The popular Antonio Membrilla, who was due to assume the position of director of the Board of Trustees of Federico García Lorca, an entity dependent on the Provincial Council of Granada, resigns from his position after the social pressure generated as a result of some comments made on the social network Twitter, in 2020 where he described historical memory as “hysterical nonsense.” His appointment, a freely appointed position, led to his resignation early this Tuesday as a member of the organization of Laura García-Lorca, the poet’s niece.
“As a member of the Federico García Lorca Board of Trustees of the Granada Provincial Council, having read the statements of the new director published in the press, I consider myself obliged to present my resignation,” says the text addressed to the president of the Provincial Council, Francisco Rodríguez, to whom EFE has had access.
García-Lorca has announced his resignation after the Granada Provincial Council elected Antonio Membrilla, a graduate in Hispanic Philology from the University of Granada and spokesperson for the PP in the Armilla City Council, as the new director of the Lorca Board of Trustees. Shortly after, and given “the current situation generated,” Membrilla made his resignation public.
The Official Gazette of the Province (BOP) published last Friday his appointment as head of the Board of Trustees, the entity responsible for the Lorca Birthplace Museum and the Lorca Studies Center.
His suitability for the position had already been questioned by memorial associations such as Truth, Justice and Reparation, the CGT union and the PSOE, which have accused Membrilla of mocking historical memory for several publications from 2020 already removed from his online profile. social
Membrilla, who takes office this Tuesday, has published three messages on that same social network in which, “in response to the commotion” of an old tweet, he explains his position regarding democratic memory, which he referred to in a text as “memez hysterical.”
According to Membrilla, he only commented and cited a tweet to criticize the fact that the victims of a single front are given visibility and has clarified that at no time does he criticize the Historical Memory Law, after which he apologized in case anyone has been offended or has misinterpreted your messages.
The appointment of the position has been made through a free appointment procedure called last October and open to officials or work personnel with experience in administrative management or cultural services.
His election as director of the Board of Trustees continues to provoke criticism, and this Wednesday he will be the subject of a protest rally at the Fuente Vaqueros Lorca Studies Center in which seven associations linked to the Historical Memory of the province of Granada, five Lorca municipalities, two unions and three political parties (PSOE, IU and Podemos), as reported by the city council of this municipality.
The organizers have started collecting signatures against Membrilla’s appointment through the Change.org platform, which in a few days has exceeded 2,000 signatures.
The promoters maintain that Membrilla’s appointment “responds solely to political criteria and damages the image of our most universal poet.”
“We are talking about a councilor from the Popular Party who has no accredited training, experience or relationship with the figure of Federico, and who also has in his ‘résumé’ the dubious merit of having repeatedly mocked the Historical Memory Law,” they point out. the organizing associations, organizations and town councils, who therefore ask the president of the Provincial Council to reconsider his decision.
The mayor of Fuente Vaqueros, José Manuel Molino, encourages all Granada residents to join the rally, in which a manifesto against Membrilla’s appointment will be read.
