Pedro Sánchez: "One of the things for which I will go down in history is for having exhumed the dictator"

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has vindicated this Monday his policy of historical memory with this prediction: "One of the things for which I will go down in history is for having exhumed the dictator from the Valley of the Fallen."

Sánchez participated in a tribute at the Ateneo de Madrid to the writer Almudena Grandes, who died a year ago.

Before the widower of Grandes, Luis García Montero, several ministers and faces of culture such as the film director Pedro Almodóvar and the singer Ana Belén, the president has defended "the luminous past of republicanism" and has praised the courage of the Madrid author , who was never afraid, he has said, of pronouncing the words “homeland” and “left” together.

Sánchez closed the event with a speech in which he highlighted the resistance and fighting spirit represented by Grandes, in whose work historical memory had a specific weight.

And, above all, she has emphasized the debt that Spain owes to female writers.

"It is a conquest for women who have remained hidden," she has said.

"For the writers, for the thinkers, silenced for so many centuries."

In the tribute act, organized by the PSOE, a portrait of Almudena Grandes painted by Juan Vida has been presented, which will hang in the Ateneo gallery.

The poet Luis García Montero, widower of the writer Almudena Grandes, gives a speech during the tribute organized by the PSOE to the writer Almudena Grandes, who died a year ago, this Monday at the Ateneo de Madrid. Álvaro García

The president has taken the opportunity to claim his government action as a continuation of the writer's legacy.

“You have to pick up her witness, each one from his trench”, she has affirmed.

"Almudena was always in favor of a fairer country" and in favor of progress and the well-being of people, Sánchez remarked, to then announce: "Tomorrow we are going to approve a comprehensive law against trafficking in the Council of Ministers of human beings”.

The president of the Ateneo de Madrid, Luis Arroyo, also spoke at the event, placing Almudena Grandes as a follower of the great figures of feminism in the history of Spain.

Women like Emilia Pardo Bazán, Clara Campoamor, Victoria Kent, Carmen de Burgos or Rosa Chacel are part, he has said, of a part that has not yet been sufficiently told of the cultural legacy of Spain.

"Almudena comes to the Ateneo to stay forever," said Arroyo, referring to the fact that her painting will be hanging in the institution's gallery, along with other illustrious figures from Spanish politics and culture.

The film director Pedro Almodóvar has praised in his speech that, through his literature, Grandes gave a voice to those who were forced to remain silent during the dictatorship.

Almodóvar, who was moved several times during his speech, has assured that the Madrid writer did more for historical memory than any progressive government.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, talks with Pedro Almodóvar. Álvaro García

Luis García Montero, poet and widower of Grandes, has received great applause from those present, who have stood up before he began to speak.

“It would have made him especially excited that the Renfe station in Madrid today is called Puerta de Atocha Almudena Grandes.

The family gets a lump in our throats every time we arrive in Madrid and we feel that announcement that remembers his name.