Star Metro - Spanish NGO says govt flouting own Franco memory law

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has made rehabilitating the memory of the 1939-1975 dictatorship's victims one of his flagship policies.

A democratic memory law was introduced in 2022 to honour victims and pressure local governments to eliminate symbols of the regime.

But Madrid's imposing Victory Arch, built in the 1950s on a busy roundabout to celebrate the victory of Franco's fascist-backed nationalists in the 1936-1939 civil war, is a standout example of the symbols that linger.

The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory said it would present a complaint with public prosecutors against the democratic memory ministry "for its inactivity and breach of the law regarding the Victory Arch", and are asking for it to be dismantled.

"It is not acceptable that the institutions responsible for memory look away when it concerns monuments that clearly humiliate the victims -- thousands of them remain missing -- and glorify the violence they suffered," it added in a statement.

Local authorities, including Madrid’s city government, have stated they do not intend to demolish the monument despite the ARMH’s requests, and instead have discussed other approaches such as amending or widening whom it is dedicated to.

The association has campaigned on behalf of the descendants of Franco's victims for decades, with its work including the exhumation of mass graves.

Sanchez has said the government will publish a complete list of Francoist symbols for their later removal from the streets. Campaigners say thousands remain.

But efforts to remove the symbols have run into resistance, especially in regions governed by the right, which accuses the government of reopening the wounds of the past.

The democratic memory ministry had not responded to a request for comment.

L.Pelletier--SMC