Spanish views from a small town

Last month was the hundredth birthday of Manuel Otero Martínez. He hailed from the village of Catasueiro, in Freixo, near Serra de Outes. From there he set out to Santander in search of a steady job. He found it in the shipyards, where he worked as a naval mechanic. Favored with a job, he was misfavored by fortune, which decreed the Spanish Civil War, and that he be drafted into the army of the Republic.  He ended up at the Batalla de Brunete near Madrid. There he was wounded, captured, and sent as a prisoner of war to Barcelona. His family back in Galicia worked for his release; his brother was in Franco's army. Manuel was eventually sent back to Catasueiro, but because he had fought on the Republican side was ostracized from village society and had difficult y finding a job. So he decided to emigrate. He wound up in New York City, where after working at various jobs as a mechanic, he set up his own garage. But he had difficulties because he was the citizen of a country with a...