Representatives of several memorial associations have denounced the “almost zero” application of the Democratic Memory Lawupon completion two years from its entry into force. During a rally in front of a headquarters of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory in Madrid, they demanded that the Government make a firm commitment to develop the law and provide it with sufficient budgetary resources.
In the event, in which dozens of people from associations integrated into the State Meeting of Democratic Memory Collectives and Victims of Francoism and the Transition participated, they insisted on the need to implement the law effectively. Through a statement read and delivered to the ministry, the protesters have indicated that the rule has “very little real progress” and have warned the Government that the victims “do not accept any further delays.”
Miguel Ángel Muga, president of the Forum for the Memory of the Community of Madridhas highlighted that the lack of development of the law directly affects reparation for victimsmany of whom are older people who are dying without seeing results. He has criticized that, despite the majority support of Parliament, the Government continues not to advance the law.
Carmen Luque, secretary of the association All the stolen children are also my childrenhas stressed that his group is also part of the victims of Francoism. He has denounced the “mistreatment” by the Government, which two years after the law came into force has still not implemented significant actions, which generates the feeling that “nothing has been done.”
During the protest, attendees chanted slogans such as “Without memory there is no democracy” and “Truth, justice and reparation“In addition, they have demanded the creation of a state inventory of places of memory and a catalog of Francoist symbols, measures provided for in the law that have not yet been developed.
Several voices of activists and experts consider that the balance of the law is negative, despite the fact that it raised great expectations and seemed to offer progress, and they attribute the problem to the lack of will of the legislator, especially from the PSOE. Although the socialists have been the ones who have governed for the longest time since the restoration of democracy, there is still impunity for the crimes of Franco’s regime.
The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) has also expressed its frustration at the “lack of political will” to apply the law, and has regretted that in these two years the norm has not been sufficient to combat impunity for the crimes of Franco’s regime.
Furthermore, they have disfigured that the search for missing people still depends on subsidies. “In a consolidated democracy, human rights are not subsidized, because human rights are guaranteed“they insisted in a statement.
The ARMH has also indicated that the Executive has not yet prepared a census of victims of the dictatorship, which “has to be accompanied by a census of executioners.” Likewise, he has not developed the report on “the seizures carried out by the 1936 coup plotters who appropriated at gunpoint all types of property from republican families,” he denounced.
Another point of criticism has been the persistence of Francoist streets and monuments in many localities, an issue that, according to the associations, should have been addressed more forcefully in these two years. This situation “demonstrates the lack of political will to withdraw vestiges destined to humiliate tens of thousands of families who suffered repression and who are still missing in the gutters,” added the ARMH.
Amnesty International and other groups, such as State Coordinator of Support for the Argentine Complaint (Ceaqua), has agreed to point out the “slowness” in the application of the law. Thus, they have warned that the norm does not eliminate the obstacles that prevent judicial investigation of the crimes of Franco’s regime, leaving the victims without justice.
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