The clash between the central government and that of the Community of Madrid continues over the building that houses the headquarters of the Presidency. This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved the response to the allegations presented by Isabel Díaz Ayuso against the decision to declare the Royal Post Office House, located in Puerta del Sol and which was the main police detention and torture center, a Place of Democratic Memory. during the Franco regime. The popular residents of Madrid are trying to shield the building “using all legal resources” to avoid the placement of a plaque.
With this objective, the PP used its absolute majority to approve an amendment to an omnibus law at the end of the year despite having the rejection of the lawyers of the regional parliament. And he also filed a request requesting the archiving of the file initiated by the Government of Pedro Sánchez in October because the Ayuso Government considers that remembering the Francoist past of the space is contrary to “the truth, history and its current use.” The legal teams of three ministries now respond to this requirement.
The basis of their argument is that this “does not represent an invasion of the powers” of the Community of Madrid, as justified by Ayuso, who considers that naming the building as a memory space “violates” them in terms of heritage assets, security , historical heritage or “defense of freedom, justice and equality” of the people of Madrid, in addition to constituting an “attack” on their self-government and a “lack of loyalty” on the part of the central Executive for not having communicated the beginning of the process until its publication in the BOE.
“The mere initiation of a procedure to declare a property of autonomous ownership in accordance with a legally established procedure and in which the community itself will have a hearing cannot be considered interference,” the Government argues in its response, which alludes to that the reasons of the Community of Madrid “lack foundation.” Where appropriate, the declaration would be accompanied by “appropriate signage” – often a plaque or panel – and “interpretation, explanation and dissemination” actions.
A “preventive” conflict
The legal services remind that the Royal Post Office, which was the headquarters of the General Directorate of Security between 1939 and 1979, is an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) and this “is no obstacle” for it to be proclaimed a Place of Memory. To do this, the Government “has limited itself” to following “the procedure established” in the law “issued based on the Constitution”, which consists, for the moment, of initiating the procedure “without it having even been completed.” For this reason, the report argues, “the conflict here would be preventive” because “no alteration – no matter how minimal – to the property has been carried out.”
The ministries – Democratic Memory, Presidency and Justice – recognize that “the public interests” at stake are “very significant” because the property is the headquarters of the Madrid Government, but “in no case are they incompatible with the application” of the law of memory “as shown by the fact that there are already different signs in the building that allude to other events of very singular relevance,” they point out in reference to the commemorative plaques that are installed in the building: one that commemorates the uprising of the May 2, 1808, another in tribute to the victims of 11M and a last one to those killed by the Covid pandemic.
Thus, “there is no incompatibility” between the current use and destination of the property and it being a Place of Memory, something that does not have to affect the “optimal functioning of the public service,” they justify from Moncloa, pointing for example to the nativity scene that Every Christmas it is installed inside without seeming to disturb the normal activity of the building.
Dispute over historical memory
Beyond the technical arguments put forward by both administrations, in the background a dispute emerges over historical memory policies. The Madrid PP appeals to the various uses that the Royal Post Office has had – for example, it was also the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior during the Second Republic – to directly oppose the declaration and assures that “in the memory of the people of Madrid and Spaniards ”Puerta del Sol “is linked” with the chimes or with Kilometer 0, so linking it with the Franco regime “is truly outrageous,” according to what the Presidency advisor, Miguel Ángel García, said at the time. Martin.
Along the same lines, it has been expressed again this mondaywhen he has defined the Government’s insistence as “a coven”, which he accuses of trying to “stain the good name of the Community of Madrid”, which is what in his opinion would cause installing signage in the building that reminds us of the violations of human rights that were committed there during the dictatorship, a time in which “it was not just any space, but the epicenter of repression,” explains historian Pablo Alcántara, who has studied the history of the property in depth.
In fact, the ministry decision directed by Ángel Víctor Torres is based on the consideration of the General Directorate of Security as “a reference and symbol of human rights violations during the Franco regime.” The objective is to “rescue from oblivion and recognize those who suffered humiliation, torture or found death in their premises” and “contribute to the knowledge of the truth of what happened so that similar events never occur again in our country.” .
The DGS coordinated the police services of the entire State, not just Madrid. And in their dungeons all kinds of physical and psychological torture were practiced. Victims and memorial associations have been demanding for years that a plaque be installed there that also tells this part of their past and they consider it “an anomaly” that it has not yet been done. However, the fight between administrations has only just begun and the Ayuso Government does not rule out going to court to avoid it.
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