The United Nations yesterday issued a forceful report without much room for interpretation: the so-called laws of concord promoted by the PP and Vox governments in Aragon, Castilla y León and the Valencian Community put at risk Spain’s compliance with international legislation on “ the preservation of the historical memory of serious human rights violations.”
After analyzing the projects of the three communities, the international organization assures that these initiatives establish the suppression of multiple entities, projects, websites and activities of historical memory and can lead to “limits to access to the truth about the fate or whereabouts of the victims.” ” of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. Furthermore, they consider that they can make invisible the “serious violations” of human rights committed during the Franco regime, since they do not make explicit reference to or condemn “the regime, its dictatorial nature or its responsibility” for the crimes committed.
The report also points out the importance of not discriminating between types of victims when recognizing and giving justice and reparation to them, although they point out that the laws of harmony could lead to assimilating the violations committed during the Franco dictatorship and the War. Civil “to a heterogeneous group of crimes or violations committed by different actors, state and non-state, throughout the 20th century in Spain.” In his opinion, this deprives the necessary recognition and attention of “hundreds of thousands” of people killed in extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances committed during the Franco regime.
For all this, they remember that all powers of the State and all national, regional or local government entities “must comply with the obligation to protect human rights,” including the obligation to guarantee “the historical preservation of the memory of serious violations.” ” of them, as well as avoiding the emergence of “revisionist or denialist” theses. Failure to comply, they emphasize, could “compromise the responsibility” of the State.
After hearing the news, the leaders of the PP and the presidents of the indicated communities came out in a rush to criticize and disavow the report, which they accused of being untrue.
One of the most angry was the president of Aragón, Jorge Azcón, who discredited the text, alleging that it contains “massive errors” and “hoaxes,” since in his community no law of harmony has been approved, but rather what exists It is a plan that is still being processed. The public stressed that his content should be “more serious”, something he attributes to the lack of communication between the international entity and his Government and his trust in the information conveyed by the Government of Spain. “What that report says is a lie, there should be more seriousness. “This leaves the UN in a bad light, which has not counted on Aragón to prepare this report,” he noted.
From the Valencian Community, President Carlos Mazón warned that the report does not reflect a reading of the Valencian bill and that, since he has governed, 442 exhumations have been initiated “caused by the violence of the Franco dictatorship.” In this sense, he defended that the proposed Valencian concord law, currently being processed in Les Corts, “consolidates and protects the rights of all victims” of said dictatorship and “incorporates new rights” to other victims of political violence such as those of ETA.
Meanwhile, the president of the Junta of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, claimed to be unaware of the controversial report, and insisted that he has already publicly condemned the Franco dictatorship. “When I meet him we will talk, but in Castilla y León we always treat victims well, all victims,” he said.
For his part, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, stressed on the subject that “the best thing is to read the texts and not consider laws that have not yet been approved as approved.” At an electoral event in Figueres, Feijóo argued that for his formation, Franco’s 40 years “have been a dictatorship” and ETA has been “a terrorist band.” “Unfortunately, the Government has a commitment to Bildu and cannot speak of a terrorist group. We do,” he added.
In Vox they called the text a “crude advertising scam”, something that, in their opinion, shows what these “globalist organizations” are for: “Assist obedient governments with the 2030 Agenda when they need a smokescreen,” they said.
The last to react, last night, was the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who was forceful in a post on X: “Equating victims with executioners is the opposite of harmony. Equating dictatorship with democracy is the opposite of the truth. The setback represented by the autonomous governments of Feijóo and Abascal are not a threat, but a reality. The Government of Spain will defend the democratic memory and the dignity of the victims of Francoism,” he stated.
