.
During a television recording that was not broadcast, Roberto Bustos met Gregorio personally, and since then both maintain regular communication by messages.