The Government is convinced that the decision of the PP and Vox to present involutionist memory laws in several autonomies, which place the Franco dictatorship and the democratic period of the Second Republic on the same level, is an issue with much more political significance than what may seem. The history of Spain is a very sensitive issue that continues to mobilize many citizens and above all places the PP in a very extreme position when compared to its European counterparts, who would hardly assume norms that tiptoe over a fascist dictatorship like Franco's. . This issue, and the closeness of the PP with Vox, were decisive in the 23-J elections, and may be so again, according to the analysis installed in La Moncloa.
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The Government will denounce to the UN and the EU the autonomous offensive of the PP and Vox against the memory laws
Throughout the week it has been very clear that Pedro Sánchez and the entire PSOE are determined to enter into this issue of memory with a view to the European elections, which the socialists will present as a great left-right battle with the risk of a reversal in Europe towards far-right positions, as Sánchez pointed out in a conversation with the press on his trip to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where he said about these anti-memory laws of the PP and Vox: “They show what we got rid of last year.” 23-J”. The Moncloa is determined to recover the scheme that was so successful on June 23, 2023, that is, the political battle between the progressive coalition and an ultra-conservative alliance between the PP and Vox that governs an important part of the country and is making key decisions. in terms of memory.
This will be one of the axes of the campaign, as seen this Saturday at Sánchez's rally in Vitoria, where he said that “the right and the extreme right are no longer distinguished, they intend to rewrite history and equate democracy with dictatorship. "Let them know that at the national and international level we are going to defend the dignity of the victims of Francoism and we are not going to allow them to trivialize the dictatorship."
But the question is more fundamental, and in La Moncloa they are not thinking only of this electoral moment. There is concern in the Government about the rise of positions of vindication of the dictatorship or denial of democratic memory, of Franco's repression, of the fight to achieve democracy, especially among some young people, a group in which Vox has support important. And they want to take advantage of an important anniversary that comes in 2025, the 50th anniversary of the death of the dictator Francisco Franco - November 20, 1975 - to promote a great campaign with all kinds of long-term events to explain, above all to young people, that They did not live it and may have incorrect information, what Francoism was, what the Second Republic was, and what the democracy they enjoy means in contrast to the fascist dictatorship that dominated Spain from 1939 until the 1978 Constitution.
For this purpose, the Executive is preparing an inter-ministerial commission that will have experts to provide ideas to make this great campaign truly reach all young people. Given the political line marked by the autonomies and city councils governed by the PP and Vox, which are many, the Executive will not be able to count on them. But one of the central elements of this great campaign will be to promote “activities related to Francoism and the loss of freedoms” in secondary and high school centers, according to Executive sources. In the Government, especially in the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, they work on all kinds of initiatives to explain Franco's regime and above all to convince young people that the freedoms they now enjoy were totally prohibited in the dictatorship that some claim. or trivialize. Those who are now 20 years old were born almost 30 years after Franco's death, and that is why the Executive believes that this memory must be reactivated.
The axes of this campaign will be based, according to Government sources, on explaining “the meaning of the Franco dictatorship for Spanish citizens and the setback and loss of rights and freedoms achieved during the Second Republic.” Furthermore, in vindicating “the role of political actors and social movements that contributed to the conquest of democracy in Spain and the 1978 Constitution.” It will also focus on “the need to deepen and disseminate a rigorous account of the figure of the dictator and his regime.”
A large exhibition titled “Students against Franco” is being prepared for the end of 2024. In addition, there will be another in the spring of 2025 around a comic that has become a publishing phenomenon, El abismo del olvido, by Paco Rosa and Rodrigo Terrasa, focused on historical memory and the victims of Franco's repression. There will also be another exhibition on the 45 years of the Constitution.
The Executive will try to have all possible administrations. Given the presumed resistance of the PP and Vox city councils, others will be sought in the hands of other parties to propose explanatory acts around the 50th anniversary of Franco's death. And round tables will be organized on the role of the press, women, intellectuals, cinema and theater in the anti-Franco struggle. The Government intends to activate all possible resources, although there is still no defined Budget, and to have all the experts, historians, jurists, sociologists, writers, filmmakers who have delved into the dictatorship, the figure of Franco or the repression. In addition, the Executive will reinforce control so that the democratic memory law of 2022 is complied with, which the PP and Vox reject, but are obliged to comply with because it is a current state law that requires the elimination or resignification of all the elements that vindicate the dictatorship.
A central issue of this great campaign will be Cuelgamuros, called Valley of the Fallen by Francoism. Sánchez has already decided to remove the dictator's remains from this huge mausoleum. Later, Primo de Rivera was also exhumed. But several points are still pending. This week the president visited the exhumation work of the victims of Franco's regime buried against the will of their families in the columbaria of this basilica. But it is still necessary to resignify Cuelgamuros, so that it stops being a place of vindication of the Franco regime and becomes a center of explanation of the horror of the dictatorship, as are other places in the world such as the ESMA in Argentina, where the mechanism of repression of the dictatorship is explained in detail. the military dictatorship in the same place where the disappeared were detained and tortured.
There will be a contest of ideas to create an interpretation center, the Francoist vestiges that remain there will be eliminated and finally the Benedictines who guard the chapel and who have always been a reference for vindication of Francoism will be forced to leave. Far from minimizing the issue of historical memory, which bothers the opposition so much, Sánchez and his team have decided to give it the highest priority and make it a central issue in 2025, a very symbolic year for the history of Spain.
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