Throughout the year, Spain will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the death of dictator Francisco Franco and the start of the transition to democracy. This initiative by the government of Pedro Sánchez divides the Spanish political class and society, proof that the wounds of Francoism are still open.
“Nostalgia for the confrontation between Spaniards” or “commemoration of democracy”: the Spanish right-wing opposition and the socialist government have exchanged barbs in recent days around the celebrations planned for 2025 for the 50th anniversary of the death of dictator Francisco Franco , which occurred on November 20, 1975.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the initiative in December, saying it has the “single objective” of “highlighting the great transformation achieved during this half-century of democracy.” He mentioned “more than a hundred events”, indicating that they would take place “our streets, our schools, our universities and our museums”. The full program has not yet been made public.
Chaired by the socialist, the first ceremony will take place on Wednesday at the Reina Sofía National Museum in Madrid, which houses Pablo Picasso’s famous painting “Guernica”, a symbol of the anti-Franco struggle.
Opposition boycott
The Prime Minister’s initiative, however, did not excite the rest of the political class. The opposition thus decided to boycott the first of the ceremonies organized by the Spanish executive. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the Popular Party (PP), the main right-wing opposition group, considers that these commemorations are political opportunism and have the sole aim of diverting public attention from Pedro’s setbacks. Sanchez.
The government, in its desperation, constantly looks to the past. […] They’re boring us with this!
This program comes from a government “which, in its despair, constantly looks to the past”, denounced Alberto Núñez Feijó. In mid-December, he joked in front of his troops about the government’s initiative. “With their bitterness, they want to return to the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. They are boring us with that! We, with the Spaniards of today, we work for the Spaniards of tomorrow”, launched the leader of the PP.
The “despair” to which Alberto Núñez Feijo refers is an allusion to the legal cases for corruption concerning several members of Pedro Sánchez’s entourage, including his wife, but also to the delicate political situation of the socialist in Parliament, where he has not no majority and must bargain for the support of small regional parties to get the slightest bill approved.
Like the PP, the far-right Vox party, the third force in the country, will boycott the ceremony. Spain’s King Felipe VI will also not take part in the kick-off of the celebrations, a controversial absence.
Among the population, some also prefer to forget the past: “These are tributes which are perceived as outrages, with a vindictive spirit, and which awaken old hatreds”, estimates Alfredo, a Madrilenian interviewed in the 12:30 p.m. the RTS.
The “embarrassed” right
The socialists, for their part, explain this opposition reaction by the origins of the PP, heir to the Popular Alliance party founded in 1976 by a former Franco minister. “If celebrating democracy and freedom bores anyone, it is worrying to say the least,” retorted government spokesperson and Minister of Education and Sports Pilar Alegría.
“But I believe that more than boredom, what this produces in Alberto Núñez Feijo and within the Popular Party is embarrassment. Not least because we all know the story of the origin of the Popular Party and we know who its members and traveling companions are.”
“It seems important to me to remember with these commemorations that the civil war (which preceded the dictator’s coming to power, read the box) was not just a fight between our grandparents”, concluded the minister.
If celebrating democracy and freedom bores anyone, it’s worrying to say the least
“Refreshing the memory of what Francoism represents is very important. The young generation who [connaît pas] and did not study this period of history at school must know what happened”, adds Paula, a resident of Madrid, at the microphone of RTS.
Few repairs
Criticism against Pedro Sánchez’s initiative also came from the far left. The latter sees it as a “deception” to hide the fact that Spain, according to her, has not done much in the way of reparations for the victims of the dictatorship.
The Prime Minister passed a “democratic memory law” in 2022 which notably provides for the creation of a register of victims of Francoism and the removal of symbols of the dictatorship. But the law did not allow the torturers still alive to be tried, who benefited from the amnesty law passed during the transition to democracy.
>> Read about it: Spanish Parliament adopts law to rehabilitate victims of Francoism
At the initiative of Pedro Sánchez, Franco’s remains were exhumed in 2019 from the imposing mausoleum north of Madrid, which the dictator had built by thousands of political prisoners, and transferred to a cemetery in the capital after a legal standoff, the descendants of the dictator having appealed this decision.
>> Reread: Franco’s remains transferred to another cemetery
Injustices diminished
Several decades later, Franco’s political legacy and the civil war continue to divide Spanish public opinion. For Joan María Thomàs, professor of Contemporary History at the Catalan University Rovira i Virgili and specialist in Francoism, this is due to the fact that the end of the dictatorship in Spain was not “brutal, like that of the Portuguese dictatorships, German or Italian.
“There was great agreement, but this agreement was to look towards the future”, without dwelling on the injustices of the past, believes Joan María Thomàs. There exists in Spain “another memory, that of the part of the country which was Francoist, and which was a considerable part”, continues the professor.
According to him, remembering Franco’s death is a “positive” thing, insofar as the Spanish population “does not fully realize the importance of having regained a democratic regime […] and to have been able to consolidate it.
For Juan, who testifies in the 12:30 p.m., the dictatorship “is part of the history of Spain and we must know this so that it does not happen again”. “It’s just a shame that once again, the political class is using this theme to confront each other.”
Radio subject: Diane Cambon
Web article: Isabel Ares with agencies
