He Still Breathes
The last time there was an assassination in Spain, was when Admiral Carrillo Blanco, head of Franco's government, was blown sky high by ETA back in 1973. Those were the last days of the dictatorship, when people were trying to shake off the grey yoke of Franco, and bring Spain forward into the light of the rest of Europe, and ETA decided to take advantage of that social unrest.
Juan Prim in 1870, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo in 1897, José Canalejas in 1912, and Eduardo Dato in 1921, were the previous heads of government assassinated by anarchists and republicans during convulsed social moments in Spanish history. The latest moment of social tension is happening this year, between francoists and less nostalgic people, over the exhumation of Franco from his Valle de los Caídos, the Valley of the Fallen.
When earlier this year, the new Socialist government announced its intention of removing Franco's body from the monument he created to those fallen in the Civil War, and where people go to venerate and pray for him, it unleashed the anger of the nostalgics. There are many people who still gather at the Valle, and who attend Mass for his soul every November 20th, the anniversary of his death. His tomb is a magnet for hardline fascists, like Graceland is for Elvis fans. Those hardline fascists have become angry. Some are flocking to the extreme right political parties, others have decided to take matters into their own hands. One of these last is a man from Tarrassa, in Catalunya. He was arrested three weeks ago for an assassination plot against Pedro Sánchez, the Socialist Prime Minister.
The 63 year old man was arrested after declaring he was ready to "sacrifice himself for Spain," and had asked for help. In a WhatsApp like-minded group, he declared his intentions and asked for help in acquiring information on Sánchez's agenda, and his security detail. One of the members of the group, not quite as bloody-minded as this man, went to the police. When he was arrested, he was found to have 16 weapons in his house, some of them legal and registered, others not so much. The man, a very hardline Francoist fascist, had been planning to kill Sánchez, whom he called a "damned Red," ("rojo de mierda") over the exhumation of Franco.
It has been pointed out that the United States has become a fractured society, but Spain is already there. The fight between those who want to put paid to our shameful past by outlawing its exaltation, and those that still consider the dictatorship brought glory to our country, is ongoing and contentious. The truth is, it's shameful to acknowledge that our country, supposedly democratic, still venerates the tomb of its dictator, and his descendants have kept the riches acquired at the expense of its people. The Socialist government wants to change this, yet is being fouled by the Franco family and the opposition in parliament. The family has agreed to the exhumation, but only if they can reinter the patriarch in their crypt in the cathedral of Our Lady of Almudena, in the center of Madrid, next to the Royal Palace. The opposition doesn't want the exhumation, yet would honor the family's wishes. The Church, ever the partner of Franco, would not reject his reinterment in the Cathedral.
So, the government is trying to make it impossible for that reinterment by making a change to the Law of Historical Memory (ley de Memoria Histórica) by making it illegal to venerate the dictator in a public place, upon pain of closing that place to the public. I believe the law is also being tweaked to legally make it impossible to reinter him in the Almudena, and obligate the family to put his remains in a small cemetery in El Pardo, outside Madrid, where his wife is buried. The revised law would also mean the closure of various different bars and restaurants throughout Spain that honor Franco with memorabilia and attitudes.
Throughout Spain, there are numerous hostelry establishments that turn back time for whomever walks into them. From the infamous Casa Pepe in Ciudad Real, to a Francoist hymn-singing owner in her restaurant in A Guarda, to the Franco-loving Chinese owner of a café in Madrid (!), the geography is rife with nostalgics. Something that would be outlawed in Germany, which suffered its own nightmare with Hitler, is commonplace here.
The sad part is that these places have their faithful clientele that sees this attitude as normal. These people are not misfits. They're our neighbors and family. "Se Franco volvera," (if Franco returned) is a phrase often heard when discussing current events. And it's not mentioned in a condemnatory way. There is the myth that things were better with Franco. It's often repeated that there was almost no crime, that prices weren't so high, that people helped each other more. But those nostalgic memories are false. There was no crime because just about everybody in the villages was poor and there was nothing to steal. Prices weren't so high, but consumerism almost didn't exist outside the cities. People helped each other because everybody was in the same boat.
We're at a moment we should have been at over thirty years ago. When the Constitution was adopted, steps should have been taken to put the dictator and his dictatorship in their place in history. It might have been hard, but not impossible. Spain's bad luck is that our dictator died in his bed, and his followers have never been told to bury him. Now, they're refusing, and, with the rise of the ultra-right throughout Europe and the world, they will attempt to come into their own again. The rift is there, and it's deep.
Juan Prim in 1870, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo in 1897, José Canalejas in 1912, and Eduardo Dato in 1921, were the previous heads of government assassinated by anarchists and republicans during convulsed social moments in Spanish history. The latest moment of social tension is happening this year, between francoists and less nostalgic people, over the exhumation of Franco from his Valle de los Caídos, the Valley of the Fallen.
When earlier this year, the new Socialist government announced its intention of removing Franco's body from the monument he created to those fallen in the Civil War, and where people go to venerate and pray for him, it unleashed the anger of the nostalgics. There are many people who still gather at the Valle, and who attend Mass for his soul every November 20th, the anniversary of his death. His tomb is a magnet for hardline fascists, like Graceland is for Elvis fans. Those hardline fascists have become angry. Some are flocking to the extreme right political parties, others have decided to take matters into their own hands. One of these last is a man from Tarrassa, in Catalunya. He was arrested three weeks ago for an assassination plot against Pedro Sánchez, the Socialist Prime Minister.
The 63 year old man was arrested after declaring he was ready to "sacrifice himself for Spain," and had asked for help. In a WhatsApp like-minded group, he declared his intentions and asked for help in acquiring information on Sánchez's agenda, and his security detail. One of the members of the group, not quite as bloody-minded as this man, went to the police. When he was arrested, he was found to have 16 weapons in his house, some of them legal and registered, others not so much. The man, a very hardline Francoist fascist, had been planning to kill Sánchez, whom he called a "damned Red," ("rojo de mierda") over the exhumation of Franco.
It has been pointed out that the United States has become a fractured society, but Spain is already there. The fight between those who want to put paid to our shameful past by outlawing its exaltation, and those that still consider the dictatorship brought glory to our country, is ongoing and contentious. The truth is, it's shameful to acknowledge that our country, supposedly democratic, still venerates the tomb of its dictator, and his descendants have kept the riches acquired at the expense of its people. The Socialist government wants to change this, yet is being fouled by the Franco family and the opposition in parliament. The family has agreed to the exhumation, but only if they can reinter the patriarch in their crypt in the cathedral of Our Lady of Almudena, in the center of Madrid, next to the Royal Palace. The opposition doesn't want the exhumation, yet would honor the family's wishes. The Church, ever the partner of Franco, would not reject his reinterment in the Cathedral.
So, the government is trying to make it impossible for that reinterment by making a change to the Law of Historical Memory (ley de Memoria Histórica) by making it illegal to venerate the dictator in a public place, upon pain of closing that place to the public. I believe the law is also being tweaked to legally make it impossible to reinter him in the Almudena, and obligate the family to put his remains in a small cemetery in El Pardo, outside Madrid, where his wife is buried. The revised law would also mean the closure of various different bars and restaurants throughout Spain that honor Franco with memorabilia and attitudes.
Throughout Spain, there are numerous hostelry establishments that turn back time for whomever walks into them. From the infamous Casa Pepe in Ciudad Real, to a Francoist hymn-singing owner in her restaurant in A Guarda, to the Franco-loving Chinese owner of a café in Madrid (!), the geography is rife with nostalgics. Something that would be outlawed in Germany, which suffered its own nightmare with Hitler, is commonplace here.
The sad part is that these places have their faithful clientele that sees this attitude as normal. These people are not misfits. They're our neighbors and family. "Se Franco volvera," (if Franco returned) is a phrase often heard when discussing current events. And it's not mentioned in a condemnatory way. There is the myth that things were better with Franco. It's often repeated that there was almost no crime, that prices weren't so high, that people helped each other more. But those nostalgic memories are false. There was no crime because just about everybody in the villages was poor and there was nothing to steal. Prices weren't so high, but consumerism almost didn't exist outside the cities. People helped each other because everybody was in the same boat.
We're at a moment we should have been at over thirty years ago. When the Constitution was adopted, steps should have been taken to put the dictator and his dictatorship in their place in history. It might have been hard, but not impossible. Spain's bad luck is that our dictator died in his bed, and his followers have never been told to bury him. Now, they're refusing, and, with the rise of the ultra-right throughout Europe and the world, they will attempt to come into their own again. The rift is there, and it's deep.
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