The Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, announced this Thursday the withdrawal of the Medal for Merit at Work from the dictator Francisco Franco, after the entry into force of the Democratic Memory Law last Friday. The measure also affects other Francoist leaders such as Juan Yagüe, José Antonio Girón de Velasco and José Solís.
The announcement complies with the section on medals and decorations of the new law. The vice president has stated that the concession can be reviewed when it is proven that the recipient has carried out “acts manifestly incompatible with democratic values.”
The recipients of this medal are listed in what is known as the “Golden Book of Work”, which Yolanda Díaz has referred to as the “book of infamy”. In addition, Díaz has recalled that this decoration was created by the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera and recovered years later by Franco.
According to the vice president, the withdrawal will take place immediately. Apart from Franco, Díaz has confirmed that the medals will also be withdrawn from the ministers José Antonio Girón de Velasco, José Solís and José Luis Arrese, General Juan Yagüe, the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo Enrique Pla y Deniel and the mayors José María Fernández de Ladreda and Jose Leon Carranza. She has also assured that in the coming days the same protocol will be followed with other people “who were part of the repressive apparatus of Francoism.”
At the end of her speech, Yolanda Díaz, visibly moved, apologized to the victims of Francoism. “It has taken too long,” she lamented. Likewise, she has celebrated that the Medal now recognizes merits at work and not people of whom she has said that “their hands are stained with blood.”
