Spain greenlights bill to address legacy of civil war, dictatorship

Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - The Spanish government greenlighted controversial draft legislation on Tuesday that aims to tackle the legacy of the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship led by Francisco Franco.

If passed by the parliament, it could see a renewed push to uncover mass graves that contain an estimated 100,000 people who fell victim to the fascist regime from 1936 and 1975.

“This is the first law that explicitly condemns and repudiates the coup d’etat in 1936 and the following dictatorship, which was the darkest part of our history,” said Minister of Democratic Memory Felix Bolanos.

The bill would also outlaw foundations that praise the Franco regime, incite hatred or humiliate victims. That could include the National Francisco Franco Foundation, which remains active in Spain.

It would also establish two national holidays to commemorate the victims of Francoism and those who were forced into exile.

After the death of Franco in 1975, Spain's politicians decided to pass a so-called “pact of forgetting” and an amnesty law to help the country's transition to democracy without investigating or prosecuting crimes committed under the regime.

In recent years, the approach has been contested and the country has made major moves to undo some of Franco’s legacy.

Famously, the dictator’s body was exhumed from a massive mausoleum featuring the world’s largest cross in 2019 and moved to a family crypt.

The mausoleum, known as the Valley of the Fallen, will also see changes if the bill goes through.

While the bill is likely to get the political support needed, it is being slammed by the right-wing minority.

Pablo Casado, the leader of the conservative Popular Party, vowed Tuesday to revoke the bill if he ever becomes Spain's prime minister.

“We prefer positive politics, this law isn’t good,” he told EsRadio.

The far-right party, Vox, said it will challenge the law in court.

Meanwhile, some organizations that have been advocating for more support for the victims of Spain’s fascist regime said it is a decent step forward, but the bill does not go far enough.

“The Spanish state still needs to apologize to the thousands of people that were killed and have been ignored by governments in the democratic era,” Emilio Silva of the Association to Recover Historic Memory told an interview with the radio network Cadena Ser.