Riding the Wave, 26. Everything Goes Round.

The battle over the Pazo de Meirás, in Sada, A Coruña, continues. This manor house was built by the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán. After her death, her family was tricked into selling it to a religious order, that turned around and "gave" it to General Franco, as a "present" from the local people. To fix it up, a mandatory subscription was set up, to which  everyone in the province of A Coruña had to forcibly contribute.

Now, seventy years later, a judge has mandated that it was illegally given to Franco, and that it now belongs to the State as a historical site. The Francos were ordered to hand over the keys by either last week, or this week. Since they tried to fill trucks with the contents, the judge ordered them to return anything they had taken out of the manor house, because the sentence referred not only to the real estate, but also to the contents.

Looking over things, it was discovered that Franco had pilfered important items from other palaces, and even the Royal Palace. Officials have gone through the house and gardens, and listed many different historical items that had no business being there. However, the contents of the manor left behind at the death of Emilia Pardo Bazán, have mostly disappeared. Franco's disdain for literature has always been more than evident.

Now, the president of the regional government, Alberto Feijóo, has asked the government in Madrid to hand over the manor house to the regional government. This is the same person who asked to vote against expropriating the estate from the Franco family, and putting in the hands of the Fundación Francisco Franco its oversight on opening it to the public. His argument was that Franco had legally acquired it. Luckily, the judge overruled him, and finally expropriated the property before the Franco family had the chance to sell it, which they were trying to do. 

Spain's problem has always been that Franco died in his bed, without ever having been brought to account for his hijacking of a legitimately elected government, and the subjection of over forty years of the country to his dictatorship. History is written by the winners, at least immediate history. It takes time, but things are eventually put in their place. Some things take longer than others, especially when there are people behind the scenes who don't want things to change, like the retired military officers that are bemoaning the putting away of Francoist symbolism. Or the far right fascist parties, like Vox, and others even worse than them, like Hogar Social. But, with the passing of the years, things will eventually be made right.

Life continues.