Colau takes on Franco

Ada Colau’s Barcelona City Council will make the political moves necessary to withdraw the commemorative medal, celebrating 25 years of peace, awarded to Francisco Franco in 1964, which was also awarded to six of the leading lights of his dictatorship, according to a statement made yesterday by vice-mayor, Gerardo Pisarello. Several other awards and recognitions from the time are also in their sights, for revocation or nullification. The revocation will be voted upon in a plenary session on the 25th of January of next year, a day before the 80th anniversary of the entry of franquista troops into the city of Barcelona. For Pisarello, the rationale behind the revocation of these medals, so many years later, is to “break the symbolic impunity of the Franco regime” and “continue restoring the dignity of those who were victims of the reprisals of the dictatorship,” many of which were meted out by those who received these medals, which continue to be attributed to them. In his address, Pisarello called for the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, to “get involved” and “accompany and support” municipal councils in “erasing the judicial impunity of Francoism.” Among those in line to have their medals and awards formally withdrawn, are General José Solchaga Zala, who led forces of occupation in Barcelona and Tarragona in January of 1939; General Agustín Muñoz Grandes, head of the Blue Divisions, a Minister and Secretary General of the ,Movimiento Nacional; General Severiano Martínez Anido, and Former Minister of the Interior and Falangist Antonio Ibáñez Freire, also awarded a German Iron Cross.