The bells of the basilica of La Macarena announcing noon had not finished ringing, when in the square that precedes the Sevillian temple the act began to celebrate the exhumation of the these of General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano and his right hand, the auditor of war, Francisco Bohorquez. About half a thousand people have claimed the unearthing as “a victory” for the memorial movement, but have warned that they will not tolerate their ashes returning to the columbarium that the brotherhood built in 2020, just below the chapel of the Virgen de la Esperanza.
“From now on we hope that the law is scrupulously complied with and that the remains of Queipo and Bohórquez do not return to the Basilica,” said Paqui Maqueda – the relative of victims of reprisals who was present the night of the exhumation and who silenced the applause and alive to Queipo from his relatives with a vindication of the victims―in the speech he gave on behalf of the Gambogaz Platform, one of the three associations that have organized the event, together with Sevilla por la República and Andalucía Republicana. A message that Osi García, spokesman for Seville for the Republic, had also sent before: “We will not allow them to return to La Macarena.”
The relatives of Quipo de Llano and Bohórquez cremated their remains on the same night of November 3, after being exhumed from the basilica, and moved their older brother, José Antonio Fernández Cabrero, who intended to keep his ashes private. The new Democratic Memory Law is clear in its article 38.3 when it states that “the mortal remains of leaders of the 1936 military coup may not be or remain buried in a pre-eminent place of public access, other than a cemetery”, but it does not say nothing about the case that they are cremated, and that legal vacuum is what the memorial associations fear that the families of the coup soldiers could take advantage of to return them to La Macarena, where, in any case, they would be anonymous along with other brothers.
“Today is a day of joy and victory”, said Osi García. The act had a lot of celebration, but also of memory. As usual every time they organize vigils of this type both in front of La Macarena and in front of the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Seville, the relatives have been accompanied by photos or pages with the names of their reprisaled ancestors: Amparo Borja Navarro, José Antonio Cárdenas Ortega, Miguel Mendiola Osuna… All of them, and also those who have died before knowing the result of their search, have been the object of homage, but this Sunday morning, the feeling of vindication in favor of justice and reparation was mixed with the of satisfaction for having obtained a victory in that struggle: the exhumation of the person responsible for the fate of their murdered, tortured or disappeared relatives. “We have won this battle”, concluded José María García, the representative of Republican Andalusia, without intervention.
The exhumation of Queipo is a significant milestone in the battle waged by the memorial associations against oblivion and for the restitution of the dignity of their victims, but, as they have warned, it is one more step on a path that still has many pending challenges, such as continuing to open graves, eliminate the vestiges of the regime that remain in the streets and buildings, the promotion of the DNA bank or the recovery of the Gambogaz farm —a gift from the city of Seville to Queipo de Llano, which was irregularly expropriated by the military with money from the Bank of Spain, according to some studies, and which the memorial movement wants to become a place of memory and leave to remain in the hands of the general’s heirs. “The conquest is incomplete,” Osi acknowledged.
What affects the most is what happens closest. To not miss anything, subscribe.
subscribe
The speakers have also drawn attention to the loneliness of the memorialist movement throughout this process, holding the Church, the Brotherhood of La Macarena and the various Governments of the Junta responsible for having allowed that after the restoration of democracy, the remains of Queipo would have remained there until the early hours of November 3. “If it had not been for the law, the Brotherhood would not have removed the remains of the genocide”, said José María García.
After the intervention of the representatives of the three organizations convening the act, a turn has been opened so that the attendees could share their impressions. The first to break the ice has been the journalist and poet Susana Falcón —who went to tuck Paqui Maqueda in the cold early hours of last Thursday, when the nightly exhumation had already finished—, who has had a very special memory with the women victims of Franco’s repression.
When those attending the 12:30 mass were leaving the basilica, the 500 people who were around the alternative altar raised between republican flags with photos of their relatives in the Plaza de La Macarena have moved to the monolith in honor of the victims which is located in front of the wall, a few meters from the Brotherhood. There, where some 3,000 people were shot, they concluded the act with a floral offering of carnations.
#Relatives #victims #Franco #regime #celebrate #victory #exhumation #Queipo #Llano #Macarena